Ducks @ Kraken RECAP: Ducks Win Shootout That Doesn't Go to a Shootout
The Anaheim Ducks made their first-ever trip to Seattle in franchise history to open the books against the Seattle Kraken. The last time an expansion team entered the league, the Ducks couldn’t, and still cannot, figure out how to beat them. Here’s to hoping their fortunes over the next few seasons are noticeably different against the Seattle Kraken.
Round one against Seattle saw goals. Lots and lots of goals. Defense and saves are for nerds and people that only make charts without watching games, obviously. The Ducks got the win and extended their winning streak to six games, but my goodness was it quite an adventure of a game.
1st Period
The first period may have been one of the best periods of hockey that the Ducks have played this season. Consistent pressure forced a number of turnovers, and they were able to turn a lot of those turnovers into odd-man rushes up the ice.
One of those odd-man rushes resulted in a scramble in front of the net that ended up in the back of the net behind Phillip Grubauer after an attempted clear from Vince Dunn ricocheted off the leg of Mason McTavish and in. 1-0 Ducks!
The Ducks taking the lead less than five minutes into the game did not stop them from continuing to push and apply pressure to Seattle’s defense and after the opening 20 minutes, the Ducks led 13-4 in shots on goal and without a few timely saves from Grubauer, the Ducks could have easily been up 3-0.
2nd Period
The 2nd period might as well have been an entire hockey game in itself. There was a whole lot that happened, so I’ll take this one step at a time.
Just 2:13 into the period, Jeremy Lauzon took a run at Isac Lundestrom along the boards as Isac was looking in the other direction for the puck. He appeared to lead with the elbow and the primary point of contact was Isac’s head, but somehow it was only ruled a 2-minute interference penalty at the time. Props to Max Comtois for stepping in immediately to drop the gloves with Lauzon, but it was broken up before they could actually fight.
The ensuing power play was cut short by noted power play specialist Sam Carrick, who was called for hooking, sending the game to 4-on-4. Troy Terry was given space on the ice, and he knows exactly what to do with that, as he wired a shot past Grubauer to double the Ducks’ lead. 2-0 Ducks!
In true Ducks fashion, the shift immediately following a good positive momentum goal found them turning the puck over to give Jaden Schwartz a breakaway, and subsequently fishing that puck out of their net, as Schwartz was able to beat Gibson. 2-1 Ducks. Keep in mind, we’re still only 3:45 into the period at this point.
A couple of minutes later, a faceoff win in Seattle’s zone made its way back to Josh Mahura, who unleashed an absolute cannon of a shot that was past Grubauer before he could get his glove to it, and the two-goal lead was restored. 3-1 Ducks!
A few seconds after the Mahura goal, Josh Manson was able to square up with Jeremy Lauzon to bring the hammer of justice in the form of vicious uppercuts. Lauzon got rocked a few times and ended up going for the takedown to end the fight before his head ended up in the 300 level seats. We take this time to fondly remember that despite the fact that Josh struggles to play defense at times, #WeAreAllJoshManson, at least sometimes.
Shortly after the fight, the Kraken would once again respond and push the momentum swing back into their favor with a puck put towards the net in front of Gibson, and it bounced off the skate of Jared McCann and in. 3-2 Ducks. Once again, keep in mind that at this point, we are now only 7:50 into the period.
Finally, things began to settle down back into some form of normalcy in a hockey game and the teams were able to find a bit more rhythm while also picking up the physicality pretty drastically due to all the action early in the period.
Troy Terry found himself creating opportunities left and right in this period and he was able to be rewarded once again by finding Kevin Shattenkirk drifting down into the right circle, and Shattenkirk beat Grubauer with a shot that found its way between the arm and body of the goaltender. Not the prettiest of goals for Grubauer to give up, but hey, a goal is a goal. 4-2 Ducks!
At the end of this roller coaster of a period, the Ducks were ahead 25-11 in shots on goal and continued to control the pace of the game. A couple of mistakes had ended up in the back of their net, but all in all, it was still a good game to this point for Anaheim. Concerns only lie with Isac Lundestrom, who was ruled out for the remainder of the game with an upper-body injury.
3rd Period
The Kraken started the final frame of regulation by just refusing to let the Ducks hold a multi-goal lead for more than a couple of minutes, and a 2-on-1 resulted in a perfect setup and score for Jordan Eberle less than four minutes into the period. 4-3 Ducks.
Trevor Zegras forced a turnover a few minutes later and was in alone on a breakaway against Grubauer, but unfortunately hit the post after he made his move and sent Grubauer moving the wrong way.
With 10:34 remaining in regulation, Hampus Lindholm caught a break of his own with a shot from the point that bounced off Jared McCann above the circle and Grubauer never saw the change of direction, as it made its way into the bottom corner opposite of the way Grubauer was moving, thanks to a screen from Ryan Getzlaf. 5-3 Ducks!
It must be some kind of inside joke that I wasn’t made aware of prior to this game, but Jared McCann immediately responded again, and the Ducks have now had four different two-goal leads for a combined five minutes or so. 5-4 Ducks.
The Kraken pulled the goalie with just under three minutes remaining in regulation, but they had a bad miscommunication and no extra skater jumped over the boards to replace the goaltender. Sam Carrick got the puck at center ice and was able to skate into the zone and hit the empty net to once again extend the lead to two goals for Anaheim, for the fifth time. Stay tuned to see if the Ducks hold this lead for longer than 30 seconds. 6-4 Ducks!
Troy Terry hit one more empty net because he’s better than Connor McDavid and that’s just how that goes. 7-4 Ducks!
The Ducks were mercifully (on me writing this recap) able to hang on to the lead and avoid any further shenanigans. Ducks win 7-4 in their first game ever against the Seattle Kraken!
Final Thoughts
This game was wild, to put it as bluntly as I can. The Ducks were absolutely dominant for a majority of the 60 minutes and still found themselves unable to actually pull away and take the Kraken out of the game. It was a game of resilience for both teams, and I want to be happier about the game than I am, but concern for the status of Isac Lundestrom is clouding the result for me. Lundestrom has taken a significant step forward so far this season and will be a key piece of the rebuilding season for Anaheim, so him being out for an extended period of time is a big loss for the Ducks.
3 Stars
Troy Terry
Ryan Getzlaf
Josh Manson’s Fists
Up Next
The Ducks will return home to face the Vancouver Canucks for the second time this week on Sunday evening at 5:00 PM PST.