Jordan Eberle scored twice in the third period as the Seattle Kraken beat the host Anaheim Ducks 3-1 on Monday night.
Freddy Gaudreau also scored for Seattle, which won consecutive games for the first time in a month, and Kaapo Kakko had two assists. Goalie Philipp Grubauer made 38 saves as the Kraken won for just the third time in their last 13 games (3-9-1) and moved out of the Pacific Division cellar.
Mikael Granlund scored the only goal for the division-leading Ducks, who fell to 1-4-1 in their last six games. Goalie Lukas Dostal stopped 18 of 20 shots.
The deciding goal came on an odd-man rush at 10:04 of the third. Matty Beniers fed Eberle on the left wing and he fired a shot over Dostal’s shoulder and into the high corner of the net just inside the faceoff dot.
Eberle added an empty net at 19:25, his team-high 12th goal of the season.
The Kraken opened the scoring on a power play at 4:49 of the second period. Ryker Evans’ shot from the left point deflected off a defender’s skate, the puck falling to Kakko deep on the right wing. Kakko blocked a shot before sending a pass across the top of the crease to Shane Wright. His shot was stopped by a sprawling Dostal, but Gaudreau was in front of the net to intercept the rebound from the prone goalie.
The Ducks, who outscored Seattle 17-5 in the period, tied it at 15:40. Jacob Trouba floated the puck toward the net from the top of the right faceoff circle and Granlund redirected it past a masked Grubauer.
The Kraken outshot Anaheim 10-7 in a scoreless first period. It was the eighth consecutive game that Seattle failed to find the net in the first 20 minutes.
Ducks forward Leo Carlsson, the team’s leading scorer with 41 points (17 goals, 24 assists), missed a game for the first time this season due to a lower body injury. Granlund centered the top line in Carlsson’s absence and Jansen Harkins returned to the lineup after being left out the previous nine games.
Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn took a hard hit from Anaheim’s Ross Johnston early in the third period and did not return due to an apparent upper-body injury.
Linesman Ryan Gibbons fell in front of the Kraken bench late in the first period, landing on his back and did not return.
The Kraken announced earlier Monday that defenseman Brandon Montour would be out about four weeks after undergoing surgery for a broken hand in a Dec. 16 fight against Colorado.
–Field level media
