ANAHEIM — The Ducks had the shots on goal and the fancy stats in their favor, but the Seattle Kraken got the two points in a 3-1 affair on Monday night at Honda Center.
It was the Ducks’ fifth loss in seven games and Seattle’s second straight victory, albeit only their third in their past 13 decisions.
The Kraken are now 2-0-0 this season and 11-4-1 all-time against the Ducks, who dropped to 3 for 39 on the power play since Nov. 29.
Mikael Granlund scored the only goal for the Ducks, who were without No. 1 center Leo Carlsson for the first time this season (lower-body injury). Lukáš Dostál handled 18 of 20 shots.
Kaapo Kakko assisted on goals by Frederick Gaudreau and Jordan Eberle before Eberle tacked on an empty-netter. The Kraken were missing Jaden Schwartz, Jared McCann and former Duck Brandon Montour. Philipp Grubauer made 40 saves, setting a season high for a second consecutive appearance.
“He made some saves, obviously, and some of it was us, we’ve got to just bear down,” Granlund said. “They defend really good, and obviously their goalie was good tonight.”
In the third period, Grubauer continued to dominate, including with his glove on a one-timer from Mason McTavish. Dostál stopped all but the Kraken’s toughest chances and Ross Johnston leveled Vince Dunn in the neutral zone.
Yet with nearly every metric in their favor, the Ducks fell behind Grubauer and chums for the second time after Seattle’s captain, Eberle, scored halfway into the final frame.
“I think they had one [high-danger] chance in the third period, so we didn’t give up anything, and we had some looks, but we didn’t [convert],” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “We just didn’t have enough.”
It was Finn-on-Finn crime when Kakko took the puck from Granlund in the Seattle zone to set up a three-on-two counterattack. Kakko centered the puck for Matty Beniers, who found Eberle in the left circle for a strike to the far side. Eberle deposited the puck into the vacated cage with 35 seconds to play, dooming the Ducks with his second goal of the night.
“We didn’t want to give them the second goal they got, but it happens. At the end of the day, with one goal, it’s tough to win in this league,” Granlund said.
Twenty minutes came and went without a goal, thanks in part to Dostál’s stellar stop on Gaudreau and a three-on-one chance that fizzled out for the Ducks. But in the second period, Seattle cracked open the scoring with an extra man before the Ducks took control.
The hosts’ 11th of 14 consecutive shots on net tied the score. At 15:40, Granlund deflected Jacob Trouba’s shot off the ice and over Grubauer’s pad for his sixth goal of the season. Four of those have come during his four-game goal streak.
“It was a shot from the point, and I was able to tip it in. That’s it,” Granlund said.
Trouba had taken a penalty at the 4:19 mark, and 30 seconds later the Ducks were down a goal.
Ian Moore blocked a shot with his leg that went straight to Kakko at the side of the net. Though he couldn’t get much on an attempt toward a huge opening in the net, he recovered the puck and centered it for Shane Wright, whose rebound came to Gaudreau. Wright’s primary assist was his eighth point in seven career games against the Ducks, his most points against any franchise.
After what became a very physical game, Grubauer praised Wright’s box-outs near the net while Wright credited Grubauer for the Kraken’s first consecutive win since Nov. 22.
“He was unbelievable tonight, just the quality of saves he made,” Wright said. “He bailed us out a number of times.”
The Ducks will now be off until Saturday, when they’ll drive up the 5 for a Freeway Faceoff with the Kings, who have stumbled in five of their past six outings.