Jaden Schwartz and Matty Beniers scored within three minutes in the first period, leading the Seattle Kraken to a 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night.
Daniel Sprong netted a power-play goal with 4:18 left in the game, and Alex Wennberg added an empty-netter to secure the victory. Martin Jones made 18 saves, helping the Kraken maintain their hold on the top Western Conference wild-card playoff spot.
“We played a good hockey game,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “Could we have done some things differently in the second period? Absolutely. We would have liked to extend that lead. But we settled down in the third. We needed a couple of good saves from Martin Jones to do that, but the penalty kill did its job, and the power play extended the lead, and that’s it.
“It closes out two good points for us, and it’s a real positive night.”
Brock McGinn scored the lone goal for Anaheim, and Lukas Dostal made 35 saves.
Schwartz put the Kraken ahead at 7:57 of the first period. Will Borgen, playing on the right side behind his blue line, angled a cross-ice pass that Schwartz caught up with just over Anaheim’s blue line. From the top of the left circle, Schwartz fired it past Dostal.
Beniers made it 2-0 at 10:37 when his shot went off the net but came right back to him, and he poked it in off the edge of his stick.
Beniers had gone 13 straight games without a goal from Feb. 28 until getting his 20th in last Saturday’s 7-2 win at Nashville and now his 21st, tying him with Dallas’ Wyatt Johnston for most among rookies this season.
“I think I was playing good before and after (the 20th),” Beniers said. “Sometimes, it just doesn’t go in, and that’s how the game works. You get one, and it just starts falling.
“Everyone goes through it. I think I was playing a good game before, and I think I’m playing the same game now – they’re just going in.”
McGinn cut Anaheim’s deficit to 2-1 with 1:16 left in the second period. In a scramble behind the net, Derek Grant came up with the puck and got it out to McGinn in the middle of the left circle. McGinn’s shot went off Jones’ right pad and into the far side.
Sprong got his 20th of the season to make it 3-1 when he skated around a defender and lifted a shot high over Dostal’s left glove. Wennberg’s 13th came on a shot from behind the red line into the empty net with 2:15 to go.
Game Notes
- McCann’s assist on Beniers’ first-period goal gave him 29 points (13 goals, 16 assists) in the last 28 games dating back to Jan. 25.
- Seattle won its 10th series of the season, going 3-1-0 against the Ducks.
Up Next
- Ducks: Visit Edmonton on Saturday night.
- Kraken: Host Los Angeles on Saturday night.
