Cutter Gauthier scored a goal and added an assist as the Anaheim Ducks continued their sudden surge, beating the Seattle Kraken 4-2 on Friday night for their sixth straight win after a nine-game skid.
Lukas Dostal stopped 21 shots for Anaheim. Ryan Poehling scored short-handed, Chris Kreider chipped in a power-play goal, and Pavel Mintyukov sealed it with a long empty-netter. The Ducks have three games remaining on a five-game road trip that began with a 2-1 shootout win at NHL-leading Colorado on Wednesday.
Seattle got third-period goals from Jared McCann and Jaden Schwartz, but couldn’t erase the early deficit. Philipp Grubauer made 27 saves and denied Jansen Harkins on a second-period penalty shot with a timely poke-check.
Anaheim jumped out quickly behind a dominant first period, outshooting Seattle 13-2 in the opening 20 minutes. Gauthier opened the scoring just over a minute in, cutting to the middle from the right side and beating Grubauer with a wrist shot. Poehling made it 2-0 late in the period while Anaheim was shorthanded, racing in and finishing despite Grubauer’s attempt to disrupt the play.
McCann pulled the Kraken closer early in the second, but Kreider answered moments later on the power play, cashing in a rebound to restore Anaheim’s two-goal cushion. Schwartz made it a one-goal game early in the third by slipping behind the defense and tipping in Shane Wright’s pass, but Mintyukov’s empty-netter ended Seattle’s comeback hopes.
Up next
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Ducks: Back-to-back in Alberta — at Calgary on Sunday, at Edmonton on Monday.
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Kraken: Host New Jersey on Sunday.
