Troy Terry scored his 18th goal of the season and Derek Grant netted a short-handed goal, leading the Anaheim Ducks to a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday night.
Trevor Zegras and Sam Carrick also scored for the Pacific Division-leading Ducks, who secured their fourth win in five games by spoiling Seattle’s first visit to Southern California. Anthony Stolarz made 19 saves for Anaheim, which has outscored the Kraken 11-1 in their two meetings this season.
Despite their strong start, the Ducks, who have missed the playoffs for the past three seasons, know the importance of maintaining their best performance against every opponent, even those at the bottom of the standings like Seattle.
“We’ve learned our lessons here,” coach Dallas Eakins said. “We’ve been in a tough spot. We take no one lightly.”
Ryan Donato scored a power-play goal for Seattle, now losing four of its last five games. Philipp Grubauer stopped 15 shots through the first two periods but was replaced by Chris Driedger to finish up the game. The Kraken were on the second night of a back-to-back, having won in San Jose on Tuesday.
“Early on, we gave them a 2-on-1, and then we made a mistake on the power play, and it’s 2-0,” said Jordan Eberle, who had an assist. “It was tight to a point, but then we gave them freebies, and the game is somewhat out of hand. … We made too many mistakes against a good offensive team. You can’t be doing that and expect to come back.”
Anaheim has earned at least one point in eight of its last nine games and moved to a three-point lead over Calgary atop the division. The Ducks’ special teams have been excellent this season, significantly improving from last season’s struggles.
“For us, it’s about the progress we make daily,” said Grant, who scored his second goal in 28 games this season. “We believed in ourselves from Day One, and we’re just enjoying our progress.”
Stolarz, starting in place of the injured John Gibson, was solid in his first back-to-back starts of the season and hasn’t lost in six starts since October.
Zegras, playing his first home game since his spectacular over-the-net pass to Sonny Milano in Buffalo, scored his seventh goal of the season with a wicked wrist shot 10 minutes into the game.
Grant then capitalized on a Seattle power play with an unassisted goal, Anaheim’s third short-handed season tally.
Terry scored from the slot on a power play early in the second period, placing him fourth in the NHL in goals during his breakout season. Only Teemu Selanne (23), Corey Perry (19), and Paul Kariya (19) have scored more goals in the first 30 games of an Anaheim season than Terry’s 18.
Donato scored on Eberle’s setup with four seconds left in a power play late in the second period, marking his first back-to-back goals this season.
Carrick sealed the game with a remarkable tight-angle shot from below the goal line early in the third period, securing the Ducks’ 10th win in 16 home games this season in front of a loud crowd.
“It’s been fun, and we’re a pretty confident group right now,” Carrick said. “We know what we’ve got, and we know what our expectations are.”
UP NEXT
- Kraken: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.
- Ducks: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Friday.
