Leo Carlsson’s flashy goal not enough as Kraken beat Ducks again – Orange County Register

ANAHEIM — On their final Legends Night of the season, the Ducks brought out former captain Ryan Getzlaf to a rapturous ovation, but the night ultimately belonged to the NHL’s least-known franchise, the Seattle Kraken, so that the third-year organization defeated its hosts, 3-1, Friday night at the Honda Center.

Leo Carlsson scored the Ducks’ only goal in spectacular, unassisted fashion. Lukáš Dostál stopped 24 shots. Radko Gudas (upper body injury) returned to action and characteristically performed a booming hip check on Brandon Tanev in the second period. The Ducks were once again without Pavel Mintyukov and Max Jones, while Mason McTavish (lower body injury) missed the game.

Seattle rookie Shane Wright doubled his career point total with two goals and an assist. Matty Beniers also scored a goal for Seattle and Oliver Bjorkstrand had two assists. Philipp Grubauer made 14 saves as the Kraken swept the four-game series against the Ducks for the first time.

Even trailing by two points and having little choice but to open their game, the Ducks failed to gain an advantage in possession or shooting, let alone a goal in the third period.

In the second, a competitive 20-minute first period gave way to tilted ice as Seattle produced a dominating second period saved only by a late individual effort from Carlsson. Natural Stat Trick has both scoring chances and expected goals above 83% for Seattle, which had 100% of high-danger chances in the second half.

Carlsson found a puck that had been knocked away from Troy Terry floating near the offensive blue line. The 19-year-old Swede, playing his 50th NHL game, made a silky pass between the legs to beat Wright before skating to the inside of the right faceoff circle and firing a wrist shot past Grubauer for an unassisted goal. The 10th career total for the 2023 second overall pick arrived with 3:25 on the clock.

That cut what had become a 3-0 deficit at 11:40 after one of last season’s top rookies, Calder Trophy winner Beniers, knocked Wright’s center pass off his skate and past Dostál . Wright’s three-point night was his first career multi-point effort and gave him four points in three games since his recall on March 31.

Seattle had extended its advantage to 2-0 just 2:29 into the period when Wright — the fourth overall pick in the 2022 draft — struck a second time thanks to a less-than-stellar defensive effort by the Ducks. A soft outline somehow covered the entire perimeter of the zone, eluding Cam Fowler, and making its way to Justin Schultz in the right spot. His pass behind the net to Jaden Schwarz brought Fowler out of his position in front of the net, where Wright fired a short side shot past Dostál completely unmolested.