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      ANA at SEA | Recap

      There aren’t many nights when Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour will notch three assists only to wind up on the losing side.

      But there was Montour in a somber Kraken locker room postgame Tuesday night, answering for shortcomings on the defensive side rather than the plusses wrought by his blueline offense. There was plenty to answer for in a 6-4 loss to an Anaheim Ducks team that leapfrogged the Kraken in the standings largely because of being afforded ample giveaways, one-timers, back-door chances, and a shortage of key saves against them when it mattered.

      “It was breakdowns – breakdowns that went in the back of the net,” Montour said after the second Kraken defeat in as many nights. “We gave them chances, and they capitalized. No matter who you’re playing, it’s tough to keep a game going when they’re scoring five or six goals. So, we need to clean some things up.”

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          Brandon Montour speaks with the media following the Kraken's 6-4 loss against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.

          The Kraken got plenty of offense against talented young Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal in the opening frame, pumping goals by Eeli Tolvanen, Mitchell Stephens and Jaden Schwartz by him to carry a 3-2 lead into intermission. But the Ducks roared back for three goals on Philipp Grubauer by the 7:58 mark of the second period to grab a 5-3 lead in front of a stunned Climate Pledge Arena crowd.

          Shane Wright would get one back for the Kraken on a power play early in the third period. But Frank Vatrano clinched it for Anaheim with an empty net goal in the final two minutes.

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              ANA@SEA: Wright scores PPG against Lukas Dostal

              Not all the goals against the Kraken were of vintage quality. The final one that second period, by Jackson LaCombe, came from 47 feet out while an earlier strike in the opening period saw Cutter Gauthier swat home his own rebound after Grubauer was slow to react following an initial save.

              The score could have been worse, though, as Grubauer made a diving glove save back across his crease to prevent what looked like a certain Trevor Zegras slap shot goal from the right circle. That candidate for Kraken Save of the Year helped maintain the home side’s first period lead but was largely forgotten after the second period flurry by Anaheim.

              Grubauer was making his first start in 16 days since allowing three goals on the first four shots he faced in Detroit. He was pulled from that game, but with Joey Daccord having played in Edmonton on Monday night, the Kraken weren’t about to waste giving him a rare day off by sticking him in this contest.

              As Montour mentioned, the giveaways and poor puck play weren’t helping. But all the goals against – regardless of fault -- certainly slowed the offensive momentum to where Wright’s power play marker early in the third would be the only Kraken score the rest of the way.

              “It’s just simple things,” Montour said. “Awareness. Letting guys get open. A couple of back-door one-timers – it’s tough for Grubi to see those.”

              He added: “Every time we make a mistake, it seems like it’s in the back of the net. Or that our goalies have to make big-time saves. Again, any time you give up five or six goals, it’s tough to win that game.”

              It was only the second time all season the Kraken have failed to win when scoring at least four times. The only other occasion was two months ago in San Jose when the Sharks beat the Kraken 8-5 in one of those defeats the team spent the next several weeks trying to reverse the negative momentum from.

              They’d appeared on the right track in winning three of the first four games of the last homestand – dropping just a tight affair to the No. 1 overall Washington Capitals. But the last two nights saw them start strong on offense only to fade on the scoreboard.

              “It sucks – I felt like we kind of gave that game away,” said Tolvanen, who scored for the third straight game off a nifty Montour feed to erase an early Troy Terry goal by Anaheim.

              Stephens would briefly put the Kraken ahead after that with some hard work and follow through on a shot. Then, after the Ducks again tied it on the Gauthier goal, Schwartz took another great pass from Montour and scored his team-leading 17th of the season to put the Kraken ahead yet again.

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                  ANA@SEA: Stephens scores goal against Lukas Dostal

                  But it all fell apart early in the second.

                  “It was just sloppy puck play,” Tolvanen said. “I feel like everything they got today, we gave them a lot of them. We had a lot of turnovers, sloppy puck play, mistakes defensively and offensively.

                  “I think this time of year you can’t have that. It sucks and it’s unfortunate that we have to keep talking about this over and over again.”

                  Kraken coach Dan Bylsma agreed, suggesting of Grubauer: “We hung him out to dry.”

                  Bylsma elaborated by saying even the trio of opening period goals wasn’t indicative of the Kraken doing anything particularly well.

                  “We were anticipating a game where if we gave pucks away or gave away too many free opportunities, they would counter with their skill up front but also their defensemen,” Bylsma said. “And you know, I don’t think the first was a comfortable period for us. There were too many opportunities for them – with their rush and skill – to come back at us.

                  “We had some answers for them with some goals of our own,” he added. “But it manifested itself more in the second period with clear turnovers of the puck.”

                  Bylsma said players and coaches were “certainly having a conversation” after the second period about how they were playing. He liked how the Kraken pushed back in the third, with Montour drawing his third assist on Wright’s goal and Jared McCann notching the 200th assist of his career on that play as well. But Ducks goalie Dostal maintained his form in that frame by stopping 11 of 12 shots to preserve the win for his side.

                  And ensure that Montour wouldn’t be discussing his trio of assists all that much with the schedule now approaching its final third of games and the Kraken trying to avoid letting playoff hopes vanish early a second straight year. San Jose visits Thursday night with the Kraken needing wins and points.

                  “Maybe guys are tired, I don’t know, but we let that one slip,” Montour said, adding the back-to-back nights should not have impacted the team much with what’s at stake. “That’s a team that you obviously have to beat to have a chance to make it into the playoffs. So, we let one slip there. Let’s clean some stuff up, get a day off tomorrow (Wednesday) and then get back at it.”