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.