Burakovsky, Kraken Get Their Due

ANAHEIM – Kraken forward Andre Burakovsky was overdue, way overdue when the third period started here Monday. He found an ideal time to score his first goal of the season in his 21st game, tying the score at 2-2 less than a minute into the third period. Just 24 seconds later, defenseman Brandon Montour, all over the ice again this night, scored his seventh goal of the year to regain the Kraken lead. Just like that, the Kraken rubbed out a looming possibility of losing to the division rival Ducks and dipping below .500 while Anaheim potentially jumped ahead in the standings.

“It's been a while,” said Burakovsky, who last scored April 9 last season in a 5-0 home win over Arizona [now Utah]. “It's been a lot of games. It hasn't come easy, so definitely nice to see it going in. Maybe not the prettiest one I've scored in my life, but it will count.”

Kraken coach Dan Bylsma suggested it was fitting that Burakovsky ended his drought with a “dirty” goal as the skilled forward has stepped up his playmaking in recent games, and the Kraken hit three posts in the first 40 minutes.

“We had opportunities to score some goals, out-chancing them, outshooting them,” said Bylsma, who, as a defensive-minded forward, played roughly half of his 429 NHL games for Anaheim. “But the puck wasn't going in. You find yourself down in the game, 2-1, going into the third. You gotta respond ... It's probably not the one [Burakovsky] drew up, but probably the one we needed to get ... the smile on Andre's face said it all as he was coming off the ice after that goal.”

Tale of Two Goals

The Kraken, trailing 2-1, took up possession in the offensive within seconds of the third-period puck drop. None other than Burakovsky won a wall puck battle to keep the puck in the host Ducks' end, moving the puck to linemate Matty Beniers. Beniers sent it to Ryker Evans at the left point, who zipped a pass to Jared McCann to the right of the goal. McCann made a quick, twirling backhanded shot-pass to net-front. Burakovsky, at the right goal post, whacked the bouncing puck past Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal.

On the next shift, lineup returnee Shane Wright won the offensive-zone faceoff with the puck beating a path back to Montour at the right point. As the D-man let loose another laser of a shot, a crossing Eeli Tolvanen jumped straight up in the air and out of the shot’s way. The Kraken bench fired up after a raucous final four-plus minute in the second period, exploded with cheers and effusive high-fives after the two goals.

“We felt like this was a statement game we need to win,” said Burakovsky when asked about the players' discussion at the second intermission. “Sometimes you have to chase it a little bit. And, today, I think we just really stepped up there. We talked about it before the period started, that we all have got to be better, ramp it up a couple of levels.”

Daccord Delivers in Clutch – Again

From there, Anaheim kept coming, but goalie Joey Daccord delivered several more Grade-A stops – he actually started with the clutch saves on two separate Grade-A Ducks shorthanded scoring chances in the second period to keep it at just a one-goal game for the Ducks. Daccord finished the night with 21 saves and his 10^th win of the season, top three in the NHL.

“They didn't have a ton of opportunities, a ton of shot total, but they had the shorthanded ones a couple of times. And in the third period, Joey [stopped] a few more rush chances and a breakaway chance. He was lights out again.”

Eventful Final Four-Plus Minutes of the Second Period

The final four-and-a-half minutes of the second period were eventful, to say the least, though it took quite a while for the second-period buzzer to sound. And even with that, there was a bit more action as players skated to their respective locker room tunnels. The ignition point was Tye Kartye putting a hit on Ducks forward Leo Carlsson, the second overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. The hit sent the 19-year-old into a goal post, knocking it off its moorings as Carlsson crumpled to the ice.

Ducks captain Radko Gudas took exception and went after Kartye, immediately tangling with him enough that both players were eventually penalized for roughing. Referees sent Kartye to the penalty box, and, not wisely, the aforementioned Zegras slashed the Kraken forward, drawing a two-minute penalty during a stopped clock.

Carlsson was motionless for minutes and eventually made his way to the bench and locker room, doubled over. It was announced he would not return to the game due to an upper-body issue. The referees spent extended minutes watching angles to determine if Kartye should draw a major penalty. The verdict was a two-minute minor on Kartye for interference, though it can be strongly argued Kartye didn’t interfere or hit Carlsson late, and perhaps there is no call if Carlsson doesn’t crash into the post.

As it turned out, the result of all that was a continuation of even-strength, 5-on-5 play. Seattle then was given its third power play of the night when the busy Olen Zellweger went off for hooking Jared McCann. The Kraken’s leading scorer almost tied the game on a tip off of a long-range missile of a shot from Daniel Sprong, but it hit the post.

Not much later, Seattle was swarming the Anaheim net when a near-miss skittered along the goal line and came out the other side of Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal, seemingly fair game and still in play. But the referees came with a quick whistle, frustrating the Kraken on the ice and bench. When the middle period finally ended, a number of Ducks players lingered to jaw with the likes of Yanni Gourde (of course) and others.

‘Wright’ Stuff in His Return to Lineup

The last time Kraken rookie Shane Wright played here in Anaheim, he scored a pair of goals (including the game-winner) and added an assist to factor in each of his team’s goals during Seattle’s 3-1 win last April. Monday night, Wright, who was a healthy scratch over the last three games, picked up where he left off at Honda Center. The 20-year-old center scored the first goal of this divisional matchup, out-working former Everett Silvertips star defenseman Zellweger net-front in order to tip a long-range knuckler of a shot from the left point coming off the stick of linemate Oliver Bjorkstrand.

Wright secured position by shoving Zellweger off balance and then skillfully got his stick on the puck to redirect past Ducks goalie Dostal, an early-season star for Anaheim. Seattle’s young defenseman Ryker Evans earned the secondary assist and continues to look comfortable and effective in all zones (he earned a second assist on the Burakovsky goal). Zellweger, by the way, was selected one spot (34^th overall) ahead of Evans in the 2021 NHL Draft.

Wright’s goal was his second of the season. Kraken coach Dan Bylsma and his staff determined the aggressive and hard-on-pucks play Wright exhibited from Day 1 of training camp had waned. Bylsma prescribed a view from the press level for the Kraken’s 2022 first-round pick because “it can help a player better understand the timing of the game” and affords the player in street clothes the opportunity to envision himself returning to the lineup with renewed aggressiveness.

Pretty impressive bounce-back game for Wright and there is certainly something to be said about the enforced reset.

“I kind of realized I have a little more time with the puck than I think I do,” said Wright about what he learned watching the previous three games. “Just being able to hold on to those pucks, rather than kind of throwing it away or making a play with someone else. Just holding on to it, skating it and then trying to make a play with it.”

Bylsma said the Wright goal and Burakosky’s clutch goal were a big boost for the team’s energy levels: "It was great to see Wright get on the board early. I thought he played really well all game long. The faceoff win [setting up Montour’s game-winner is just another example of what he can add.”

Ducks Respond with Pair of Goals

Early in the first period, Anaheim center Trevor Zegras took a pass at a deep angle to the right of Joey Daccord and snapped a shot that beat the Kraken goalie far glove-side high, but happily for the visitors, the puck clanged off the post. But Zegras got a second chance during a delayed hooking penalty whistled on Seattle’s Brandon Tanev. The home squad Ducks took advantage of the pulled goalie for an extra attacker to even the game at 1-1.

Forward Troy Terry, who now has 13 points in 11 games against Seattle, moved past Tye Kartye in the neutral, skated hard right side into the Kraken zone and found an open Zegras in the left lane for the shot and score. The first period ended 1-1, but Anaheim took a 2-1 lead six minutes into the middle period when Terry started a scoring chance that elevated to a goal when the young Ducks D-man Zellweger skated up to release a hard mid-range shot on Daccord, who blocked the puck with his chest but couldn’t control the rebound. Anaheim’s Frank Vatrano cleaned up, shooting the puck past Daccord.