Matty Beniers and Jaden Schwartz each had a goal and an assist and Martin Jones turned aside 18 shots as the host Seattle Kraken continued their push toward the playoffs with a 4-1 victory over the slumping Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.
The Kraken (41-25-8, 90 points) hold the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference with eight games remaining. Seattle has a five-point edge on the Winnipeg Jets, who have the second wild-card spot.
Daniel Sprong and Alex Wennberg also scored for the Kraken, who won at home for the first time in five games.
Brock McGinn scored for the Ducks (23-42-10, 56 points), who have lost six straight. Backup goaltender Lukas Dostal stopped 35 shots.
Seattle set the tone early as forwards Schwartz and Beniers scored goals in a 2:41 span in the first period.
Schwartz opened the scoring at 7:56 with a slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle. Schwartz worked a give-and-go with defenseman Will Borgen before beating Dostal to the blocker side.
Beniers, who is one of the favorites to win the league’s Norris Trophy as the rookie of the year, tucked the puck in from the side of the net to make it 2-0 at 10:37 of the first.
McGinn scored for the Ducks with 76 seconds to go in the second period, squeezing a shot between the right arm of Jones and the post to cut the Kraken lead to 2-1.
Sprong scored a power-play goal at 15:41 of the third to restore the Kraken’s two-goal lead, 3-1. Sprong walked in from the point and fired a high shot to the top corner through a maze of Ducks defenders.
Wennberg rounded out the scoring, catching the Ducks off guard with an empty-net goal at 17:45.
Anaheim played without its two top scorers, Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry. Zegras, who leads Anaheim with 22 goals and 37 assists, sustained a lower-body injury in the first period of a 5-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.
Terry did not make the trip because his wife, Dani, is expecting their first child.
–Field Level Media
