ANAHEIM, Calif. — There were vast swaths of this season opener when the Kraken and their dazzling power play looked set to turn the page completely on what had been a dismal first season.
But there were also momentary lapses, the inopportune penalties taken and odd-man rushes allowed that let an outplayed Anaheim Ducks squad back into a contest that should have been long over. By the time this was officially done, the Kraken had taken a 5-4 overtime loss when Troy Terry broke in alone and beat Philipp Grubauer on the backhand.
Matty Beniers had given the Kraken a two-goal lead early in the third, slotting home a rebound off a Jaden Schwartz shot. But the Ducks would draw closer midway through the frame, with Frank Vatrano beating Philipp Grubauer with a snapper from the high slot.
Then, with 6:35 to go and Ryan Donato in the penalty box after taking his second hooking call of the night, Trevor Zegras one-timed home the tying power play goal from the right circle.
The night hadn’t started off much better than it was finishing for the Kraken, who turned a puck over in the opening minute and yielded a goal by Terry on their very first shot allowed.
Fortunately for coach Dave Hakstol’s bunch, the ensuing 19 minutes of the period looked almost nothing like the familiarity displayed on that initial shift. Jared McCann knotted the equalizer for the first of three consecutive Kraken power play goals, tying the game 1-1 with a short sider, top shelf on Ducks goalie John Gibson.
It was part of a momentum reversal in what became a 20-shot first period barrage by the Kraken that carried over into the middle frame.
It didn’t hurt that other Kraken newcomers from this summer factored in the team’s initial three goals, starting with defenseman Justin Schultz drawing his first of two assists on McCann’s blistering tying strike.
Just 37 seconds into that second period, Andre Burakovsky gave the Kraken the lead for good with his own nasty wrist shot from the left circle. Then, at the 6:28 mark, Oliver Bjorkstrand unleashed another wristed blast from the right circle to put the visitors ahead by two.
Last season, entire weeks would go by without the Kraken managing a single power play goal, let alone three in the same contest. They kept pouring it on after Bjorkstrand’s goal and Ducks goalie Gibson had to stand on his head at times to keep even more pucks from entering his net.
But just when you thought the Kraken had left every part of last season’s dismal 30th overall finish behind, they let the Ducks back in it late in the second period. The Kraken to that point had enjoyed a 4-1 edge in penalty calls, so the entire rink knew one was coming against them the moment somebody gave the referees an excuse.
That somebody would be Donato, who took a hooking call at the 17:14 mark. The ensuing Ducks power play was going nowhere and at one point the Kraken broke out on a 2-on-1 rush with Alex Wennberg leading the way.
But Wennberg didn’t shoot and wound up turning the puck over. Kraken defenseman Will Borgen had raced up ice on the play, but then tumbled into the corner and couldn’t get up in time to prevent a 2-on-1 rush the other way.
This time, Mason McTavish carried it in before sending a cross-ice pass to Ryan Strome for the tap-in behind Grubauer. McTavish is considered a front-runner for the Calder Trophy top rookie award along with Beniers of the Kraken, who’d assisted on the earlier McCann goal.