*Photo from ABC News*
Who would have guessed, that, in the middle of December, the Anaheim Ducks of all teams would be leading the Pacific Division? Hockey is like that sometimes. Troy Terry scored, Trevor Zegras scored, and the Ducks defeated the Seattle Kraken 4-1 on Wednesday night.
The Ducks improve to a 17-9-5 record this season, with their 39 points good for a 3 point lead on the Pacific, ahead of the currently shut down Calgary Flames in second place. They've won 4 of their last 5 games to take the division lead, in large part thanks to Terry, who's scored 3 goals in his last two games, and 18 so far this season.
Ducks forward Derek Grant said "Whether we're playing the No. 1 team or the 32nd team, we spend time with video watching them and their tendencies, but a lot of times we're focusing on what we've done in the past games, and what's working and what's not."
Zegras kicked off the scoring 10:04 into the game, scoring his 7th goal of the season to make it a 1-0 Ducks lead, assisted by Kevin Shattenkirk and Sonny Milano. 15:25 into the period, Grant scored while Anaheim was shorthanded, with his second goal of the season making it 2-0 unassisted.
In the second period, Terry struck fast, scoring on the power play 1:52 into the second, putting the Ducks ahead 3-0, thanks to assists from Jakob Silfverberg and Sam Steel. The Kraken got on the board 14:26 into the second, when Ryan Donato scored his 7th goal of the season, making it a 3-1 game on the power play. Sam Carrick scored the lone goal of the 3rd, making it a 4-1 lead for the Ducks, which remained intact for the rest of the game.
With starting goalie John Gibson sidelined due to injury, Anthony Stolarz started back to back games for the Ducks for the first time this season. Stolarz continued his overall hot streak as of late, saving 19 of the 20 shots he faced, good for a strong .950 save percentage in the win. Stolarz has now won 6 straight games to push his record to 6-2-1 in 9 starts this season.
Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins said of Stolarz that "'Stoley's' been outstanding. We just can't say enough about him. He comes in every day, he works, high-character guy, smile on his face, and it's amazing how he goes about his business."
Philipp Grubauer was the starting goalie for the Kraken, taking the loss in this one to drop to 7-12-3 in 22 starts this season. Grubauer turned aside 15 of the 18 shots on goal the Ducks sent his way before he was forced to leave after being shaken up in a collision. Chris Driedger came on in relief and saved 5 out of 6 shots.
Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol said of the game that "We didn't manage the puck well enough to put ourselves into spots where we could forecheck well and generate more O-zone time. That, ultimately, didn't allow us to generate a whole lot offensively."
The Ducks get back in action with a Friday night home contest against the Arizona Coyotes, with Stolarz likely to start if Gibson can't go once again. The Kraken host the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night, with Driedger slated to start in Grubauer can't recover in time.
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