Shane Wright tallies first multi-goal game of career in Kraken’s win over Ducks
ANAHEIM, Calif. — An early stolen puck in the offensive zone and quick shot on net was the first sign Kraken forward Shane Wright was tuned in and ready to do some damage.
The next signs were when pucks actually started going in the net for him, namely the first two goals of a 3-1 win Friday night that could ultimately prove far more telling for Wright than a Kraken team largely playing out the string. Wright’s first career multi-goal game is something the Kraken and their fans have long anticipated since he was drafted No. 4 overall in July 2022 with the reputation as a potential game-breaker.
And in this game, at least, he certainly broke the Ducks.
Matty Beniers scored a third Kraken goal — good for his 100th career point — on the power play midway through the second period on a puck that banged in off his skate in the crease. Wright drew a secondary assist on the play, giving him a three-point night.
The Ducks, who’ve now lost 14 of their last 17, finally got one back with just more than three minutes to go in the middle frame as Leo Carlsson picked up an errant puck and snapped one upstairs on Philipp Grubauer.
But they got no closer on a night the Kraken were without top pairing defenseman Adam Larsson, whose ironman streak — which dated back to Nov 21, 2019 and was the second-longest active one for an NHL defenseman — ended at 343 games. Larsson had flown out to be with his girlfriend while awaiting the birth of the couple’s first child.
The Kraken locked things down in the third, with Anaheim needing 11:04 to even register its first shot of the frame.
Wright had come up big again early in that final period, with the Ducks trailing by two and looking to close the gap right after Oliver Bjorkstrand had just hit the crossbar for the Kraken. Anaheim defenseman William Lagesson had a dangerous looking chance from the high slot, but Wright came flying in out of nowhere to block his wrist shot chance at the last second.
The Ducks had shown signs of frustration after the Kraken went ahead by three. Onetime Everett Silvertips behemoth Radko Gudas took a dangerous tripping penalty in open ice where his leg caught part of Brandon Tanev on an attempted hip check and sent him head over heels. Tye Kartye and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare immediately responded, with Kartye wrestling the much bigger player and both toppling to the ice.
Less than a minute later, Cam Fowler cross-checked Wright from behind and send him sliding face first into the boards. Fowler was fortunate to get away with only a minor penalty on the play as Wright was far enough from the boards that he braced himself for impact and wasn’t hurt.
Wright will only have two or three more games after this one before the Kraken send him back to the AHL to avoid triggering the start of his three-year entry level contract. So, the confidence gained by Wright in scoring twice in the same game and three times in three contests this week can’t be understated.
Not only is Wright picking up goals, he’s doing it by going to the opposing net front in a way few Kraken forwards have this season.
It paid dividends on his first goal late in Friday’s opening period as he arrived just in time to redirect a Bjorkstrand shot in behind netminder Lukas Dostal. Then, on his second goal, Wright drifted into the slot area just as Jaden Schwartz took a pass in behind the net.
Schwartz spotted Wright roaming free and immediately hit him with an ensuing pass that the youngster one-timed behind Dostal for a 2-0 lead.
Even when Wright wasn’t scoring, he was still finding empty spaces near the net — positioning himself perfectly late in the second period before an intended cross-ice pass for him was blocked. And, of course, he’d managed the early takeaway in the Ducks’ end about 14 minutes into the contest before managing to get a wrist shot away on Dokstol.
It was the kind of night where Wright and his teammates were engaged early and often, a feat they’ve often failed to accomplish at times this trying season.