Beniers, Kraken recover against Ducks for fifth straight win

ANAHEIM — Matty Beniers had a goal and two assists for the Seattle Kraken in a 5-4 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Sunday.

Daniel Sprong had a goal and an assist, and Martin Jones made 25 saves for the Kraken (13-5-3), who have won five in a row.

“I don’t really like the term find a way to win,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We build good wins, that’s the bottom line, so our team has confidence in that.”

Troy Terry had a goal and an assist, Trevor Zegras had three assists, and Cam Fowler had two assists for the Ducks (6-15-1), who have lost five of their past six games.

John Gibson allowed five goals on 19 shots before leaving with an undisclosed injury in the third period. He was replaced by Anthony Stolarz who made six saves.

Video: SEA@ANA: Beniers cleans up rebound for PPG in the 2nd

Gibson left after Anaheim defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk fell on top of him as Sprong scored to give Seattle a 5-4 lead 3:41 into the third period.

Ducks coach Dallas Eakins did not have an update on Gibson’s condition after the game.

“When a guy leaves and doesn’t come back, it’s usually not great,” Eakins said.

Beniers had restored Seattle’s two-goal lead when he scored on a rebound in the slot during a power play to make it 4-2 at 9:30 of the second period, but Mason McTavish cut it to 4-3 at 16:34 with his own power-play goal from a sharp angle.

Anaheim then went back on the power play 21 seconds later, and Adam Henrique scored on a one-timer in the slot to tie it 4-4 at 17:55.

“It just seems like it’s this cycle where we come out tentative, we’re not making plays, we’re backing off, we get down 1-0 or 2-0, and then it’s ‘Oh, we’ve got to make a push here,'” Terry said. “We play hard, we play together, we make plays going up the ice, we tie the game, and then we sit back again.” 

Jared McCann gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead 33 seconds into the first period after Jordan Eberle centered a pass from the half wall to him in front.

Video: SEA@ANA: McCann scores sweet goal after face-off win

Alex Wennberg extended it to 2-0 at 6:53, tucking in the puck at the right post off a touch pass from Andre Burakovsky.

“Scoring goals is a lot of fun and it helps the team,” Wennberg said. “Get some confidence in myself. Yes, it’s great, but all that matters is the two points.”

The Kraken received goals from three of their four forward lines.

“We need everybody on our bench in order to play the way that we want, in order to be able to skate and play with the energy that we want,” Hakstol said. “That was a bit of an issue in the first couple [of] periods, we didn’t have great legs.” 

Terry walked in and scored five-hole on a power play to cut it to 2-1 at 14:16, but Vince Dunn skated down the slot and scored with a snap shot to make it 3-1 with 27 seconds remaining in the period.

“We gave up three [power-play] goals,” Hakstol said. “That’s not a great formula for on the road.”

Derek Grant, who had missed the previous 10 games with an upper-body injury, made it 3-2…