A return by highly physical fourth line forward Jacob Melanson to the Kraken lineup for an important Friday night home tilt did not have the cumulative impact the team might have hoped for.
Melanson made his return after a week spent in AHL Coachella Valley and was his usual hard-hitting, punishment-dishing self, notching a team high 10 hits. But his team didn’t always follow suit, waiting until the final period of this 4-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks to make a concerted late push that ultimately fell short.
Jaden Schwartz scored roughly two minutes into the third period off a nice net front feed by Shane Wright to draw his team within a goal, but Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal held firm the rest of the way. Pavel Mintyukov sealed things with an empty net goal with 80 seconds remaining as the Kraken took their fifth loss in the last six games.
The Kraken again started slowly, managing just two shots in the opening period and allowing goals by Cutter Gauthier and a Ryan Poehling marker that was the fourth shorthanded effort allowed in the last five games. Jared McCann finally got the Kraken on the board four minutes into the middle frame off a high-slot setup by Jordan Eberle, but the Ducks countered with a power play goal from Chris Kreider to make it 3-1 just two minutes later and the home side was chasing the game from there.
This game had relatively important implications for the standings, with the Kraken heading into it sitting in a wild-card spot and training the Ducks by just two points for third place in the Pacific Division with a game in-hand. They still have that game in-hand but are now four points behind Anaheim and out of a playoff position.
Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer did what he could to keep his team in it, making a nice poke check save on a second period penalty shot by Jansen Harkins. Grubauer couldn’t be faulted on any of the Anaheim goals, the first two coming when forwards raced by defenders and the third off a rebound in which two players had cracks at the loose puck.
But with just 11 shots total the opening two periods, the Kraken didn’t come out for this one with nearly the same intensity as Melanson. The rugged winger, whose mid-December lineup appearance helped trigger a 10-game points streak by the Kraken that vaulted them into a playoff position, was sent back down as the result of a numbers crunch once Schwartz returned from injury.
And to hear him tell it before Friday’s contest, he didn’t change much while down with the Firebirds.
“I don’t really do too much differently,” Melanson said. “I still kind of throw my body around and bring that energy like I do up here. I still just play the same way, but maybe throw in a couple of different plays that I wouldn’t up here.”
That became apparent from his first shift onward as he worked to bring the Kraken needed early energy. By game’s end, his 10 hits were double that of the next-best total by Eeli Tolvanen and one fewer than the rest of the Kraken team combined.
Tolvanen spent much of the final frame throwing his weight around as well, with the Kraken desperately trying to get back into the contest.
