Harkins helps Ducks end Kraken's winning streak at 4

ANAHEIM -- Jansen Harkins got his first two assists of the season for the Anaheim Ducks in a 4-2 win against the Seattle Kraken at Honda Center on Tuesday.

Cutter Gauthier, Jacob Trouba, Alex Killorn and Ross Johnston scored, Jackson LaCombe also had two assists, and Lukas Dostal made 26 saves for the Ducks (30-23-3), who won their final two games before the break for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

"We just stayed patient," Harkins said. "That's just been our mindset the last couple weeks here is just be patient and stick to our game and know at the end of 60 (minutes) we should be the better team."

Jordan Eberle and Tye Kartye scored, and Philipp Grubauer made 27 saves for the Kraken (26-20-9), who had won four in a row.

"You win four in a row, you lose one, you're out of the playoffs," Eberle said. "We've been playing playoff hockey for the last month. Every game is just that important, especially against a division team. They just jumped ahead of us, so that's the mindset that we had and we have to continue having. It's going to be the same way all the way through the rest of the year."

Gauthier gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 4:01 of the second period, scoring five seconds after Anaheim's first power play expired. LaCombe's touch pass to Gauthier in the right circle went off the heel of his stick and fluttered only a short distance, but Gauthier skated into the puck and was able to slap it five-hole on Grubauer for his 25th goal of the season.

The Ducks stretched the lead to 2-0 with 33 seconds left in the period. Harkins warded off Matty Beniers along the right wall and passed the puck back to Trouba, who had skated in off the bench and scored with a one-timer from the right point.

"The first period was fine and then they drained us a little bit the first 10 (minutes of the second)," Eberle said. "We kind of had some pushback and had some opportunities, some 2-on-1s, some chances we didn't capitalize on, and then they hit that late one and it kind of hurt us a little bit."

Killorn made 3-0 just 24 seconds into the third period. With the teams skating at 4-on-4, Killorn took a pass low in the right circle and scored five-hole on Grubauer, who was out of position.

"They were skating, shooting the puck, their 'D' was getting involved," Seattle defenseman Brandon Montour said. "We were just a little sleepy, a little slow to start. They're moving it, they play a fast game, they cheat for offense, they make simple plays up the wall."

Johnston made it 4-0 at 13:54. Grubauer misplayed the puck behind the goal, allowing Harkins to push it out front to Johnston, who scored into the open net.

"You go in trying to anticipate it if he does miss it," Harkins said of the turnover. "At least make him think about it a little bit and go in fast and give yourself a chance to make a play on it."

Eberle scored on a redirection at 15:31 to cut it to 4-1, and with Grubauer on the bench for the extra skater, Kartye scored after knocking down Dostal's attempt at the empty net make it 4-2 at 17:29.

"Just desperation, urgency. That's all it is," Eberle said of the late comeback.

The Ducks won nine of their final 11 games before the Olympic break, including five straight at home, and are the first Pacific Division team to reach 30 wins this season.

“I think our team is doing a great job of buying into what we want to do," LaCombe said. "Everyone is committing to playing better defense, that’s shown over our last stretch here. I think we’re really happy with where we’re at.”

NOTES: The Kraken visit the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday in their final game before the Olympic break. ... Seattle did not have a power play. ... The Ducks are 18-0-0 when leading after the second period this season, and 12-0-0 when scoring first at home. ... Joel Quenneville recorded his 999th win as an NHL coach. ... LaCombe has an NHL career-high 31 assists this season. He is just the third Ducks defenseman to get at least 30 assists in a season in the past 10 years, joining Cam Fowler (three times) and Josh Manson (once).