Kraken Escape Dismal First Period For Opening Night Win vs. Ducks
SEATTLE, Wash. - Mason Marchment — and really every Seattle Kraken not named Joey Daccord — was having a rough go of it in the first period against the Anaheim Ducks at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday.
Making his debut with Seattle, the 30-year-old forward was forced off the puck by Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe a couple times in the first minute. A defensive zone giveaway at 3:50 set up Anaheim’s Olen Zellweger for a shot on goal, and an offensive zone turnover to Chris Kreider around the 6:00 mark stalled a possession.
Marchment wasn’t alone in his struggles, but it wasn’t an ideal start. Thanks to a goal at 2:21 from Vince Dunn and stellar goaltending from Daccord, the game was tied 1-1 after the first period despite Seattle trailing 17-5 in shots on goal.
“Early on, we were having trouble making some plays coming out of our zone,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “And we ended up in a situation where we spent a lot of time in our zone in the first period. And we had the puck on our stick a lot, so just some turnovers and things like that.”
Heat map from the 1st period
Ducks creating chances around the net and behind the left circle.
The #Kraken... not so much.
(via Natural Stat Trick) https://t.co/veIRbGBa9y pic.twitter.com/uYpJrv6gRD— Joe Pohoryles (@Joe_Poho) October 10, 2025
After some “positive yelling” in the locker room during the first intermission, as forward Jared McCann playfully referred to it, Seattle entered the second period looking for a jump.
They got it from perhaps their least prepared player and their biggest struggler of the night.
Just under four minutes into the second period, Brandon Montour – who had barely squeaked into the lineup after just returning to the ice on Tuesday following an ankle procedure a few weeks earlier – poked the puck away from Ducks forward Troy Terry and bolted up ice.
He fended off Terry’s backcheck, chasing the puck into the right corner as Marchment floated in through the slot. Ducks defenseman Jacob Trouba went to play the puck, leaving Marchment wide open to punch Montour’s pass into the top left corner, putting Seattle ahead 2-1 at 3:50 of the second.
“When you see a D-man like that who obviously missed a lot of training camp, he comes in one of the hardest-working guys, you better get your butt going,” McCann said. “So no excuses, and that’s what we’re gonna have (as our) mindset.”
Gradually, the ice started to tilt back in Seattle’s favor, and the Kraken outshot Anaheim 26-19 over the final two periods, including 15-7 in the third.
McCann added an insurance tally at 4:25 of the third period, and the Kraken secured a 3-1 victory to start 1-0-0 for the first time in the franchise’s fifth season of existence. Daccord made 35 saves in the win, while eight different Kraken skaters got on the score sheet with a point apiece.
“We were a little sloppy with it in the first and kind of forced some plays,” Marchment said. “We had some more time than we thought. That’ll happen in the first game of the season, so I thought we settled in pretty well, and by the third, we were playing pretty good hockey.”
Bennett Sennecke scored the lone goal for Anaheim in his NHL debut, and Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal made 28 saves, many just as impressive as Daccord’s.
Even considering the slow start for Seattle, Daccord felt the team played well in front of him, at least from a perspective of sticking to their process and pushing through a slow start.
“I just think it’s a mindset thing,” Daccord said. “Like hey, when it’s not necessarily going our way, and they were maybe executing their game plan maybe a little bit better than we were at the beginning, we found a way to get through it.”
Skate Shavings: The Power Play
The top line of McCann, Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle in particular shined through down the stretch. In addition to putting together slick passes to set up the insurance tally, they were the only line to finish with a Corsi For Percentage above 50 (55.56 percent; 15-12) while outshooting Anaheim 8-5 as a line at 5-on-5.
The power play finished 0-for-2, but had a couple crucial passes connected in the right spot, the results there could have been a different result.
“I felt like we had some good plays,” McCann said. “(…) We had some low plays there, ‘Ebs’ tried to find me back door, and you know, we’re gonna keep moving around. We’re not going to do the same thing every single night. We’re gonna make teams guess, and I think that’s going to make us deadlier.”
Final Horn: The Youngsters
Ryan Winterton, 22, and Jani Nyman, 21, played in the opening night lineup for the first time, while Berkly Catton, 19, opened the season as a healthy scratch.
Lambert praised Winterton, saying he did a lot of good things that may not necessarily show up on the scoresheet, throwing his body around and making a key backcheck early in the third period.
Nyman, meanwhile, did not take the ice for the final 14:43 of the game, with Chandler Stephenson double-shifting on his line with Tye Kartye and Freddy Gaudreau down the stretch.
Lambert noticed Anaheim shortened its bench, giving its best skaters more minutes as they tried to even the score, and Lambert felt the need to do the same in order to maintain his preferred matchups. That meant Nyman – more known for his goal-scoring prowess – was left out as the team worked to protect the lead.
“At the end of the day you just make decisions for ‘the now,’” Lambert said. “And we move forward from there. It’s part of his development and growth as well.”
As for Catton, Lambert preached patience, and emphasized that until he gets an opportunity, the organization is focusing on continuing his progress through the development staff in practices.
“He’ll get his opportunity at some point here,” Lambert said. “So he just has to be patient. Everyone just has to be patient.”
