Utah Hockey Club 4-5 Anaheim Ducks (Shootout)
The Anaheim Ducks showed incredible grit in coming from behind twice times away to the Utah Hockey Club. In the end, the guests edged the NHL's newest team in a shootout.
Clayton Keller got Utah in front after 86 seconds, which gave the hosts the perfect start. Robby Fabbri responded for the Ducks a few minutes later with his first of the game. With a little less than four minutes to go in the opening frame, Barrett Hayton fired one home to give Utah back the lead.
Less than three minutes into the second period, the lead doubled, as Logan Cooley made the most of a power play situation. Keller got this second of the game 5:57 into the second, and that saw Utah go up 4-1. At this point, things were not looking promising for Anaheim. Yet, they were not ready to give up quite yet.
Halfway through the second stanza, Isac Lundestrom got one back for the guests, making it 4-2 to Utah. While no more scoring occurred in that period, the Ducks were still maintaining the pressure.
Fabbri then scored his second of the match to make it 4-3 with 7:25 left to play. It got worse for the home team, as with 16 seconds left in an Anaheim power play, Brett Leason scored to tie it up.
A shootout would be required to decide the winner, with Mason McTavish the only one to score from any side. The Ducks' third-line centre converted what would be the final shootout attempt to give his team the 5-4 win.
They are now 13th in the Western Conference, with the result being their third win out of their last four. As for Utah, they are still a point back of the Calgary Flames for the last spot in the West's playoff spots. The result ended a four-game winning streak for them, and was just their second defeat in their last eight.
Colorado Avalanche 5-2 Seattle Kraken
A Joel Kiviranta hat-trick did the trick for the Colorado Avalanche, as they got past the visiting Seattle Kraken 5-2.
Cale Makar put the home team in front at the midway point of the first period on a power play. Jared McCann responded with 2:07 to go in the period to put Seattle on level pegging going into intermission.
Kaapo Kakko then got his first goal for his new side to put the Kraken in the lead. That advantage lasted for a mere 11 seconds, as Valeri Nichushkin equalised a moment later. After that, it was all Kirivanta. The left-wing third-liner got his first of the game with 7:59 to go in the period.
From there, Seattle tried their best to come from behind before the end of the game. Thirteen of their 30 shots in the game came in the final period as they mounted the pressure on the Avalanche. In the end, they just could not find another answer. Kirivanta added two empty net goals a minute apart in the final moments of the third to give the hosts a great win.
Colorado stay sixth in the Western Conference as they added a bit more cushion to those immediately below them. Tonight was their third win on the spin, and things are now looking up for the Avalanche. As for the Kraken, they are 12th in the West, seven points out from a playoff spot. With this being their fifth consecutive loss, they will want to turn things around with haste.