John Gibson injured in Ducks’ loss to the Kraken

ANAHEIM — Not only did the Ducks lose for the fifth time in six games – this time a 5-4 defeat against the Seattle Kraken – their franchise goalie, John Gibson, left the game with an injury early in the third period on Sunday at Honda Center.

Gibson was injured on the Kraken’s go-ahead goal, by Daniel Sprong, at 3:41 of the third period, breaking a 4-4 tie, when he tried to make a sprawling save on Sprong. Ducks defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk landed on Gibson at the top of the crease. Gibson immediately headed back to the dressing room, and backup Anthony Stolarz came on in relief.

Ducks coach Dallas Eakins did not have a medical update, post-game, but said: “But your experience, and my experience too, when a guy leaves and he doesn’t come back, it’s usually not great.”

Gibson, who faced 19 shots and made 14 saves, did not play on Friday against the Ottawa Senators but was said to have been under the weather.

The up-and-down contest closely resembled the first Ducks-Kraken game in the season opener for both teams on Oct. 12, in which the Ducks won 5-4 in overtime after rallying from 4-2 third-period deficit. This time, the Ducks (6-15-1) fell behind by two goals, three times.

“The first period, giving up a goal on the second shift of the game,” said a downcast Trevor Zegras of the Kraken’s first goal, at 33 seconds.

“We’re just chasing. It’s not a great recipe for success in this league. We know that. I feel like every game we’re chasing our own tail.”

They got back into it as their power play flickered to life for the first time in four games. The Ducks, whose power play was ranked last in the NHL, managed to score three power-play goals for the first time this season, one in the first period and two more in the second. They went 3 for 4 with the man advantage, on goals by Troy Terry, Mason McTavish and Adam Henrique. Zegras added three assists and defenseman Cam Fowler had two assists.

NHL rookie scoring leader Matty Beniers led the Kraken with a goal and two assists, and Sprong, the former Duck, added an assist to go along with his game-winning goal. The Kraken went 1 for 2 on the power play.

“I feel like we’re just hurting ourselves at this point,” Zegras said. “It’s weird when you score three power-play goals, and you don’t win the game. It didn’t usually happen.

“We’ll get there.”

Special teams was a targeted area of focus on Saturday in practice.

“We won the special teams game,” Eakins said. “We need to do that more often.”

The lone even-strength goal by the Ducks was scored by Derek Grant, who returned after missing 10 games with an upper-body injury.

Terry praised the fourth line of Max Jones-McTavish-Brett Leason, saying he thought it has been their best line the last couple of games. The messaging in the players’ meeting on the recent trip in St. Louis has resonated in some quarters.

“Those guys have all elevated,” said Terry, who also assisted on Henrique’s goal, which tied it 4-4 at 17:55 of the second period.

“Guys like me and Z (Zegras), we’re producing and we’re doing the right things but it’s when they (the opposition) have the puck, we need to make sure we’re doing the right things.

“It’s not fair to the rest of the guys when everyone is working hard and me and Trevor go out there and they score and one of us has a breakdown.”

The mental mistakes are happening throughout the lineup, Terry noted, adding: “We’ll go out there, battle and score, and tie the game up. And it feels as though some of the goals that other teams are scoring on us, they’re not necessarily earning them, we’re giving them to them. That’s when it’s really deflating as a team.  We just need to stick to how we play when we’re down. You can see it shift in us.”