Jordan Eberle, Jared McCann, and Daniel Sprong each recorded a goal and an assist as the Seattle Kraken defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 7-3 on Saturday night, marking their fourth consecutive victory.
Having recently secured their first Stanley Cup playoff berth, the second-year Kraken continued their momentum with additional goals from Eeli Tolvanen, Yanni Gourde, Adam Larsson, and Morgan Geekie. Jamie Oleksiak contributed three assists.
Martin Jones made 15 saves over two periods before Philipp Grubauer took over in the third, adding 11 saves of his own.
Seth Jones scored twice for Chicago, which has lost 10 of its last 11 games and is tied with Columbus for the fewest points in the NHL at 56. Lukas Reichel also found the net for the Blackhawks, and Petr Mrazek made 24 saves.
Tolvanen opened the scoring for Seattle 4:48 into the game with a shot from the left circle, his 18th of the season. Chicago quickly responded just 57 seconds later when Jones scored from low in the slot.
Eberle and Gourde scored before the end of the first period, giving the Kraken a 3-1 lead. Eberle’s 20th goal made him the fifth Kraken player to reach that milestone this season.
“That’s been our situation all year and our strength all year,” Eberle said. “Every line, we’re getting contributions from different guys, different lines, different defense pairings, whatever it may be. That’s obviously a big skill to have going into the playoffs.”
With their playoff spot already secured, Kraken coach Dave Hakstol acknowledged some “sloppy” play on Saturday.
“Some of that is inherent, coming off a big win the other night,” he said. “You can talk yourself out of that as much as you want, but some of that leaked into our game tonight. It cost us some zone time. It looked sloppy; it felt sloppy at times, even though we didn’t give up a ton of chances. The guys know it, and we’ve got to make sure we clean that backup.”
Chicago kept the game within reach at 5-3 during much of the third period, but McCann’s 39th goal and Geekie’s ninth scored three minutes apart, sealed the victory for Seattle.
“I thought the first 12 minutes of the third period, we were the better team,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “We were really putting pressure on them. Then, about a minute before they scored their sixth goal, we started turning pucks over and going sideways on our game plan. They’re too quick a team to turn pucks backward. That’s what happened on the last two goals.”
Game Notes
Jujhar Khaira appeared to score for the Blackhawks with 3:14 left in the second period, but Seattle successfully challenged for offside, nullifying the goal. With 98 points, Seattle is just two behind the third-place Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division. The Kings have two games left, while the Kraken have three. Seattle killed off two of its three short-handed situations on Saturday and has killed off 61 of 69 since Feb. 14.
UP NEXT
- Blackhawks: Host the Wild on Monday night.
- Kraken: Visit the Coyotes on Monday night.
