Jordan Eberle scored twice and added an assist in Seattle’s three-goal first period, leading the Kraken to a 4-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night.
Jared McCann contributed a goal and an assist, Brandon Tanev also scored, and Oliver Bjorkstrand had two assists as Seattle extended its point streak to three games (2-0-1). Joey Daccord made 30 saves.
“We were disappointed to lose the point the other night,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said, referring to Friday’s 4-3 overtime loss to St. Louis when the Blues rallied from a 3-1 deficit. “But we returned and got the two critical points tonight. We have one game left before a long break, so we have to get our heads completely focused on that job, make sure we’re ready to go for a real competitive 60 minutes.”
Yegor Chinakhov scored twice in the third period for Columbus, and Daniil Tarasov had 23 saves. The Blue Jackets have lost seven of their last nine games (2-5-2).
With Columbus’ Dmitri Voronkov off for holding, Bjorkstrand fired a hard shot from just beyond the top of the right circle. Eberle deflected it past Tarasov to open the scoring with 7:20 left in the first period.
McCann made it 2-0 with just under four minutes remaining in the period, breaking up the left side for a pass from Eberle and a shot from the middle of the left circle.
Eberle needed just 14 seconds of the Kraken’s second power-play opportunity to make it 3-0. McCann took a hard shot from the left circle, which Tarasov saved but couldn’t control. With the puck loose in the crease, Eberle swept it into the far side with 2:02 left in the first.
Eberle became the first Kraken player with multiple power-play goals in a game, and Bjorkstrand got his second assist to increase his team-leading points total to 40.
“The first one, we broke in well, had a couple of good looks at it, and it went off their guy, off the stick, and went in,” Eberle said. “The second one, we found a way to get back, created some movement, and made a play, and Jared found the puck. We haven’t done much of that this year – we’ve had some shots from the side, and we’ve been burying it that way, so it was nice to find different ways to put it in.”
Chinakhov got the Blue Jackets on the scoreboard with a backhander at 7:12 of the third period. He then pulled them within one on a breakaway with 4:02 remaining.
Tanev clinched it for the Kraken with an empty-netter with 13 seconds left.
“We didn’t have much to start the game but found a way to push ourselves,” Columbus coach Pascal Vincent said. “Early on, their transition game really hurt us – they’re really good at that. They connected on breakouts in their neutral zone groups; then, we got better at closing the gap and putting pressure on their guys. I thought we created more turnovers. In the second period, we started to move, then in the third period, we were going pretty well.”
Upcoming Games
- Blue Jackets: At St. Louis on Tuesday night.
- Kraken: At San Jose on Tuesday night.
