Knights' spoil Eberle's night

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It's always something special when the Seattle Kraken square off with the Vegas Golden Knights. Seattle's first-ever regular-season game was in Sin City back in 2021. This year, the teams met in the Winter Classic, New Years' Day at Safeco Field. With a national TV audience looking on, Seattle's Joey Daccord recorded the first shutout in Classic history leading Seattle to a 3-0 victory.

Last night, Kraken fans celebrated the career of Jordan Eberle, playing in his 1,000 NHL game. Eberle signed a two-year extension at the trade deadline - actually taking a bit of a pay cut. against the Knights.

When Seattle's Oliver Bjorkstrand scored on a breakaway at 11:30 of the third period to give the Kraken a 4-2 lead, it looked like the home team was on its way to another big victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion, Knights.

But Jonathan Marchessault scored the tying goal with 16 seconds left in regulation (his second of the game and 19th in 22 games) and Jack Eichel notched the game-winner in overtime as the Knights escaped Climate Pledge Arena with a 5-4 victory.

“A big part is we gave up a goal right after going up by two,” said Seattle coach Dave Hakstol. “There’s a couple of opportunities to take care of the puck.”

What it all means standings-wise: the top three teams in the Central and Pacific Divisions make the Western Conference playoffs. The Knights (35-23-7, 77 points) are currently the second wild-card as eight teams compete in the playoffs. Right behind them are Minnesota (71 points), St. Louis (69) and Seattle (68). The Kraken are now 28-24-12 with 18 games remaining on their schedule- and three teams to leapfrog over.

After a scoreless first period, the Kraken came out strong in the early minutes of the second. With the Knights' defense hemmed in their own zone, the Kraken were able to get some fresh bodies on the ice and Andre Burakovsky took a lead pass from Jared McCann and fired from the right circle.

The Knights responded with two goals to take a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes. After Marchessault’s first goal of the night, Pavel Dorofeyev scored off a faceoff. With the faceoff men- Seattle’s Matty Beniers and Vegas’ William Karlsson tied up, Dorofeyev came in from behind and slapped a screen shot past goalie Philipp Grubauer.

Seattle also got off to a fast start in the third period rattling off three consecutive goals. Beniers scored his first goal in nine games, two minutes into the period then Brandon Tanev scored off a tip-in; a goal that was originally credited to Pierre Eduoard-Bellemare.

The Kraken looked in good shape after Bjorkstrand’s goal, but Karlsson notched the response goal less than a minute later. Then with 16 seconds remaining, Marchessault scored off a drop pass from Chandler Stephenson.

“It stings not to hold the lead and walk away with two points,” said Hakstol, who talked about going back to the drawing board and rebounding from this defeat. However, the MoneyPuck fan site rates the Kraken’s chances of making the playoffs now at 9%.

Eberle was awarded third star of the game, what would have to be considered a sentimental choice. He’s certainly been as much a part of Kraken history as any player, even showing up at the Kraken’s expansion draft party in the summer of 2021, when the team selected its initial players.

Eberle was also the first Seattle player to record a hat trick and the first (and only) player to score an overtime playoff goal – last season in Game 4 against Colorado. He’s also been an alternate captain since Day One and considered one of the team’s leaders.

Ironically, the next player to receive the `Silver Stick’ for 1,000 games- Washington state resident T,J. Oshie currently at 997. Oshie and the Washington Capitals come to Climate Pledge Arena tomorrow night. Needless to say, every game now for the Kraken is a `must’ win.

First Period

No scoring.

Second Period

S- Andre Burakovsky 3 (Jared McCann 26, Tye Kartye 8) 4:14. V- Jonathan Marchessault (Ivan Barbashev, Jack Eichel) 6:36. V- Pavel Dorofeyev (Willian Karlsson) 15:00.

Third Period

S- Matty Beniers 9 (Will Borgen 21, Tomas Tatar) 1:55. S- Brandon Tanev 6 (Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare 2, Kailer Yamamoto 7) 5:21. S- Oliver Bjorkstrand 17 (Eeli Tolvanen 19, Yanni Gourde 17) 11:30. V- Karlsson (Braydon McNabb, Shea Theodore) 12:23. V- Marchessault (Chandler Stephenson, Eichel) 19:43.

 Overtime

V-Eichel (Alex Pietrangelo) 3:01.

Shots on Goal- Vegas 34, Seattle 30.

Hits- Vegas 24, Seattle 28

Penalty Minutes- Vegas 4, Seattle 6.

Faceoffs- Vegas 54.5%. Seattle 45.5%.

Referees- Kyle Rehman, Mike Marcovic. Linesmen- Bevan Mills, Kyle Flemington.

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