Eberle's OT goal sparks victory

 

After winning a couple of high-scoring games, the Seattle Kraken showed that they could win a low-scoring contest last night at Climate Pledge Arena.

The Kraken took the previously undefeated Calgary Flames to overtime, and in an overtime frame where the Kraken controlled the puck, Seattle captain Jordan Eberle fired home the game winner at 48 seconds.

``It’s good to see that we can win both ways,” said Eberle, who scored his fifth goal of the season, ``in high-scoring and low-scoring games.”

The win improves the Kraken’s record to 4-2, bolstered by two overtime victories (Ebersole had the winning goal in a shootout against Minnesota last week). The Flames still undefeated in regulation time, drop to 4-0-1. Seattle’s now won three consecutive games.

The Kraken had the puck virtually all of the overtime with the exception of one clearing pass intercepted by Eberle. The Kraken captain hit Brandon Montour with a pass in front of the net. Calgary goalkeeper Dan Vladar made the initial save, but the puck came back to Montour, who sent a drop pass back to Eberle, who fired home the game winner.

``The draw is critical, when you win a draw in overtime you control the puck for awhile,” said Kraken coach Dan Byslma.``We had Chandler (Stephenson) take the draw because he’s our best faceoff man.”

The Kraken reached the overtime period in large measure to Joey Daccord’s two big saves on Nazem Kadri in the game’s final minutes. The second with Andrei Kuzmenko screening in front of the net.

``For me, I was kind of telling myself during that whole stretch- hey, I’m going to have to make a big save here and if I make the save, we’re going to win,” said Daccord.

The netminder, who has three of Seattle’s four wins after signing a contract extension on the eve of the season, surprised some of the media folk after the game when he admitted he didn’t get a good look at Kadri’s shot.

``The puck just landed at my feet,’’ said Daccord. ``Sometimes you’re just guestimating, where you think it is, just picking up on people’s body language.’’

 

 

After Blake Coleman opened the scoring with a first-period goal, the Kraken caught a break when Kadri picked up a double minor for an errant high stick on defenseman Will Borgen. At that point, Seattle used its one timeout, and assistant coach Jessica Campbell (who works with the power-play units) drew up a play.

The play worked as the Kraken tried to set up Chandler Stephenson in the right circle. The first time he fired wide, but moments later, Jared McCann found Stephenson and he fired the shot home.”

``A five-on-three is always pivotal,” said Bylsma. ``The success rate isn’t 100 percent but you feel you should score. Chandler’s done some good things for us in our last four games.”

At the Kraken’s morning skate, Bylsma and Eberle stressed that the team needed to start winning consistently at home.

``Home ice is important,” said Bylsma. ``The focus before this game was we’ve got to make this a hard place to play. The more we can feel good at home with the fans on our side, the more we can collect wins.”

Seattle continues its five-game homestand on Tuesday when they host the Colorado Avalanche (1-4-1), who have been struggling this season.

KRAKEN NOTES: Seattle was once again without the services of defenseman Vince Dunn, who’s been bothered with what’s being termed an `upper-body injury.’ Josh Mahura took Dunn’s place in the lineup.

Scoring Summary

First Period

C- Blake Coleman (Mikael Backlund) PPG 19:51.

Second Period

S- Chandler Stephenson 1 (Jared McCann 5, Justin Schwartz 3) 12:25.

Third Period

No scoring

Overtime

S- Jordan Eberle 5 (Brandon Montour ¿) 0:48.

Shots on Goal- Calgary 22 (Nazam Kadri 6), Seattle 23 (Brandon Montour 6).

Hits- Calgary 31 (Ryan Lomberg 5), Seattle 27 (Tye Kartye 5)

Faceoffs- Calgary 44.3 Seattle 55.7.

Blocked Shots- Calgary 16 (Rasmus Anderson 4), Seattle 10 (Jamie Oleksiak 4).

Three Stars- 1. Jordan Eberle, S. 2. Joey Daccord, S. 3. Dan Vladar, C.

Referees- Kyle Rehman, Mike Markovic. Linesmen- Kiel Murchison, Andrew Smith.