Seattle wins again

 

While Seattleites mourn the Seattle Mariners failed bid to make their first World Series, Seattle’s other teams keep on winning.

With Mariner superstar Julio Rodriguez in attendance, along with several members of the Seattle Storm and Seattle PWHL, the cities professional women’s hockey team slated to begin play last month, the Seattle Kraken bested the Edmonton Oilers, 3-2, last night at Climate Pledge Arena. The University of Washington defeated 23^rd ranked Illinois, yesterday afternoon.

The Kraken are now undefeated, 3-0-0, in three home games this season. They come off a 2-2-2 road trip that saw the Kraken travel 6,000 miles, playing in six different cities. Last night’s victory was the second consecutive win for Seattle, besting two of the top teams in the NHL, Winnipeg and Edmonton.

Joey Daccord-stop us if you’ve heard this before- was the star of the game for the Kraken with 31 saves on 33 shots. Kraken captain Jordan Eberle, who began his career as an Oiler, led the offense with his third and fourth goal of the season

Edmonton, (3-3-1), Stanley Cup finalists the past two seasons, have dominated the Kraken since Seattle came into the league. The Oilers had won nine of ten previous meetings and the four all-time leading scorers against Seattle all wear Edmonton uniforms= Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zack Hyman.

``(Eberle and Beniers) were fantastic,’’ said Kraken coach Lane Lambert in last night’s post-game press conference. ``Joey was fantastic from the start of the game. And we needed him to be. Ebs had two great goals, but it was contributions from the whole team. Everybody contributed at some point.’’

Eberle opened the scoring at 1:23 of the first period off a pass from linemate Matty Beniers. Rookie Berkly Catton picked up his second NHL assist on the play.

The Kraken made it 2-0 in the second period thanks to the efforts of their fourth line of Ryan Winterton-Ben Meyers-Tye Kartye. Winterton, still looking for his first NHL goal, came in on a partial break and sent a pass over to Kartye. Goaltender Stuart Skinner looked a bit out of position and unsuccessfully dove across the crease attempting a stick save.

``They’re like a dog on a bone,’’ said Lambert of his fourth line. ``They’re creating bumps and going to the net.’’

Edmonton cut the lead in half as defenseman Evan Bouchard slapped home a shot, a power-play goal in the final five minutes of the second period.

The Oilers had a big territorial advantage at the beginning of the third period, but the Kraken defense kept Edmonton shooters on the perimeter preventing them from high quality shots.

Then the Kraken came down the ice and scored on one shot. Beniers sent Eberle in on a partial break. On his first goal, Eberle shot high, this time he slid a low shot into the net.

``We were on our heels a little bit at the beginning of the third period,’’ said Eberle. ``But we’ve been playing a more structured, more detailed game. I think there’s still one more level we can reach in our game.’’

The Oilers did add another goal at 14:25, when defenseman Darnell Nurse tipped in a shot from Mattias Ekholm. Draisaitl assisted on both Edmonton goals, but the Kraken kept Edmonton’s other superstar- McDavid- off the scoreboard.

In the final seconds of the contest, Vince Dunn blocked an Edmonton shot and looked like his old self after being sidelined with injuries the second half of last season.

Despite a good start, the Kraken are missing four regulars with injuries- forwards Kappo Kakko, Jared McCann and Freddy Gaudreau along with defenseman Ryker Evans.

Brandon Montour returned to the lineup after a week’s absence as his brother Cameron passed away after battling ALS for four years. After the game, the Kraken presented Montour with the F1 helmet that’s awarded to the star of the game. The helmet comes from the movie of the same name starring Brad Pitt and produced by Kraken co-owner Jerry Bruckheimer.

The Kraken return to action on Tuesday night to face the Montreal Canadiens, who are currently first in the Atlantic Division with a 7-4-1 record. The Canadiens defeated Seattle, 5-4 in overtime, on Oct. 14.

Scoring Summary

First Period

S- Jordan Eberle 3 (Matty Beniers 4, Berkly Catton 2) 1:23.

Second Period

S- Tye Kartye 1 (Ryan Winterton 1, Ben Meyers 2) 6:25.

E- Evan Bouchard (Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) 15 :24.

Third Period

S- Eberle 4 (Beniers 5) 12 :11.

E- Darnell Nurse (Mattias Ekholm, Draisaitl) 14 :25.

Saves- E- Stuart Skinner, 21. S- Joey Daccod 31.

Three Stars- 1. Jordan Eberle 2. Joey Daccord 3. Tye Kartye.