Eberle, Jones `deliver’ Kraken victory

The odds that two players on the same National Hockey League would become fathers on the same day are slim. The odds are astronomical that the two players – in this case the Seattle Kraken’s Jordan Eberle and Martin Jones- would be the stars of the game the following night. However, truth is stranger than fiction, as Eberle and Jones led the Kraken to a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins last night before a raucous crowd at Climate Pledge Arena. Eberle had a goal and an assist and Jones, starting his fourth game in a row, had his best game as a Kraken stopping 32 shots.

The Kraken win the brief homestand, 2-1, (4-4-2 overall) and they dominated Vancouver in the loss outshooting their guests, 36-18. Pittsburgh started the season at 4-0-1 and then went 0-for-the Pacific Division losing road games in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Seattle.

The Kraken put the puck in the net four times in the second period but only two counted. The goals that counted were a beautiful passing play from Jaden Schwartz behind to net who hit Eberle in front for the score. Eberle, who’s scored 264 goals in his first NHL career, became the 17^th different Kraken to score a goal this season, a league high.

“This is special and something you always remember,” said Eberle, who told media members at practice yesterday morning that he hoped to score a goal for his newborn son, Deacon. “I think, more importantly, we got the win, especially after dropping a couple. We’re trying to get over .500.”

After a scoreless first period, the Kraken appeared to take the lead on a goal set up by Eberle. The Kraken forward looked like he was going to shoot, but when Penguin goalie Casey DeSmith came out a couple of feet, Eberle slid a pass across to Ryan Donato who fired into the open corner. Unfortunately for the Kraken and Donato, who’d been a healthy scratch the previous two games, replaces showed that he was about two-feet offside.

“A few crazy things happened out there with the disallowed goals,” said Kraken coach Dave Hakstol. “But we kept our poise. We kept our foot on the gas. We might have sagged a bit in the third period

Moments later, Pittsburgh took a 1-0 lead. Jaek Guentzel stepped in the passing line to intercept a cross-ice pass at his own blue line and he took the puck down the ice for a breakaway goal. Guentzel had missed the previous four games with an injury but still leads the Penguins with five goals.

The Kraken took a 2-1 lead to the second period intermission as Morgan Geekie tapped home his second goal of the season on a rebound off a Darren Sprong shot. That goal came seconds after a Kraken goal was disallowed due to Alex Wennberg being called for hitting the puck with a high stick. Referees Trevor Hanson and Chris Schlenker spent a couple of minutes looking at the replay as the infraction apparently wasn’t that clear cut.

The Penguins best chance to tie the game came on a power play in the opening minute of the third period. Evgeny Malkin passed across to Sidney Crosby and Smith dove from one side of the net to the other to make a sprawling save, probably Jones’ best save of the season.

“Very special day obviously,” said Jones, who has all four of the Kraken victories with last year’s starter Philipp Grubauer still sidelined with an injury. “The last 24 hours have been a roller coaster. I just tried to wrap my head around playing hockey today. Sometimes when you’re not thinking too much, things work out. That might have been the case today.”

Trailing by one goal, the Penguins went into an all-out defensive mode. Their best chance came with 1:47 remaining when Kris Letang fired from the point and Smith made the save, preventing Crosby from jamming the puck home. A mere 13 seconds later, Schwartz flicked a wrist shot from in front of the Penguins’ bench into the empty net to ice the victory.”

“I like how we played tonight,” said Eberle. “We played on our heels a little bit in the third period but they’ve got some Hall of Famers (Crosby, Malkin and Letang) and Jones made the saves. Offensively, we’ve got to get those second and third shots to score.”

“We measure our season in [five-game] segments,” said Hakstol. “We won this segment [three wins, two losses.].”

The Kraken are on the road next week playing at Calgary, Tuesday night. The Kraken and Flames are tied for third place in the Pacific Division along with the Los Angeles Kings. Those clubs all have 10 points in the standings.

GAME NOTES

• A grand total of five Kraken players has ties to the Penguins. Daniel Sprong was a second round draft choice of Pittsburgh, Jamie Oleksiak was briefly a Penguin  after spending the early part of his career in Dallas, Justin Schultz began his career in Pittsburgh (he played on two Stanley Cup winners in 2016 and 2017), and Jared McCann and Brandon Tanev were on the Penguins two years ago before being drafted by Seattle in the expansion draft.
• Both of Seattle’s wins this week came against teams – Buffalo and Pittsburgh- two Eastern teams that were playing the last game of a Western road trip. The Penguins were also playing back-to-back nights, having dropped a 5-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks Friday night. The Canucks hadn’t won a game until Thursday night when they bested the Kraken, 5-4 at Climate Pledge Arena.
• The Kraken didn’t score any power play goals last night – they only had two power plays- but Seattle has a success rate of 29% with a man advantage. That places them fourth in the league overall. The Kraken power-play percentage was near the bottom of the league a season ago. Faceoffs have also been a problem for the Kraken in their brief history. Last night they won the faceoff battle, 36-33.
• Last night was `Coachella Valley Firebirds Nite.’ Fans were given free caps with the insignia of the Kraken’s American Hockey League affiliate. The Firebirds defeated the Calgary Wranglers yesterday afternoon at the Kraken Practice Facility., 4-2. The Firebirds have defeated Calgary three times this season. The Firebirds are playing their first 22 games away from the Coachella Valley. Their home opener will take place at Acrisure Arena on Sunday, Dec. 18 against the Tucson Roadrunners.
• At every Kraken game a business that has made a contribution to the community is recognized as part of the ‘Kraken Unity Fund’ in-game tradition,  D’Vonne Pickins Jr. was honored posthumously last night. A father of three young children, Pickins was an alum of Rainier Beach High School and a member of the Seattle University basketball team. Pickins became an entrepreneur and opened a small business, The Postman. He also coached youth basketball and football. Pickins was recently killed outside his business establishment. His wife Keanna and his family were in attendance at last night’s game.
• Kraken players signed the jerseys worn in last night’s game and fans will have a chance to bid on those jerseys thru Monday by going to the web site https://onerooffoundation.org/get-involved/anchorauction/ . The Penguins have also donated the jerseys of several of their top players- Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Bryan Rust, Jeff Carter and Tristan Jarry. Pickins’ memorial will take place at Climate Pledge Arena on November 10^th He played basketball and graduated from SU in the building when it was still known as Key West Arena.

SCORING SUMMARY

First Period

No scoring.

Second period

P- Jake Guentzel (unassisted), 10:05. S- Jordan Eberle (Matty Beniers, Jaden Schwartz),  11:20. S- Morgan Geekie (Daniel Sprong, Vince Dunn), 15:33.

Third period

S- Jaden Schwartz (Alex Wennberg, Brandon Tanev), empty net 19:00

Shots on Goal- Pittsburgh 30, Seattle 32.

Penalty minutes- Pittsburgh 4, Seattle 4.

Referees- Trevor Hanson, Chris Schlenker Linesmen- Ryan Gibbons, Bevan Mills.

Threes stars- 1. Jordan Eberle, S. 2. Martin Jones, S. 3. Morgan Geekie, S.