Seattle, WA – To begin a quick two game homestand ahead of the Christmas break, the Seattle Kraken were able to overcome two opening goals by the visiting Winnipeg Jets. Seattle emerged victorious by the same score from the last two times these teams met, back on November 18th. A late penalty cost the Kraken that game, and while Seattle did see two penalties result in goals for the Jets, the home team buckled down to score three unanswered goals. Timely saves by Philipp Grubauer locked down the Seattle net outside of Winnipeg’s power play goals, and the Kraken secured two points.
A reoccurring issue for this Kraken team has been trying to stay out of the penalty box. It’s clear that Seattle has issues on the penalty kill, their PK unit ranking third worst in the entire NHL, but it also doesn’t help that the Kraken cannot stay out of the box in the first place. Seattle had offensive flow to start the game, but it all came to a halt when two quick penalties by the Kraken starting defensemen pair both found wound up in the box. Winnipeg scored just four ticks into the five on three power play to wash away all Seattle momentum. In the second period, Will Borgen’s “holding the stick” penalty allowed the Jets to score 25 seconds into their power play on a rebound that wasn’t cleared. Despite these early troubles, the Kraken did not hang their heads but instead remained resilient. Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol discussed his team’s fight in the win.
“It’s the type of game where you have to stay with it, stay patient. We got a little impatient a couple times in the second period and gave up a couple outnumbered rushes, but there wasn’t a lot of that and in the third there was none. We stayed with it, scored a couple determined goals and came out with the win,” Hakstol reflected.
To continue the theme of resilience, Seattle’s offensive attack was able to keep itself locked into the game despite those two power play goals from Winnipeg squashing big Kraken attacking momentum. Seattle was finding passing lanes and starting a flow against a Jets team that was tired from playing in the second game of a back-to-back, and it was almost all negated by Winnipeg. The Kraken were able to finally break through a little over halfway through the second period thanks to a back-handed bar down goal from alternate captain Jordan Eberle. The highlight reel goal sparked Seattle’s attack, as the Kraken scored the next two goals of the game to take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. The two Seattle skaters that scored both talked about Eberle’s goal postgame.
“That is vintage Jordan Eberle, that’s what I grew up watching. Thats gonna make him sound a little older than he is but he’s been a leader for our team from the beginning, a guy that we rely on a lot and it’s good to see him score,” Jared McCann stated.
“It was disgusting. I always joke with him about his backhander, but after that it’s hard to give him a hard time about it. It was a pretty nice backhand for sure,” Ryan Donato reflected.
The Kraken will get a day of practice following this win, before they get back to action as they host the St. Louis Blues. The two teams will have a rematch of their mid-October contest, battling it out on Tuesday, December 20th with a puck drop of 7PM PST. The Blues will enter Climate Pledge Arena on the second game of a back-to-back, potentially bringing a four-game winning streak into Seattle if St. Louis leaves Vancouver victorious.
