Jordan Eberle’s Shootout Goal Pushes Seattle Kraken Past Calgary

Now that’s more like it.

The Seattle Kraken showed resilience in holding off the Calgary Flames 4-3, winning a shootout after a five-minute overtime period on Wednesday at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

More importantly for the Kraken, now 2-1 in the exhibition season, they looked a lot more like they did Sunday in a 5-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks than they did Tuesday in a 6-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

After taking a look at some of the younger prospects on Tuesday, Seattle coach Dave Hakstol returned to a more veteran lineup. And it showed.

The team’s expected first line once the regular-season starts — Jordan Eberle, Jaden Schwartz and Jared McCann — did not play at all against Edmonton. Against the Flames, they combined for two goals and four assists and were showing great creativity all night.

Another important aspect of the win is the grit the Kraken showed in finishing the game. Despite allowing the tying goal at 17:33 of the third period, they didn’t let that slow them down and let the game slip away.

By scoring that late tying goal with a steal and a laser shot just inside the far post past Kraken backup goalie Joey Daccord on a 2-on-1 break, Calgary’s Mikael Backlund did not allow Seattle to lock down the victory before overtime.

After nobody scored in the OT, McCann and the Flames’ Matthew Tkachuk found the net for a 1-1 shootout tie going into the final two shooters. After Daccord stopped Calgary’s Justin Kirkland, Eberle sprinted in and put a high wrist shot past Daniel Vladar.

“We have a little more jump than yesterday,” said Kraken winger Brandon Tanev, who was not in the lineup, while in the Root Sports booth during an in-game interview. “In the preseason, everybody’s working things out. But it looks good so far. We’re building chemistry and confidence and learning the system and at the same time working hard and knowing that things need to work out well in the preseason to get the season going well.”

Goals by former Flames defenseman Mark Giordano, the 2019 Norris Trophy winner as the NHL’s top defenseman, and Jaden Schwartz on a rebound of an Adam Larsson slap shot gave Seattle a 2-0 edge just 6:01 into the game.

Jaden Schwartz, foreground, wound up scoring
on a rebound of this Adam Larsson slap shot. 

But Tkachuk — on a quick pass from behind the net by Blake Coleman — and Michael Stone on a rebound of Walker Duehr’s shot — beat Seattle starting goalie and 2021 Vezina Trophy finalist Philipp Grubauer for a 2-2 tie heading into the third period.

In crunch time, Eberle’s steal and pass to Schwartz in front for the latter’s second goal of the night put the Kraken on top 3-2 12:37 into the third.

The tenacious work after Calgary’s equalizer paid off.

The puck gets past Mikael Backlund and goes into the net off the stick
of Mikael Backlund. This goal tied the score 3-3 late in the third period.

Both Tanev and general manager Ron Francis, on Root Sports interviews, talked about the extra effort being made to get the NHL’s newest team built the right way.

“I think we want to be a hard working, resilient group playing for each other,” Tanev said. “The work ethic and pushing the pace is the kind of group we have.”

Added Francis: “We’ve talked about it from Day 1. We want to establish an identity and establish a culture. We want to be a team that comes out and works hard every night. Fans are paying good money to come out to the rink. They should see a team that’s competing hard in front of them. That’s what we hope to do. We think we’re good in a lot of areas. Some people are saying, ‘Can we score enough goals?’ But time will tell, right? It’s a new group. We’re starting to understand, starting to get together. We feel good about the group, but we’ve got some work to do as we sort of meld that group together moving forward.”

Schwartz And Giordano Talk About Their Goals Against The Flames

About his rebound goal, Schwartz — who won a Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019 — said: I got lucky and it popped on my tape. You get bounces like that sometimes. I was trying to create havoc. If you put bodies in front, it’s tough for a goalie to see pucks.”

Twice, Giordano was the victim of body checksby former teammates in the early going, and he showed just what kind of player he is, saying, “I love it. It was great. My first shift was awful, with a couple of bad plays. Lindy (Elias Lindholm) gave me a nice bump there and I got the cobwebs out.”

During a taped Root Sports interview, Giordano said that physicality was the part of hockey he loves best.

Yeah, no kidding.

About his goal, Giordano said, “Canner (McCann) made a great play, but I think Ebs (Eberle) made an even better play getting it to to me. He could have taken it, but he let me have it and at that point I had some space and was just trying to hit the net.”

McCann’s pass came from the left wing inside the zone toward Eberle in the middle with Giordano rushing up into the play from behind.

CapFriendly.com Predicts Kraken’s Regular Season Starting Roster

CapFriendly.com has a list of the Kraken’s projected 23-man roster heading into the regular season that starts Oct. 12 at the Vegas Golden Knights.

The list does not include center/winger Yanni Gourde, who is on injured reserve.

Keep in mind that this 23-man list below is completely unofficial, just a guide into the likelihood of who is going to make the roster based on salaries and the salary cap, among other things.

Forwards (13)
>> Jordan Eberle*
>> Jaden Schwartz*
>> Alexander Wennberg
>> Joonas Donskoi*
>> Brandon Tanev
>> Jared McCann*
>> Calle Jarnkrok
>> Marcus Johansson
>> Mason Appleton*
>> Riley Sheahan*
>> Nathan Bastian*
>> Ryan Donato*
>> Colin Blackwell
Defensemen (8)
>> Mark Giordano*
>> Jamie Oleksiak
>> Adam Larsson*
>> Vince Dunn
>> Carson Soucy*
>> Haydn Fleury*
>> William Borgen*
>> Jeremy Lauzon
Goaltenders (2)
>> Philipp Grubauer*
>> Chris Driedger

Fourteen of those players on the list were in action against the Flames, denoted by an asterisk.

The Rinks Ahead: Kent, Everett and Vancouver

On Friday and Saturday, the Kraken have rematches against Edmonton and Calgary at smaller Washington arenas in Everett and Kent.

Next Tuesday, Seattle plays at Vancouver in its final preseason game.

After the season opener at Vegas one week later on Tuesday, Oct. 12, the Kraken play more road games at the Nashville Predators, Columbus Blue Jackets, Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils.

All of that comes before the long awaited home opener at Climate Pledge Arena Oct. 23 against the Canucks.

“We’re all excited for that first game in Seattle,” Tanev told Root Sports. “This is something really special. The energy and the buzz around the city has been great.”

More Photos From The Victory Over Calgary

Here are some screenshots of the moments in the team’s second-ever exhibition game victory:

Coach Dave Hakstol and some of his troops.

Riley Sheahan about to take a shot from the circle.

Another angle of Schwartz’s goal.

Mark Giordano is about to score a goal, a backhand into the 5-hole.

Giordano, before the start of the third period.

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