Eberle scores in OT, Kraken beat Kings 3-2 for 7th win in 9

By DAIMON EKLUND
Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) — Jordan Eberle scored at 2:23 of overtime to lift the Seattle Kraken to a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.

Jared McCann and Daniel Sprong also scored for Seattle, which has played in three straight overtime games —winning the last two. Martin Jones had 27 saves to help the Kraken improve to 7-1-1 in their last nine games.

“I think its important to play these games and feel comfortable,” Eberle said. “I think we’re doing a better job of that. You know, once you get into the postseason a lot of games are close. You have to feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations, and this is just a good test to do that.”

Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore scored for the Kings, and Cal Petersen stopped 25 shots. Los Angeles was playing for the second straight night to finish a four-game road trip. The Kings lost to the Canucks 4-1 on Friday.

“Especially on a back-to-back, you obviously want to do everything you can to tighten it up and make it a hard-fought game and give us a chance down the stretch,” Petersen said. “We did go into overtime, but obviously disappointing not to get the extra point.”

Midway through the extra period, Eberle led a 2-on-1 breakaway and put his shot past Petersen for his fifth of the season. Eberle also had an assist in the game.

McCann opened the scoring 4:42 into the game. Eberle’s backhand shot was kicked away by Petersen, with the puck going straight to McCann at the bottom of the right circle and he scored his team-leading seventh of the season and the 100th of his career.

“It was a different overtime tonight,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We didn’t have the puck a whole lot, but we defended really well. We didn’t give up anything threatening. … We took advantage of their defenseman diving in as we punched that puck past them, and that creates the odd man situation.”

The Kings tied the game with 1:08 left in the second period. Danault’s shot bounced up off Jones, who seemed to lose track of the puck. Danault rushed in and hit the puck out of the air for the goal.

The teams traded goals on the same power play early in the third. Just 35 seconds into the period — and 15 seconds after Los Angeles’ Drew Doughty was called for hooking — Moore ended up on a short-handed breakaway and got the puck past Jones for his sixth to give the Kings a 2-1 lead.

It took just 18 seconds for Seattle to tie it again, as Sprong was open on the left circle and buried the power-play goal for his third.

“That can really flip momentum. That can be a switch on the game, and the fact the next power play group went out there and was able to answer was really important,” Hakstol said. “That was obviously a huge part of the game to get it back right away.”

The Kraken had lost their first three overtime games this season before winning the past two in a row. Los Angeles has now won three of their five overtime games.

“I thought it was a really hard, heavy game for both teams,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “Really evenly played. We made the last mistake and they capitalized on it.”

NOTES: Kraken G Philipp Grubauer was active as the backup goalie one day after being activated off injured reserve. Grubauer missed 11 games with a lower body injury. … This was the 100th game in Kraken franchise history.

UP NEXT

Kings: Host the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.

Kraken: Host San Jose on Wednesday night.

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