Daccord makes 29 saves, Kraken defeat Blackhawks

Joey Daccord made 29 saves for the Seattle Kraken in a 3-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle on Monday.

Jordan Eberle and Matty Beniers each had a goal and an assist, and Jamie Oleksiak also scored the Kraken (6-2-4), who had lost two in a row but are 2-0-2 on a five-game homestand.

“I’m pumped, honestly,” Daccord said. “I had a feeling before the season that we were going to get off to a good start, and I think we have a lot of belief in our room here that we have a good group. Coaching staff, all the guys, everyone has been really dialed in to start the year.”

Andre Burakovsky scored, Connor Bedard had an assist to extend his point streak to five games, and Arvid Soderblom made 21 saves for the Blackhawks (5-5-3), who have lost the first three games (0-2-1) of a season-long six-game road trip.

“I just think we have better in us as a group as a whole,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. “I think maybe some guys didn’t have great nights. It’s an every day league, and we just got to make sure we’re coming every night, every single night.”

Oleksiak gave Seattle a 1-0 lead at 2:57 of the second period with a long shot from the right point that got through traffic and beat Soderblom under his glove. Oleksiak did not have a point in his previous eight games.

Beniers made it 2-0 just eight seconds into a power play at 7:36. He buried a wrist shot from the edge of right circle off a backhand pass from Eberle, who was skating with his back to the play below the goal line.

The goal ended a nine-game drought for Beniers, and it also came on the Kraken's 13th shot of the game. They generated just 13 shots in total in a 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday.

“Definitely got more shots tonight, definitely more opportunities,” Beniers said. “I think it’s sometimes just a mentality thing. You put it in your brain that you’re going to shoot the puck and get to the net, you go and do it. And sometimes we get away from that, but I thought we did a much better job tonight.”

The Kraken were 1-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

“Special teams are always going to be big,” Eberle said. “The power play’s been solid. I think we’ve got guys in the right spots. ... We need that to continue.”

Burakovsky cut it to 2-1 at 11:33 of the third period, scoring five-hole from the low slot on a short breakaway after a nice set up by Bedard.

Bedard has nine points (four goals, five assists) during his point streak.

“The thing I’d say about Connor is his compete every single day is outstanding,” Blashill said. “I asked him at the beginning of the year, as one of the better players on the team, to be a great leader in terms of playing winning hockey, and he’s done that consistently.”

Eberle responded at 16:05 to put the Kraken in front 3-1. Following a turnover by the Blackhawks in the neutral zone, Eberle skated in on a 2-on-1 and elected to shoot it himself from the left circle.

“We probably got back on our heels a little bit more than we’d like to tonight. That’s something we’re going to continue to work on and build on,” Beniers said. “They got that one back, and I thought we did a good job of pushing back, obviously, with [Eberle's] goal.”

Daccord thought he was going to score an empty-net goal with 1:20 left, but Blackhawks defenseman Artyom Levshunov was able to break it up at the blue line.

“Shooters shoot, so I shot it,” Daccord said. “I thought it was in. I said to myself, 'It’s in,' because when it was in the air, it was dead center. And then I couldn’t see their guy, the further guy behind the middle guy, so I was like, 'I cleared everybody.' And then I saw him stop it and I was so rattled. But I’ll keep shooting.”

NOTES: Seattle is 4-0-2 at home this season and 6-0-0 when leading after two periods. ... The Blackhawks are 0-3-2 when allowing the first goal. ... Burakovsky has scored in three straight games and has six points (three goals, three assists) during a four-game point streak.