Eberle scores twice, Kraken hold off Oilers

SEATTLE — Jordan Eberle scored twice, and the Seattle Kraken fended off a late push by the Edmonton Oilers for a 3-2 win at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday.

“Obviously, they’ve got some dynamic players over there,” Eberle said. “We tried to limit their space, but ultimately they’ll find ways. So, we defended pretty well. We were a bit on our heels there in the third but found a way to defend and create some chances out of it and ultimately get a big one.”

Tye Kartye scored, and Matty Beniers had two assists for the Kraken (5-2-2), who have won their last two. Joey Daccord had 31 saves after a 32-save shutout in a 3-0 win at the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.

“Joey’s been outstanding,” Eberle said. “I think there’s nights where he’s had to make some big saves, and tonight was no different. To get wins, you need good goaltending, and obviously, he’s been there.”

Defenseman Brandon Montour, who returned from a four-game leave of absence due to the death of his brother, had three shots on goal in 23:39 of ice time.

“He’s a brother. I mean, anytime someone goes through something like that, it’s extremely hard,” Eberle said of Montour. “Just for him to be out here tonight and battling with us, it just shows his compassion and the level that he has… You just try to be there as much as you can for him.”

Evan Bouchard and Darnell Nurse scored for the Oilers (4-4-1), who had won their previous two, and Leon Draisaitl had two assists. Stuart Skinner made 20 saves.

“There’s a lot of things I liked," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. "We had more scoring chances than in probably all but one game this year, especially in the third period. I thought we had a lot of pressure. [It was] just some mistakes on giving up the rushes… [We were] just out of sync there, and that’s where Seattle had pretty much all their chances were off plays like that.”

Eberle made it 1-0 at 1:23 of the first period off a 2-on-1 rush with Beniers. Eberle took Beniers’ feed at the top of the right circle and wristed it over Skinner’s left shoulder.

“He’s a smart player,” Eberle said of Beniers, who set up both of his goals. “The thing that impresses me the most about him is his 200-foot game. He’s really come into his own as far as the defensive plays, face-offs, and just being in the right spot at the right time.”

Kartye pushed it to 2-0 at 6:35 of the second period, also off a 2-on-1 rush, one-timing Ryan Winterton’s pass from the top of the left circle under a diving Skinner.

“I was calling it, but that was an unreal pass from [Winterton]. Made it pretty easy for me,” Kartye said.

Bouchard brought Edmonton within 2-1 with a power-play goal at 15:39 of the second, taking Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ pass at the top of the right circle and blasting a slap shot under Daccord’s blocker.

“I think there’s some frustration [right now],” Knoblauch said. “We expect more out of ourselves, and playing better. But I think after a game like [our 6-5 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday] where we put up six goals, a lot of guys are feeling good about themselves. We just need to play the right way, and for the most part tonight, I thought we did.”

Eberle extended the lead to 3-1 with his second of the game on a breakaway at 12:11 of the third period. Beniers forced a turnover by Bouchard at the Seattle blue line and pushed it ahead for Eberle, who raced in and snapped it over Bouchard’s blocker.

“For 'Ebs,' [those were] two big goals,” Lambert said. “Certainly, [there were] contributions from everyone on the team, though. It was a complete team effort. At some point or another, everybody contributed to this hockey game.”

Nurse responded to make it 3-2 at 14:35 of the third, tipping Mattias Ekholm’s slap shot from the blue line under Daccord.

“They had a push on us, obviously, and I thought that for the most part, we maintained pretty good structure,” Seattle coach Lane Lambert said. “They had some chances. They’re going to get some chances. In my opinion, they’ve got the best one-two punch in the world in terms of a tandem [in Draisaitl and Connor McDavid]… We turned defense into a lot of rushes and a lot of opportunities in the third period as well.”

NOTES: Berkly Catton assisted on the 1-0 goal by Eberle to record a point in his first game at Climate Pledge Arena. Catton had a decorated junior hockey career which included earning CHL Sportsman of the Year honors last season. … Eberle scored his 70th career goal with the Kraken, who are the third different team he has scored as many with, after the Oilers (165) and New York Islanders (76). Eberle is the only active player to score 70 goals with three different franchises and the only players in NHL history to score 70 with more than three are Jason Arnott (Oilers, New Jersey Devils, Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators) and Geoff Courtnall (Boston Bruins, Washington Capitals, Vancouver Canucks, St. Louis Blues). … With his two assists, Draisaitl has 965 points in 799 games, the fifth most by an NHL player born outside North America prior to his 800th career contest behind Peter Stastny (1,108), Jari Kurri (1,078), Jaromir Jagr (1,064) and Nikita Kucherov (989).