Who knew a boring, low-event game could be so exciting? That’s the beauty of hockey, though. Even in a game where neither team surpassed 23 shots on goal, the tension in the building was palpable as the game went down to the wire. In the end, it was the Seattle Kraken celebrating victoriously after Jordan Eberle came through in the clutch, firing home the game-winner to blow the roof off Climate Pledge Arena.
Heck, even goalie Joey Daccord was over-the-moon excited—so much so that when he tried to jump on the pile, he missed and went tumbling to the ice in a hilarious heap.
“I got the zoomies,” Daccord joked after the game.
I can’t stop watching this. It gets better and better with every angle I see.
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 20, 2024
😂 😂 😂 #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/ere4Qbpwk6
Here are our Three Takeaways from a thrilling 2-1 Kraken overtime win over the previously undefeated Calgary Flames.
Takeaway #1: Jordan Eberle is on fire
Things have been going well for Eberle since he was named captain of the team. Eberle’s OT game-winner was his third as a Kraken, the most in team history. It was also his fifth tally of the season, putting him in fourth place in the entire NHL for goals.
“I’m getting opportunities, and they’re going in,” Eberle said, deadpan. “I know, obviously, how it works. You’re going to have hot streaks, and you’ll have slow streaks. But it’s been good to see the puck go in early. It always gives you some confidence.”
The goal itself was a thing of beauty. The Kraken had won the center-ice face-off to start the overtime period and maintained control for the better part of a minute. Rasmus Andersson made a good defensive play to pinch off Brandon Montour behind the net and take the puck away.
It looked like the Flames were heading on the offensive, but Eberle tracked back and picked Nazem Kadri’s pocket. At that point, the Flames were in complete disarray, with all three players headed north and scrambling to get back on defense. Brandon Montour got a great look but was stopped by Dan Vladar, recovered his own rebound, and then had the presence of mind not to force it back into Vladar. Instead, he found Eberle streaking down the slot, and Eberle sniped it home.
“Great play [by Montour],” Eberle said. “He just kind of fed it, put it on a tee for me, and I didn’t really have to do too much.”
Coach Dan Bylsma was gushing about his captain after the game. “I don’t even know how old he is right now, but he just looks like a young Jordan Eberle,” Bylsma said (Eberle is 34, by the way). “He’s skating well, he’s competing well, he’s got a sneaky skill to his game, a sneaky compete to his game… With him being named captain six games ago, I think it’s awesome to see him also lead the way on the scoresheet.”
Eberle did not get off to this kind of start last season. As we later learned, he broke his hand in a fight with Colorado’s Logan O’Connor in the fourth game of the season and played through it, so that surely hampered him. But do you know when Eberle scored his fifth goal of the season in 2023-24?
JANUARY 13TH!
It took Eberle 38 games to score five goals last season. This season, it took him just six.
Takeaway #2: Another new way to win
The Flames got off to a great start this season, and with the way they were rolling, this was always going to be a tough matchup for Seattle. Calgary prides itself on rolling four effective lines, using similar tactics to what the Kraken deploy in terms of personnel.
The recipe was there for a tight-checking, close game, and that’s exactly what we got.
“It’s a bit of a slog of a game, and you have to be determined to stay with it and not give them anything,” Bylsma said. “Continue to be determined to get back the other way. That’s what this game presented, and that’s what Calgary presents.”
I wrote about this after the win Thursday over Philadelphia, but the Kraken keep finding new ways to win, quite different from last season when they seemed to constantly find new ways to lose.
“That’s what we’re trying to develop,” Bylsma said. “Games come in a lot of different ways. This game was by far the lowest-event game that we’ve played at this point in time.”
Takeaway #3: Kraken convert on critical 5-on-3
After Joey Daccord fumbled a puck on Calgary’s power play late in the first period, and it wound up in the back of Seattle’s net a couple of touches later, the Kraken needed to find a way to level the score. They kept getting power play chances in the second, and when Jonathan Huberdeau slashed Matty Beniers to give the Kraken 47 seconds of 5-on-3 time, it was easy to sense that a turning point was coming in the game, one way or another.
The Kraken called timeout, and assistant coach Jess Campbell drew up a play on her whiteboard. It took a while for the Kraken to break through, but with the first of the two penalties ticking down, Chandler Stephenson and Jared McCann executed a give-and-go across the tops of the circles. As Jaden Schwartz set a screen in front of Vladar, Stephenson leaned into a one-timer and ripped it past the Calgary netminder.
THE CHAN CHAN MAN! 🚨
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) October 20, 2024
On the 5-on-3, McCann tees it up, and Schwartz provides the screen for Stephenson’s first goal as a #SeaKraken.
1-1 pic.twitter.com/lxZaIe3cnD
“That was kind of what we wanted to open up, Ebs to be able to find Canner or myself,” Stephenson said. “That’s what I think you want to try to do on a 5-on-3—shoot the puck. It seems like any team that shoots it, it usually goes in, rather than teams that try to make the perfect play.”
One has to imagine that if Seattle failed to score on that 5-on-3, the game might have gone the other way.
“5-on-3’s always feel like a pivotal point,” Bylsma said. “What’s the success rate historically on a 5-on-3? It’s not 100 percent. It’s not close to 100 percent, but it feels like you should score. And I think when you don’t, it’s a big drawback. But we got the 5-on-3, we were able to find a goal there, and it’s Chandler’s first one. I think he’s done a lot of good things the last couple games for our team, but getting him on the scoresheet is, I think, really important for our group.”
Darren Brown
Darren Brown is the Chief Content Officer at soundofhockey.com and the host of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast. He is a member of the PHWA and is also usually SOH’s Twitter intern (but please pretend you don’t know that). Follow him @DarrenFunBrown and @sound_hockey or email darren@soundofhockey.com.
Most important takeaway in one word: Jo-ey. And loved his sprint down to the other end after OT.
Second takeaway: where would this team be without Montour? Early dividends on that 7-year deal.
Yeah, this was the best goalie game of the season. He was +2 above expected, and yet the only mention he got was when he held on to the puck for too long which led to the only CGY goal. Classic SOH!
Agree re:Montour. He is so much better than I thought he would be, which was like a better version of Justin Schultz. Stephenson scored a goal too, so yay for him!
Nice that they could win without Dunn. The team seemed to totally fall apart without him on the ice last year.
Looking forward to my first game on Tuesday. I really, really hope Daccord is starting…
I imagine with the rotation they’ve been sticking to and it being Colorado… I think you’re gonna be disappointed Boist.
Oh I know. A man can dream though.
You missed something Darren… but I’m sure John will catch it in Monday Musings.
Go Kraken!!!
Excellent win! I was thrilled when we signed Montour and Stephenson, and now my expectations are well exceeded. They have elevated the quality this franchise in ways most people wouldn’t notice. Literally everyone looks better. Now we enter the phase of the spoiled Seattle sports fan who so easily forgets how hard it was in the Before Times… and how they openly despised these contracts when originally signed.
I like what you’re saying… but easy does it… it’s only six games. There’s a lot to like, though.
After last night… again, only six games, but with the type of talent, the depth, and the balance they have… are they one of those few teams that can play whatever way the opponent wants to play… and keep up… and win?
Caution noted. However, I have seen enough in six games to pursue my stubborn optimism. When Oleksiak starts looking like a half-decent defenseman, for example, you know something truly significant is afoot.
I will add I believe this team is just getting started, and they know it.
I was at that game, and let me tell you the reason why the crowd went so nuts when Chandler Stephenson scored. I don’t know how much of it showed up on the broadcast, but Stephenson had an incredible night. He was winning board battles and knocking pucks loose in the defensive zone, and it seemed like every time the Flames got something dangerous going offensively he would backcheck the puck-carrier and turn the play up-ice the other way. He was driving play into the offensive zone, breaking past the blue line, and setting up screens once the play was established. Folks were noticing in the section I was sitting in, at least. I am sure the people watching at home noticed him winning big face-offs. Stephenson earned that goal.
My goodness, I cannot believe how much fun a 2-1 game was. It was honestly better than the 6-4 barn-burner against Philadelphia. It was just a furious contest between two really good teams. How about them Flames? They play the most frustratingly responsible defense in their own zone. They were giving up nothing easy down there. Is this early part of the season just an aberration, or are they really as top-to-bottom solid as they look? They had no weak spots–no bad lines, no bad pairings. I am thinking that the Pacific Division is going to look a lot different than anyone expected.
Already… before the Calgary game… Seravelli was saying the Pacific was hard to read and singled out the Kraken as the biggest unknown. Until Friday he had repeatedly relegated the Kraken to the dustbin of nothingness.
Darren I find it interesting that this is the best game played by a kraken goalie so far this year and all you mentioned was Daccord falling down and coughing the puck up….. no goaltending definitely wasn’t a key to this low scoring tight game…. 🤦
Since you’ve been in an editing mood lately haw about adding a forth takeaway 😂
I was impressed with just how good the flames looked, they looked like a team that deserves the record they have. Very well executed system, big hard to play against bodies and goaltending was very good. I could see them having a great season the build is going well in Calgary. I have to find a way to watch the next Calgary Edmonton game.
What impressed me even more though was our ability to adapt our game plan to beat the flames. This would have been a loss under H, coaching was fantastic last night.
I’m hopeful that Dan stops this goalie rotation and gives Daccord the next game it’s deserved. Our focus should be on winning not making sure Gru gets equal playing time (I’m sure this is coming from management). Maybe this is a “first 10 games” plan? This can’t continue the entire season.
Hopefully Dunn is back next game, definitely helps having Evans able to step up and fill his shoes well.
Burkey had a horrible game I thought, way too many turnovers and attempts at skating through 4 defenders on his own. He’s been looking better than I expected though so far this season. He’s not McDavid he needs to have the puck on and off his stick quickly and release shots quickly, when he plays like that he has good games.
Nino… if you have ESPN+ you can catch all the other games that aren’t nationally televised.
I want to relate to you something that made a real impression on me a while ago…
I’ve spent my whole life in Seattle and for much of the early part of it… the Seahawks were terrible. But eventually, while they were making a run to the Superbowl®️ there were lots of folks ranking on “what they weren’t doing”. Now, there was one media personality who said at the time – and I won’t say who – “I’ve been here before, and there is nothing worse than missing out on winning because you’re dwelling on losing.” (paraphrase)
Enjoy it… who knows when you’ll get another chance… and it would be a damn shame to miss out on the one you got.
I agree with the sentiment above; give Joey an atta-boy! He was amazing. I kind of think that if he hadn’t mishandled the puck early on, there would have been no need for an OT. After that Flames goal, I had a completely different mindset than I would have if PG were in the net. I knew Joey would take care of business. It’s refreshing.
I am going to enjoy this!
Alright, alright! Joey played great! Sheesh! If I write about the goalies, people say I’m wrong. If I don’t write about the goalies, people say I’m wrong. (Jk… I just didn’t write about Joey because I’m cognizant of talking about the goalies too much. They’re a factor in every game, so I try to vary my takes from game to game.)Anyway, what I will say is that this is the first sequence of two games where Grubauer has not performed very well in his outing, and Joey has performed markedly better. I think the team’s approach will be leaning on which goalie is playing better, so I’m curious if this is where things start shifting in terms of usage. If he keeps playing well, I don’t think Dan will be afraid to run Joey out there more often than not.
…and this is exactly why I’ve said I’m done talking about Grubauer.
Joey was great… Grubauer has struggled a bit… so what!?!? Do folks really want to spend every post-game talking about the same stuff over and over and over…
Take the win and enjoy it!
When the sun doesn’t have to rise and set on whose in the net – maybe you’ve got a team.
Keep up the good work Darren… and by the way, nice piece on NHL.com.
Go Kraken!!!
I’ll agree to disagree on this one, regardless if you like it or not goaltending is going to be the hot topic until Grubauer is gone. We’re going on the 4th year of atrocious goaltending by an overpaid mistake and now it looks like the kraken have an exit plan. It will be and should be a topic and in fact it’s the most pressing issue the team has in the short and long term being that we’re up against the cap. You definitely don’t need to talk about it but saying that you not going to talk about it is kinda the same thing…. Are there other things to talk about 👍.
Hot topic? The same conversation over and over for three plus years is hardly what I’d call a “hot topic”.
I’m a charter member of the Grubauer Skepticism Society. Early on in the inaugural season when Darren was calling the Grubauer signing “an absolute coup”, I was the one saying “cool your jets Maverick”… but it’s all been said…
Get on with your life man… it’s not a “hot topic”. You can replace “old man screaming at cloud” with “Kraken fan screaming about Gru”… and yet somehow, the rain will still come.
Go Kraken!!!
Yeah it’s still a hot topic after all these years 😂 message boards and just arena conversations it has to be the leader. It’s not all the same… lately it’s been Darren what are you thinking 😂
I kinda honestly think that Darren is feeding the fire. Patting Gru on the back as much as possible and basically snubbing Daccord will get people responding.
He’s a great writer when he’s not talking about Gru.
Good lord dude… give it a rest.
In other news…. Fun game and nice to get a Saturday night home win for once.