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Three Takeaways – Kraken defeat Blackhawks 3-1, Jordan Eberle injured

Darren Brown

It was a win/loss kind of night for the Seattle Kraken, who won 3-1 over the Chicago Blackhawks but lost their captain, Jordan Eberle, to a lower-body injury.

The Kraken had a much better first period than in previous games, dominating play for most of the first 40 minutes before the Blackhawks pushed back in the third. Matty Beniers and Jaden Schwartz scored key goals, while Brandon Tanev added an empty-netter—his fourth goal in three games.

“The mindset with which we came out to execute was we made hard plays, we made north plays, and the result was getting to play in the offensive zone,” coach Dan Bylsma said.

Here are Three Takeaways from the Kraken’s 3-1 win over the Blackhawks.

Takeaway #1: Concern for Eberle

While the win marked Seattle’s third consecutive victory since snapping their recent four-game skid, the biggest storyline from this game was Jordan Eberle’s injury. The Kraken captain hobbled down the tunnel with assistance from the medical staff after an awkward crash into the boards.

Eberle was racing for a puck with Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy when the two became tangled, sending Eberle hard into the boards. Though he got up quickly, he was hunched over on his way to the bench and appeared to struggle as he headed to the dressing room.

The injury caused lineup shuffling for the Kraken, who rotated players on different lines, even experimenting with Shane Wright as a winger alongside Beniers at times.

“It created a situation where we used a couple different wingers, and as we saw, Wrighter stepped in and did a great job with Matty for a couple shifts there,” Bylsma said.

Whether Eberle will miss significant time remains unclear. Bylsma noted postgame that Eberle was still being evaluated. Interestingly, the Kraken announced during the game that Eberle was “unlikely to return” due to a lower-body injury, rather than immediately ruling him out entirely—a potentially encouraging sign. Could there have been some thought that he might return? Or maybe I’m just reading into that too much.

If Eberle does miss games, the timing is notable. Daniel Sprong, acquired in a trade with Vancouver but delayed by work visa issues, could debut in the upcoming games against the New York teams. A scoring winger stepping in as another scoring winger goes out? That might be fortuitous, albeit bittersweet.

Still, you hate to see anyone get hurt, especially a captain who’s been central to the Kraken’s success this season. Here’s hoping for good news on Eberle.

Takeaway #2: Ryker Evans was excellent

Flying under the radar in this game—though the broadcast gave him due credit—was Ryker Evans, who had the second assist on Jaden Schwartz’s game-winning power-play goal early in the third period.

I’ve been impressed with the young defenseman all season and believe he could develop into a top puck-moving blueliner for this team. On Thursday, Evans was especially sharp in all three zones and led all Kraken skaters with 24:33 of ice time. In those minutes, he remained calm, cool, and collected, making no noticeable mistakes.

It’s amusing to recall the criticism Seattle faced for drafting Evans as an over-ager in 2021, with pundits calling it an “off-the-board” pick. While there were other strong players available (Logan Stankoven comes to mind), Evans’ development into an every-game player suggests the Kraken’s drafting and development strategies are paying off.

Takeaway #3: A 60-minute effort

The Kraken have hung some crooked numbers on the Blackhawks in the past, but this Chicago team is improved, and goalie Petr Mrazek has been stellar in the first quarter of this season.

Though the score remained close, Seattle controlled the game from the start, something they’ve struggled with on several occasions this season. The Kraken outshot the Blackhawks 20-9 through two periods and held Chicago to just 19 shots overall. Old friend Ryan Donato’s fluky third-period rebound goal tightened the score (his eighth goal of the season—good for him!), but Seattle never gave up much defensively.

“The focus has been on our starts the last few games,” Bylsma said. “I thought the guys did a great job of coming out and—really, led by Matty’s line—they had the first couple shifts in the offensive zone.”

Seattle finished the night with 73 percent of the shot quality according to Natural Stat Trick. It was a solid, top-to-bottom effort that showed the Kraken are capable of taking care of business against inferior opponents.

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