In Seattle, Jordan Eberle scored midway through extra time on Saturday to give the Kraken a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
“Just trying to find a way to score,” Eberle said. “We obviously haven’t had success in overtime this year and last year. We put a lot of work and emphasis into it. You know, when you go into those games, those are huge points that you give up. You never know when you need that extra point to get in (to the Stanley Cup Playoffs). We’ve worked on it and obviously, it’s worked out.
“I think it’s important to play these games and feel comfortable. That’s the biggest thing. 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 the uncomfortable situations, and this is just a good test to do that.”
Martin Jones made 27 saves in the Seattle win.
The Kraken improved to 10-5-3.
Seattle took a 1-0 lead early in the first period off a strike from Jared McCann .
LA’s Phillip Danault tied the game, 1-1, with less than two minutes left in the period.
“It wasn’t the cleanest because the other team sometimes gets in the way,” Los Angeles coach Todd McLellan said. “It was a really hard, heavy game for both teams, evenly played. We made the last mistake, and they capitalized.”
LA dropped to 11-8-2.
The Kings’ Trevor Moore scored with 35 seconds of fresh ice used in the third period for a 2-1 lead to LA.
Seattle tied it just 16 seconds later off a strike from Daniel Sprong to force the extra session.
“We talked about [response goals] early on, whether it’s a goal for or a goal against or a good shift or a bad shift,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “It’s a recognition to start with, right? You got to realize and recognize what just happened in the hockey game and then what needs to come. … That’s the biggest thing, has been that recognition. We don’t get to go out and do anything special, but we do have to go out and have a real competitive shift, and I think that’s what it’s all about.”
Cal Petersen made 25 saves in the Kings loss.
“I thought both goalies played well,” McLellan said. “Cal made some tremendous saves, Jones kept them in it when mistakes went against them. … We’re taking it right now. There are other teams that are ten days behind us. [They’ll have to play back-to-backs] at some point, and if we’re playing them, we’ll have to take advantage of it. We all play 82 games.”
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