The Seattle Kraken suffered a devastating blow to their lineup as captain Jordan Eberle sustained an injury prior to puck drop, but they were able to extend their point streak with an overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild.
The Seattle Kraken attempted to complete the comeback against the Minnesota Wild, but ultimately lost 3-2 in overtime. The bigger story is that Jordan Eberle missed the game due to an injury.
Eberle has been nothing short of remarkable this season for the Kraken. Including his 15 goals and 28 points in 42 games, the 35-year-old is a premier leader, both vocally and by example. He's averaging nearly three more minutes than he did last season and is delivering.
He currently leads the Kraken in both goals and points.
Following the game, coach Lane Lambert provided an update on Eberle, clarifying that he was dealing with an injury and not an illness as many suspected.
“I'm hoping it's more of a day-to-day thing. Certainly, that's a hole and a blow for us to have our captain out. We'll see where we go from here. We miss him out there,” said Lambert.
The Kraken felt his absence against the Wild, but they pushed through despite it, extending their point streak to 10 games. In that span, the Kraken have posted an 8-0-2 record.
The Wild stormed out to a 2-0 lead after the first period thanks to goals from Ryan Hartman and Brock Faber. The Kraken struggled to generate many high-danger chances in the second period but bounced back in the third period. With goals from Adam Larsson and Matty Beniers, the Kraken tied the game and sent it to overtime.
The Wild dominated the overtime frame, firing four shots on goal to the Kraken's zero. On the fourth and final shot of the game, Mats Zuccarello one-timed a slick feed from Kirill Kaprizov past Philipp Grubauer, who turned away 31 of the 34 shots he faced.
Minnesota Wild score the overtime winning goal against the Seattle Kraken (Kevin Ng-Imagn Images)The Kraken remain in third place in the Pacific Division, sitting two points back of the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights for first place. The San Jose Sharks sit a point back of the Kraken, and the Los Angeles Kings trail by just two points.
The Kraken are back in action on Saturday against the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes.
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