Eberle scores twice as Kraken slip by Blue Jackets

*Photo from AOL*

   Oliver Bjorkstrand had a two assist game, Jordan Eberle had two goals and an assist, and the Seattle Kraken defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets with a 4-2 victory on Sunday night in Seattle.

   The Kraken won for the 5th time in 10 games, sitting at 21-18-10 and in 5th place in the Pacific Division. Seattle used multi point games from Eberle, Bjorkstrand, and Jared McCann as they scored 3 times in the first period to knock off Columbus.

   Kraken head coach Dave Hakstol said after the game that "We were disappointed to lose the point the other night, but we came back and got the two points tonight that were critical. Anything less, we'd be walking out of this building tonight not feeling very good about ourselves."

   On the power play 12:40 into the game, Eberle gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead with assists from Bjorkstrand and Vince Dunn. Jared McCann doubled the lead to 2-0 on his 20th goal of the season with assists going to Eberle and Tomas Tatar. Eberle scored again later in the first to make it a 3-0 game after one period.

   After the second period was scoreless, Yegor Chinakhov scored to get Columbus on the board 7:12 into the 3rd to cut the deficit to 3-1. At the 15:58 mark of the period, Chinakhov scored his second goal of the night to make it a 3-2 game. With 13 seconds on the clock, Brandon Tanev sealed the win for the Kraken with an empty net goal.

   Eberle said of his second goal of the game that "The second one, once again, we found a way to get it back and created some movement. We've had a lot of shots from the sides and then burying it that way, so it's nice to find different ways to put them in."

   Getting the start in goal for the Kraken was Joey Daccord, who picked up the win as his record rose to 15-8-9 in 30 starts. Daccord stopped 30 of the 32 shots the Blue Jackets flung at him, giving him a .938 save percentage.

   Starting between the pipes for the Blue Jackets was Daniil Tarasov, who took the loss as his record dropped to 3-5-2 in 10 starts. Tarasov turned aside 22 out of the 25 shots on goal the Kraken had, recording a .880 save percentage.

   Columbus head coach Pascal Vincent said of the loss that "We didn’t have much to start the game but found a way to push ourselves. We established a no-quit attitude and just kept going. We got better as the game went on."

   Both teams get back in action on Tuesday night with road games. The Kraken face off against the San Jose Sharks, with Philipp Grubauer projected to start. Tarasov is expected to start for Columbus against the St. Louis Blues.