An old friend made it a close game in the third period, but Kraken captain Jordan Eberle sealed the victory and a 6-2-4 record for the home team. Seattle has managed a point in five straight games and all but two this season.

On the first Kraken goal, Jamie Oleksiak decided to throw it at the net from just inside the blue line, probably hoping for a tip. He didn’t get much of one, but he got a very good screen from Chicago defenseman Matt Grzelcyk. The puck got past Arvid Söderblom for Oleksiak’s second goal of the young season.

Defenseman Oleksiak is about as stay-at-home as they come these days, but he has as many goals as power-play quarterback Vince Dunn, and is just three off the team lead. That’s more to do with the Kraken’s very even, very economical scoring than Oleksiak’s offensive outburst.

Seven seconds into a penalty to original Kraken player Ryan Donato, Matty Beniers took a blind pass from Eberle and buried it to make it 2-0 Kraken. Seattle had scored two goals on just three shots through the first 10 minutes of the second period.

Söderblom (21 saves) kept the score there when he robbed Eberle, snatching the captain’s shot out of midair, point-blank. Eberle saved his team-high fifth goal of the season in the third period instead. He held onto the puck on a short 2-on-1 with Eeli Tolvanen, who is still waiting on goal No. 1.

Earlier defenseman Brandon Montour batted at a midair rebound to try and make it four goals in three games, but Söderblom had the answer.

Andre Burakovsky also scored … for Chicago. The winger was a member of the Kraken earlier this summer, but he was dealt to the Blackhawks for a fresh start, with the added bonus of salary cap space.

Joey Daccord made 29 saves for Seattle.

Not including empty netters, the Kraken are averaging just over two goals per game over the past seven outings. They entered the game averaging 2.73 (24th) in spite of a winning record that included just two regulation losses. They have scored four goals twice this season, never more than that.

Quotable:“Clearly, we haven’t generated enough offense the last couple of games. We’ve talked about shot volume, shots creating other shots, and just putting more pucks on net. You got to score greasy goals in this league. We’re not going to be able to not going to be able to pass it into the net. So we’ve got to get ourselves in that mindset, so to speak.” — Kraken coach Lane Lambert

Player of the game: Eberle (one goal, one assist)

Goal of the game: It’s worth finding a replay of Eberle’s behind-the-back setup on Beniers’ goal. These are two players who have played together a long time and know each other’s tendencies very, very well.

On tap: The Kraken will close out this five-game homestand Wednesday against the San Jose Sharks, who have a phenom of their own. Macklin Celebrini was the top overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, a year after the Blackhawks took Bedard there. His 18 points (seven goals) in 13 games were tied for fourth-most in the NHL on Monday afternoon.

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