Eberle scores first Kraken hat trick, Sabres lose after Eichel trade

SEATTLE -- Jordan Eberle scored the first hat trick in Seattle Kraken history in a 5-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at the Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday.

Jaden Schwartz had a goal and two assists, and Philipp Grubauer made 19 saves for the Kraken (4-6-1), who won for the first time in three games.
"It's an honor, it's really cool," said Eberle, who scored a natural hat trick. "I have a couple [of hat tricks] but this one for sure, you get the first in Kraken history, in this arena, it's pretty special. I'm not going to lie, when it went in, I definitely thought about it. It's a neat moment, and it's part of history."
Tage Thompson and Kyle Okposo scored, and Dustin Tokarski made 33 saves for the Sabres (5-4-1) in their first game after trading Jack Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights earlier in the day.
"Think we were just getting outmuscled on pucks and beat to loose pucks," Thompson said. "I think we gave up too many opportunities against. I think really just a little too spread out. We weren't as tight in the D-Zone, not supporting each other enough out there. I think we had flashes of good stuff, but we got to be able to connect it for a full 60."
The Sabres sent Eichel to the Golden Knights for forwards Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch, a top 10 first-round protected pick in the 2022 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. The Golden Knights also received a third-round pick in the 2023 draft.
"Obviously we addressed [the trade] in the morning," Tokarski said. "But you know, it's business time. Game day and I'm sure guys will think about it and talk about it after now, but we knew we had a job to try and do and that was our focus today."
Morgan Geekie scored his first goal in 10 games at 15:42 of the first period on a one-timer just after a Seattle power play ended for a 1-0 lead.

Thompson scored at 6:27 of the second with a wrist shot from the high slot to tie the game 1-1. He skated the puck through traffic and scored on a shot from the high slot.
Okposo scored a power-play goal with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle at 17:59 of the second to give the Sabres a 2-1 lead.
Seattle tied it 26 seconds later when Schwartz passed the puck from behind the Buffalo goal to Eberle in front for a one-timer.
"At the end of the second, we weren't necessarily playing our best," Schwartz said. "They had a power-play goal to go up 2-1 so it was good to tie it up. Really, really good shot by [Eberle]. So that tied it up late and gave us some momentum in the locker room."
Eberle's second goal came at 1:50 in the third period during on 4-on-4 and gave Seattle a 3-2 lead. He drove to the net from the top of the left circle. He completed the natural hat trick at 8:06 of the third when he skated in close on the Buffalo net and his shot trickled through after Tokarski got a piece of it.
"We haven't got a lot of bounces, even in the first half of this hockey game," Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. "There were a lot of pucks around that went through the blue paint and out the other side. So, to me, there's a couple of things. It's nice to have a little puck luck and we got that on our fourth goal. Just the hunger to get to those areas and really expect to be able to punch those home. That's still an area that can grow for us and getting a few tonight helps that."
Schwartz scored on the empty net at 18:43 of the third for the 5-2 final.
NOTES: The hat trick was Eberle's fourth in the NHL. … Eberle became the ninth NHL player to score a natural hat trick for an expansion team in its inaugural season. William Karlsson of the Vegas Golden Knights (March 18, 2018) was the last to do it before Eberle. … Schwartz has a five-game point streak (two goals, five assists). It's his longest since he had points in six straight from Dec. 16 to 29, 2019 with the St. Louis Blues. … Seattle was 0-for-4 on the power play. The Kraken have not had a goal with the man-advantage in their last 20 attempts. … Seattle outshot the Sabres 38-21.