Kraken get full playoff experience with Game 4 OT win against Avalanche

SEATTLE --Jordan Eberle has been a member of the Seattle Kraken from the start. The forward was selected from the New York Islanders in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft, and he was at Gas Works Park on the north shore of Lake Union when the initial roster was unveiled July 21, 2021. He suffered through last season, when the Kraken finished 30th in the NHL.

Now here he was at the side of the net on the power play in overtime of Game 4 of the Western Conference First Round on Monday. The puck ricocheted off a skate toward him, and he swept it into the net at the three-minute mark to give the Kraken a 3-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche, their first win at home and first win in OT in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The sellout crowd of 17,151 roared as Eberle pumped his fist, jumped into the glass and got mobbed by his teammates. The Kraken are tied 2-2 with the defending Stanley Cup champions in the best-of-7 series entering Game 5 at Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, SN360, TVAS, ALT, ROOT-NW).
"It's been tough, but it's kind of fun to be a part of a group from Day One," Eberle said. "How many guys get to experience that? We were kind of joking around before the game. 'This is the biggest game in Kraken history.'
"It's fun to be a part of something from the floor up, and as much as things were tough last year, we turned it around quickly, and that's a credit to obviously the organization, the coaching staff, the GM, the players. But we still have a lot to prove. Obviously we want to prove that we belong in this League and that we can compete with all these teams."
RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Kraken series coverage]
The Kraken have come a long way in a short period of time. Last season was a disappointment, especially in comparison to the Vegas Golden Knights' inaugural season of 2017-18, when they went to the Stanley Cup Final. But it was unrealistic to expect Seattle to match Vegas' success for several reasons, and in retrospect, last season is paying dividends today.
The players grew familiar with the city, the arena, the practice facility, the coaches, everything, and they built a foundation for how they wanted to play. Coach Dave Hakstol learned something about his players, especially toward the end of the season.
"There was every reason for some of those guys in the room to go the other direction," Hakstol said. "They didn't. They dug in. … I knew that we had made some progress. I knew that there were some building blocks in place."
When the Kraken came back this season, they were underdogs. No longer did they have to deal with the Vegas comparisons and expectations. They used their depth to their advantage, started to win, developed an identity and gained confidence. They earned the first wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.

They're still underdogs, but that doesn't mean they can't gain respect or even pull off an upset. This is a team that led the NHL in 5-on-5 goals (209), tied for fourth in goals per game (3.52) and had 13 players score 13 goals or more during the regular season. It's deep, and it's fast, and that's showing in this series.
The Avalanche have the edge in elite players, and those elite players need but a few chances to make an impact, like when forward Mikko Rantanen scored twice to tie it 2-2 in the second period Monday. But they shortened their bench in Game 4, relying on three forward lines and two defense pairs. The Kraken kept coming and coming and coming, outshooting them 43-22.
Can they wear down the Avalanche and win this series? Why not?
At worst, there will be a Game 6 back at Climate Pledge Arena on Friday, another chance for the Kraken to prove something, another chance for the fans to roar and wave their ice blue rally towels and experience what the Stanley Cup Playoffs are all about.
"I think the biggest thing for me too is, you kind of want to make this a hockey town and have people love going to Kraken games and enjoy the product of playoff hockey, which is obviously why we play the game," Eberle said. "It's enjoyable. I mean, you hear it out there, it's unbelievable. That's what we're trying to do."