Eberle has 3 points in Kraken victory against Canucks

VANCOUVER -- Jordan Eberle had a goal and two assists for the Seattle Kraken in a 4-3 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday.

The regulation loss was Vancouver’s first in eight home games this season.

Yanni Gourde scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, and Matty Beniers had a goal and an assist for the Kraken (7-8-4), who won their second straight. Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves.

“More than not, we've found ways to lose games in third periods rather than find a win,” Eberle said. “So, it was nice to find a way to win here against a really good team that has obviously been pretty good at home. Hopefully this kickstarts us in the right direction.”

J.T. Miller, Quinn Hughes and Nils Hoglander scored, and Thatcher Demko made 22 saves for the Canucks (12-5-1), who have lost two in a row. Tyler Myers had two assists.

Vancouver is 6-1-1 at home. 

“Tied up going into the third, we’ve got to find a way to get that killer instinct when we don’t have our best,” Miller said. “We’ll learn from it. Sometimes you can lose games in a better fashion than others. We had an opportunity to salvage something, and we got outworked.”

Miller put Vancouver ahead 1-0 at 5:34 of the first period by tapping in a loose puck after Myers’ point shot trickled past Grubauer. Seattle defenseman Will Borgen appeared to sweep the puck off the goal line, but a video review determined it crossed completely. Miller has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) during a seven-game point streak.

Jamie Oleksiak tied it 1-1 at 5:43 of the second period, taking a drop pass from Beniers off the rush and scoring on a slap shot over the left shoulder of Demko from inside the top of the right circle. It was his first goal of the season.

Eberle put Seattle ahead 2-1 at 13:04 by deflecting a high shot from Oliver Bjorkstrand one second after a power play expired. The puck hit Demko but trickled in as he propelled himself back to his post. Video review determined Eberle’s stick was at or below the crossbar, and the goal was upheld.

“I'm not a big guy, couldn't get it up too high, so I think they got the right call,” said Eberle. “Sometimes it's nice to get some bounces. For us, it was nice that we closed out a game in the third and took over one.”

Hughes tied it 2-2 at 15:48 on a slap shot from the top of the left circle, beating a screened Grubauer over his glove. Hughes also extended his point streak to seven games (three goals, nine assists).

Hughes, Miller and Elias Pettersson, who had an assist, are tied for first in the NHL in scoring with 28 points each, but Hughes was more focused on the team losing consecutive games for the first time since Oct. 19.

“We just didn’t bring our A-game,” Hughes said. “We have a good team in here. We’re going to win lots of hockey games this year and we’re not going to go on 10-game winning streaks the whole year. Those guys wanted to win badly, too, so there’s going to be nights like this.”

Gourde gave the Kraken a 3-2 lead at 4:19 of the third with a tap-in from atop the crease, finishing a tic-tac-toe passing play from Eeli Tolvanen at the bottom of the left circle to Borgen in tight on the right side.

“[Tolvanen] made a great pass seam pass across and Will was able to find me,” Gourde said. “I barely touched the puck, but it was good enough to score.”

Beniers extended it to 4-2 at 6:48 after Eberle won a puck battle with Myers in the corner and passed to him in the slot for a quick shot past Demko’s blocker.

It was the second straight game with a goal for Beniers, who only scored once his first 17 games after winning the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year last season with 24 goals.

“He's been playing hard,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “Obviously, the offensive side is starting to come. There's still another notch or two there, but he's looking more and more comfortable. He's always worked hard, so now part of it is the confidence that you build as you have a little bit of success, and hopefully that'll continue coming in his game.”

Hoglander scored on a deflection in the high slot with 11 seconds remaining for the 4-3 final.

“Our changes were awful, long shifts, that’s .500 hockey,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “You can’t win that way. It wasn’t good enough. If we’re going to have the staples as our Bible, it wasn’t good. … There’s no excuses. They were a little bit hungrier on pucks and that’s really the game.”

NOTES: Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn has his point streak end at five games (six assists). … Vancouver forward Andrei Kuzmenko returned after missing one game; he took a slap shot from Miller off the chin during a 4-3 overtime win against the New York Islanders on Wednesday. Kuzmenko finished plus-1 in 16:47 of ice time.