Game Recap: Kraken 5, Wild 4

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jordan Eberle scored twice, and the Seattle Kraken came from behind for a 5-4 shootout win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

Oliver Bjorkstrand and Eberle scored in the shootout.

The Kraken were down 2-0 in the second period, and got the tying goal to force overtime from Jared McCann with 3:26 remaining in regulation.

“They come out with two early. And we battled back,” Eberle said. “I think we battled. They got the lead three times, we came back all three times. So that’s a character win. Those are the kind of wins that we kind of build all season. I know it’s the first one, but that’s a big one. Those are always the hardest ones to get.”

McCann had a goal and an assist for Seattle (1-1-0). Joey Daccord made 34 saves.

“I don't think you want to get in the habit of having to [comeback three times], but I think it was good for our team,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “The game was a pretty good game going on, we get down by two and we got to respond, we got to come back, we got a huge power-play goal to get us back 2-1, but it was the story of the game. We got it 2-2, they got another one and we got it back with a great goal by the Karts line. Then they scored again and we had to come up with one late to claw back into it.

"That's just Jared McCann being Jared McCann with a great shot there that allowed us to get to overtime and allowed us to get to the shootout. It's great to claw out a win that way.”

Kirill Kaprizov had three points (one goal, two assists), and Mats Zuccarello and Matt Boldy each had a goal and an assist for Minnesota (1-0-1). Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves in his season debut.

“I liked a lot more of our game and our mindset, the details of our game, than in the first one,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “So we got to build off it. We didn’t get the two. We got the one. You got to keep getting wins. You got to keep getting points. We got to, but all that’s going to be driven by, I think, the mindset, I think the style of game. And I saw lots, lots of good tonight that I think we’re going to be able to move forward with.”

It marked the start of Fleury’s 21st NHL season, trailing only Martin Brodeur (22) for most seasons by a goalie.

Zuccarello scored his 200th career goal and made it 1-0 at 9:22 of the first period when Kaprizov, from behind the net, fed Zuccarello cutting through the slot.

“Some games are harder than others,” Zuccarello said. “Some games, you’re creating. Should have maybe scored a couple more goals and got the win.”

Boldy increased the lead 2-0 at 1:06 of the second period with a lofted shot from the high slot that bounced off Daccord’s pads.

Eberle responded 40 seconds later at 1:46, finding a loose puck down low to make it 2-1. It was his 300th career goal. He scored his second of the night to make it 2-2 at 8:15 with a backdoor deflection off an Andre Burakovsky shot.

“We've talked about scoring more goals and getting more goals you got to get them a lot of different ways,” Bylsma said. “Power play is one of the ways you're going to be a better goal-scoring team. We got it tonight there, but you need to get it throughout your lineup as well and you need to get it in a lot of different ways.”

Kaprizov put Minnesota on top 3-2 at 1:41 of the third period, tipping in a Marco Rossi shot, but Tye Kartye tied it 3-3 at 2:47 with a corner shot from the left circle.

Ryan Hartman broke the 3-3 tie at 12:33 after Boldy sent a behind-the-back pass to Hartman cutting through the slot.

With Daccord pulled for the 6-on-5 advantage on a delayed penalty, Ryker Evans found McCann atop the right circle for the one-timer and tying 4-4 goal at 16:34.

“We’d like to hold on to leads,” Hartman said. “I think we maybe could’ve got a few more calls that maybe would’ve maybe helped us out there at the end. Both teams had chances in overtime, they end up scoring more in the shootout, so it’s just one of those, but we got a point.”

NOTES: Seattle plays at the Dallas Stars on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; VICTORY+, KHN, KONG). … Minnesota is at the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday (6 p.m. ET; BSN, BSW). …Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek, who played in his 500th career game, was injured and missed a large portion of the game following an elbow by Adam Larsson at 7:07 of the second period. No update was provided postgame and Hynes was unsure if Eriksson Ek would play at Winnipeg.