On Thursday, Jan. 1, the Seattle Kraken hosted the Nashville Predators for a New Year’s Day matchup. The Kraken kicked off the scoring with three goals in the first half of the first period. The Predators managed to answer back with a power-play goal late in the second. However, they couldn’t catch up, and this was the only goal they scored. The Kraken scored an empty net goal to ensure their 4-1 victory over the Predators.
Beniers With Two Goals
Matty Beniers has been on a bit of a goal drought, scoring his last goal on Dec. 10. In the nine games since, he has recorded four assists, so he hasn’t been completely off the scoreboard. However, he finally broke his goal drought in this game with not one, but two goals.
Early in the first, the Predators tried to clear the puck from the Kraken’s zone. However, the loose puck found Ryker Evans at the blue line. He took a shot, but it was Beniers from in front of the net with the tip-in who was credited for the goal.
Right after Jamie Oleksiak scored at 10:41, the Kraken won the faceoff in the neutral zone. Kaapo Kakko skated the puck up to the net and took a shot. Juuse Saros made the initial save, but Jordan Eberle picked up the rebound. He sent a backhand pass to Beniers. He sent the puck into the wide-open space Saros left for the third goal of the night.
Beniers was on his A-game last night, and he clearly received the credit for it. With these two goals, he increases his point total for the season to 23. He might still be sitting in fourth place, but he has shown great potential for growth in this game.
Eberle Continues His Point Streak
Several players on the Kraken have been on point streaks lately. Eeli Tolvanen and Chandler Stephenson were both just on hot streaks that recently ended. Tolvanen’s streak was so strong that the NHL recognized him as the second star of the week this past Monday. However, while these two players might have had their streaks come to a close, Eberle’s is still going strong.
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With his assist on Beniers’ second goal of the night, Eberle extends his point streak to five games. In his last five, he has scored four goals and recorded two assists.
Now with his assist, he is back in the lead on the Kraken leaderboard for this season with a total of 26 points. With Tolvanen’s hot streak, they have often alternated who sits in the top spot, but after this game, it is currently Eberle. Let’s hope he can maintain it and extend his streak even further.
The Kids Are All Right
Jacob Melanson just recorded his first NHL point against the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 29 with a primary assist on Ryan Winterton’s goal. Against the Predators, both of them increased their point streak to two games.
Halfway into the first period, Melanson skated the puck around the boards and found his way to the front of the net. He took a shot, but Saros made the initial save. Winterton picked up the loose puck and once again, skated it around the net. He found Oleksiak at the blue line and sent the puck down to him. He took a shot and scored the Kraken’s second goal of the night.
The fourth line, comprised of Winterton, Melanson, and Ben Meyers, was all over the place last night. Meyers is the oldest of the group at 27, but with only 95 career NHL games, he doesn’t have a whole lot of experience. Meyers recorded 13:28 of ice time, while Winterton and Melanson recorded 11:46 and 11:05, respectively. While the fourth line might be made up of younger players, they played like veterans last night.
Kraken Have Second Half of a Back-to-Back
The Kraken will head north to Canada to take on the Canucks on Jan. 2 for the second half of a back-to-back.
The season series between the Predators and the Kraken will continue on March 10 in Seattle.
