The Seattle Kraken just made history! They won a game against the Arizona Coyotes and became the first expansion team to make it into the playoffs in their second season, breaking an NHL record.
Jared McCann, Jordan Eberle, Matty Beniers and Vince Dunn all scored goals for the Seattle Kraken. They earned their 44th win, which is more than any other NHL team in its second year since the Original Six era ended in 1968. This shows a lot of improvement from last season when they were 27-49-6 and came last place in the Pacific Division.
Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said he feel really happy that his team made it to the playoffs. He believes they earned it ever since Day One. Philipp Grubauer saved 27 shots, and helped the team win its third consecutive game. On top of that, we have a special group here according to Eberle. Even though many have written us off from the beginning, they have achieved so much already and they still believe they’re not done yet.
Barrett Hayton and Laurent Dauphin both scored goals, but unfortunately the Arizona team has lost their last nine games. Karel Vejmelka blocked 29 shots for them. Their coach, André Tourigny said that they had moved in the right direction today and they want to finish strong with three remaining home games.
McCann was the one who scored first, getting his team their 38th goal at 19:36 in the first period. Dunn then made a goal right after that just 28 seconds into the second period. Eberle managed to slip one more past Vejmelka at 5:52 making it 3-0.
The next goal came from Hayton for Arizona at 12 minutes into the second period and Dauphin then got his 1st goal at 19:21 in the third. Beniers added another one in with his 23rd goal of the season – this happened 16:09 of the third period and put them up 4-1.
Eberle helped set up a goal that earned him points and his linemates, McCann and Beniers. Beniers, who is new to the playoffs, looks like he is not scared at all of what’s coming!
Beniers said that things might be harder and more physical, but he believes that the team is playing in a great way which has brought them here. He also thinks they can make it through the playoffs if they keep doing what they’ve been doing. Hakstol told Seattle fans who haven’t seen playoff hockey what to expect from it.
Hakstol said it was an amazing experience and the fans were fantastic. Right when the game started, they all looked so excited and were very intense throughout the whole game. When they walk into the building for their first game, they’ll get to feel how special that moment is. They’ll know exactly what it feels like when the puck drops!
The player, Eberle, scored goals in 3 games in a row. It was the most he has scored since November 2021! The team called the Kraken won their second home game against Arizona this week and will play them again on Monday which is the third time they have played in one week. The Coyotes (Arizona) will next play Anaheim on Saturday and the Kraken will play Chicago on Saturday night.
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