Eberle scored on the power play 3 minutes into overtime and the Seattle Kraken beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Monday night to even their best-of-7 series at 2-2.
The game will forever be memorable for the Kraken. First overtime playoff game. First overtime playoff win. And an unexpectedly tied series headed back to Denver.
Eberle collected a deflection and buried his first goal of the playoffs past Colorado goalie Alexandar Georgiev. Seattle was on the power play after Josh Manson was called for tripping on Jaden Schwartz on a breakaway attempt in the opening moments of OT.
“We’ve been kind of the underdog from day one and we’re just trying to fight back in this series. We still have a lot of work ahead of us,” Eberle said after the game.
However, some difficulty might lie ahead for Kraken after coach Dave Hakstol said their top scorer Jared McCann won’t play in Denver because he was injured after been hit by Colorado’s Cale Makar midway through the first period.
“Late hit, really late, no puck in play. Our 40-goal scorer not available for the rest of the game and is not going to be available going forward here,” Hakstol said.
Will Borgen and Daniel Sprong scored in the first period to give Seattle a 2-0 lead. Mikko Rantanen scored twice in the second period for Colorado to pull even.
“You knew it was going to be tougher and tougher as the series goes on. Space is going to be less available, and you have to go earn every inch of ice,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “We didn’t do a good enough job early in the hockey game taking care of our side of the ice.”
Seattle Kraken dominated the game in the offensive zone surpassing Colorado 43-22. But after taking a 2-0 lead, the Kraken were unable to extend further, thanks largely to goaltender Georgiev. The Colorado’s goalie made 39 saves and kept his team from getting overrun in the first period while Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer made 20 saves.
However, in the extra session, Manson’s penalty at 1:59 provided the Kraken an opportunity to end their overtime debut quickly. Schwartz had his shot in front of the net blocked, but it fell to Eberle’s stick and he didn’t miss the open net after being held in check for most of the series.
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