They’ve been playing with and against each other since they were kids themselves. Seattle Kraken teammates Jordan Eberle and Martin Jones now have something else in common — their sons’ birth dates.
Goaltender Jones and winger Eberle welcomed baby boys Friday. According to the team, Jones and wife Alex named their son Rory. Eberle, wife Lauren Rodych-Eberle and big sister Collins welcomed Deacon into the family.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to score one for him tonight,” Eberle said Saturday morning before a matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins. “You get a little bit of jump in your step when these things happen.”
Eberle’s first of two assists Thursday night against the Vancouver Canucks was his 600th career NHL point. He was still waiting on his first goal of the season.
Jones got his fourth straight start Saturday against the Penguins. He’s handled all of the goaltending duties since Philipp Grubauer left a game Oct. 21 in Colorado with a lower-body injury.
Friday was an optional skate day for the team, but a life-changing one for two among the ranks.
“We just tried as best we could to get the baby to come out yesterday and it did,” Eberle said. “Lucky for us, the timing worked out. My wife, baby, everyone’s doing good.”
It’s a joyous, hectic time in the real world, but Eberle said he’s found himself able to compartmentalize when it’s time to lace up the skates again.
“It’s always, I find, easy,” he said. “Once you get on the ice you just start thinking about playing. Your mind switches gears.”
Feast and famine on penalty kill
The flood of man-advantage goals allowed has abated, but the Kraken’s penalty kill was hovering near the bottom of the league nine games in.
It’s too soon to draw any firm conclusions — after all, the New York Islanders were still at an unlikely 100% PK efficiency through eight games. The Kraken kill sits 64.5%, tied for second-to-last in the league going into Saturday’s game. The unit surrendered goals on both Canucks power-play chances Thursday.
The Kraken allowed seven power-play goals in its first four games. Since then, they have held teams scoreless in that category three times. The other two outings, they allowed multiple man-advantage goals.
Though it wasn’t successful and he noted the special-teams impact on the 5-4 loss, Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said he liked the structure of the penalty kill Thursday.
“The PK is not a perfect science. It’s guys working on the same page, working together, reading off one another,” he said. “We did a lot of that really well. Now you have to make plays and finish.
“We’ve really got to dig in. One kill at a time here. Get the first PK and get it done and then move on to the next one, have a real short-term focus.”
Comforts of home
Another team came to Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday looking to get the early season back on track.
The Penguins came in on a three-game losing streak. They were playing on back-to-back nights, having dropped a 5-1 decision in Vancouver on Friday.
The Kraken sat 1-3-1 at home. They let two close ones slip away — the overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues and Thursday’s back-and-forth affair with the Canucks — and were blown out by the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes.
“For us, it’s about trying to get this home-ice advantage,” Eberle said. “We haven’t played particularly well at home. We need to find a way to get some wins here, to make this place a tough place to come win games.”