National Hockey League
Seattle 7, Chicago 3
When: 10:00 PM ET, Saturday, April 8, 2023
Where: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, Washington
Referees: Brandon Blandina, Kyle Rehman
Linesmen: David Brisebois, Justin Johnson
Attendance: 17151

Daniel Sprong had a goal and two assists and both Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann added one of each as the Seattle Kraken clinched at least the Western Conference's top wild-card playoff berth with a 7-3 victory against the visiting Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.

Eeli Tolvanen, Yanni Gourde, Adam Larsson and Morgan Geekie also scored for the Kraken (45-26-8, 98 points), who won their fourth consecutive game, and Jamie Oleksiak had three assists.

Goaltender Martin Jones stopped 15 of 18 shots through two periods before leaving with an unspecified injury, and Philipp Grubauer stopped all 11 shots he faced in the third.

Seth Jones tallied twice and Lukas Reichel also scored for the Blackhawks (25-48-6, 56 points), who have lost 10 of their past 11 games in regulation. Petr Mrazek made 24 saves.

The Kraken took a 3-1 lead in the first period.

Tolvanen opened the scoring at 4:48 on a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle just inside the far post.

Jones tied it at 5:44, putting a wrister from the slot into the upper left corner of the net after taking a backhanded pass from Anders Bjork.

The Kraken regained the lead at 8:55 as a pass from Oleksiak deflected off both of Eberle's skates and into the net.

Seattle extended its lead on the power play at 19:09 of the period as Gourde bunted a rebound out of midair and into the net.

Jones scored his second goal on a wrist shot from between the top of the faceoff circles on a two-man advantage at 10:39 of the second.

Larsson scored on a breakaway at 12:21 just after coming out of the penalty box to make it 4-2.

Sprong scored on a one-timer from the slot at 13:16 after the puck fell to him when teammate Justin Schultz deflected a clearing attempt by Chicago defenseman Jarred Tinordi.

Reichel pulled the Blackhawks within 5-3 with his goal at 15:02, tipping Alex Vlasic's shot from the point past Jones.

McCann tallied his team-leading 39th goal at 11:54 of the third, and Geekie capped the scoring at 14:51.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Chicago   Seattle
Seth Jones 2 Points Daniel Sprong 3
Seth Jones 2 Goals Daniel Sprong 1
Andreas Athanasiou 2 Assists Jamie Oleksiak 3
Seth Jones 1 Power Play Goals Yanni Gourde 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Petr Mrazek .774 Save Percentage Philipp Grubauer 1.000
Petr Mrazek 24 Saves Martin Jones 15
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Chicago 29 3 1-3 2-3 8 36
Seattle 31 7 1-3 2-3 8 26
Upcoming Games
  • Seattle will play their next game on the road against Arizona. The Kraken have a W/L % of .591 after a win and .543 after a loss.
  • Chicago will play their next game at home against Minnesota. The Blackhawks have a W/L % of .480 after a win and .241 after a loss.