Philipp Grubauer made 29 saves for his second shutout of the season and the 20th of his NHL career as the expansion Seattle Kraken defeated the host Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 Thursday night.
Alex Wennberg and Jordan Eberle scored for Seattle (23-42-6, 52 points), which split its two-game trip after a 4-1 loss the previous day in St. Louis.
Kevin Lankinen stopped 29 of 31 shots for the Blackhawks (24-36-11, 59 points), who suffered their sixth consecutive defeat and haven't won on home ice since March 8 -- a span of five games (0-3-2).
It was scoreless after the first period despite Seattle outshooting the Blackhawks 17-3.
The Kraken opened the scoring 47 seconds into the second period. After a turnover in the neutral zone, Eberle sent a pass toward Wennberg that went off the stick of a Chicago defenseman and Ryan Donato's skate. Wennberg picked up the puck in the middle of the ice at the Blackhawks' blue line, skated around Jake McCabe and faked a backhander before pulling the puck back to his forehand and stuffing the puck past Lankinen at the left post.
It remained 1-0 through the end of the period, thanks to the Kraken's penalty killers.
Donato was called for interference against Chicago's Taylor Raddysh at 16:01 of the period. On the ensuing faceoff, defenseman Carson Soucy's stick came up while battling Raddysh and cut him in the face, resulting in a double minor for high-sticking.
Seattle killed off all 1:56 of the five-on-three opportunity and all but the final five seconds of Soucy's penalty before the period ended.
Wennberg also made a poke check on Chicago's Kirby Dach to prevent a short-handed breakaway early in the third.
Eberle clinched the victory, scoring on a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle at 18:21 of the third.
--Field Level Media
Seattle | Chicago | |
Jordan Eberle 2 | Points | N/A |
Jordan Eberle 1 | Goals | N/A |
Jordan Eberle 1 | Assists | N/A |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Philipp Grubauer 1.000 | Save Percentage | Kevin Lankinen .935 |
Philipp Grubauer 29 | Saves | Kevin Lankinen 29 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Seattle | 31 | 2 | 0-1 | 4-4 | 8 | 18 |
Chicago | 29 | 0 | 0-4 | 1-1 | 2 | 23 |