Seattle Kraken center Matty Beniers may or may not be familiar with the Peaches & Herb hit “Reunited.” However, the 21-year-old might want to learn the chorus — “Reunited and it feels so good” — after his performance Thursday night.
After returning to Seattle’s top line with Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann, Beniers scored his first two goals of the season and added an assist as the Kraken rallied to force overtime before taking a 4-3 overtime loss against the undefeated Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.
Beniers and the Kraken will close out their five-game homestand Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes.
With Seattle trailing 3-1, Beniers assisted on captain Eberle’s team-leading sixth goal of the season at 11:01 of the third period and then tied it by redirecting Brandon Montour’s shot from the right point past Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck at 16:38.
“I thought we played well throughout the night and that was some good character coming back there in the end,” Beniers said. “And tying that up, taking it to overtime, obviously you want a different outcome, but there’s a lot of positives to build off that comeback.”
It was the second career two-goal game for Beniers, who also struck twice in a 9-8 overtime victory against the Los Angeles Kings in November 2022.
The former Calder Memorial Trophy winner as the NHL’s rookie of the year had just one point through Seattle’s first seven games this season.
“I think the defensive side of the game has been there all year for him,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “I think the chances to score and have also been there for him in pretty good amounts in the last three or four games. But I thought he was at another level (Thursday). It was his best game of the year attacking.”
Bylsma also reunited the third line of Yanni Gourde, Eeli Tolvanen and Oliver Bjorkstrand and put Brandon Tanev on the second line with Jaden Schwartz and Chandler Stephenson.
“It’s typical for the season that you’re not going to see the same line every game, so we’ve had a couple tweaks so far already and just trying to spark, maybe get a little bit more offense or different looks,” Schwartz said. “Every situation will be different, whether it’s matchups or try and get a couple guys some more looks on net or shake it up.
“We got good depth, guys who played with each other throughout the last couple years, so (it’s) something that we’re kind of used to.”
The Hurricanes are 3-1-0 on their six-game trip that wraps up Monday in Vancouver.
Martin Necas had a goal and an assist on Thursday as Carolina won 4-2 at Calgary, handing the Flames their first regulation loss of the season. Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov made 30 saves.
Carolina also won 3-2 in overtime Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers, the defending Western Conference champion.
“It’s good. There were some big wins,” Necas said. “We’ve played some good teams, especially (Thursday). … Just a good start. It’s always nice when you start on time, and that’s what we did.”
The Hurricanes built a 3-0 lead on Calgary and then held on, with Eric Robinson scoring into an empty net at 18:43 of the third.
“I think we got out to a pretty good start, obviously,” Robinson said. “Jumped up to a big lead in the second and I think they got to their game and we kind of fed into it a little bit. They had their chances, and it’s good that we found a way on the road to get a win.”
–Field Level Media