It was a night of firsts Wednesday for the Chicago Blackhawks, who beat the Seattle Kraken 4-2 in the first-ever meeting between the teams.
In fact, it was the Hawks’ first regular-season game in the state of Washington.
The milestones didn’t stop there.
Seth Jones extended his points streak to a career-high seven games with a first-period goal. He also played his first game at any level with his brother, Caleb, who made his Hawks debut
The Jones brothers, sons of former NBA player Popeye Jones, patrolled the blue line together for several shifts.
Alex DeBrincat recorded his first Gordie Howe hat trick, assisting on Seth Jones’ goal, scoring his own in the second period and receiving a penalty for fighting with Yanni Gourde.
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The Hawks took their first 3-0 advantage this season on Patrick Kane’s third-period wrister, assisted by Philipp Kurashev and Connor Murphy.
The Hawks (5-9-2) held an opponent without a first-period goal for the fourth straight game.
Marc-André Fleury was on his way to notching the Hawks’ first shutout of the season, but Jared McCann punched in a goal with 5:45 left in the game, and Gourde added another with 1:49 remaining when the Kraken pulled goalie Philipp Grubauer for a sixth attacker.
Fleury had 31 saves and Grubauer 15.
Hawks defenseman Jake McCabe flipped the puck over the Kraken’s attack to score an empty-netter with 26 seconds left, sealing the Hawks’ fourth consecutive win since Derek King took over as interim head coach.
The Kraken (4-11-1) have lost five straight.