Seattle Has Followed Nine Game Win Streak With Three Consecutive Losses
No team can afford to get in a track meet with the Edmonton Oilers.
For all but the first eight minutes of the 2nd period Thursday at Rogers Place, the Seattle Kraken held the Oilers out of the starting blocks. Seattle recorded three times as many hits as the Oilers, 36-11, and even scored the game's first two goals.
But during that one disastrous stretch, superstar Leon Draisatil led his team with a goal and two assists. He'd finish with four points.
That was enough for a 4-2 victory, extending Edmonton's NHL-best winning streak to a franchise record 12 games.
Seattle, meanwhile, completes a six game road trip 3-3-0, dropping the final three despite goals from Eeli Tolvanen and Jared McCann.
1st Period
Connor McDavid has scored at least one point in the last 14 Oilers home games (8 goals, 23 assists), and kept that streak alive with one apple tonight.
Five minutes in, McDavid makes a move NBA stars would appreciate, strong right to the cage. Kraken goalie Joey Daccord stops his initial shot, and his rebound. A couple of minutes later, Will Borgen has to hold McDavid to keep the Oilers captain from blowing past him.
19 seconds into the Edmonton power play, McDavid slashes Brandon Tanev to even the sides 4-on-4.
McDavid, who appears to be in every paragraph I write, makes a pirouette in the Kraken zone. If this were figure skating, that's easily a 9.9 from the Canadian judge. But when he loses the puck, Edmonton is caught in deep. Oliver Bjorkstrand finds Eeli Tolvanen for a breakaway; his 12th at 9:49 puts Seattle in front.
Bjorkstrand's assist gives him the team lead in points with 36. He's averaging a point-per-game (four goals, 11 assists) over his last 15 contests.
Adam Larsson is called for boarding. On the Kraken bench, coach Dave Hakstol watches the replay, walking away shaking his head in disagreement with the call. Though this Edmonton PP lasts the full two minutes, they're unable to score.
Jared McCann defense leads to Jared McCann offense. First, he deflects Evander Kane's centering pass. Yanni Gourde immediately starts wheeling up ice as, again, Edmonton is caught in too deep. With veteran patience, Gourde waits until the perfect moment before feeding Jordan Eberle as he streaks across the Oilers' blueline. One more pass to McCann, and it's 2-0 Kraken at 13:32.
McCann has a team-leading 17 goals, including four in his last four games.
I don't have room here to describe the crazy play in which the Kraken somehow avoided giving up a goal. Read my separate post about the sequence here.
2nd Period
For a team as high-powered as the Oilers, with the swagger of an 11-game win streak, a two goal deficit is no more than a speed bump. They score three times in 7:01 to take their first lead, 3-2.
Warren Foegele gets the home team on the board at 37 seconds.
Seattle survived the first two Edmonton power plays, but not the third. 17 seconds after Tomas Tatar goes off for hooking, Leon Draisatil scores his 22nd to tie the game 2-2.
Foegele's scores his second of the period on a breakaway - maybe the first Daccord hasn't stopped this season - and Edmonton leads 3-2 at 7:38. Draisatil assists on both, collecting three points in seven minutes.
Non goal-related note: Ryker Evans and McDavid tangle outside the crease, as defensmen and forwards often do, complete with takedowns (Evans) and cross-checks (McDavid). Kartye follows with a heavy hit on the Oiler. After the whistle, McDavid grabs the back of Kartye's neck for a few choice words.
Late in the period, Daccords sends a pass across all three lines, springing Alex Wennberg for the apparent tying goal. Entirely unrelated to the play, Kailer Yamamoto isn't completely onto the Kraken bench when the puck crosses the blueline.
An Edmonton video review challenge wipes the goal off the board.
This bears repeating: the offside challenge is the biggest buzzkill in hockey.
3rd Period
Seattle gets an opportunity to tie when Edmonton's Darnell Nurse hooks Brian Dumoulin. The Kraken can't convert; one game after scoring two PPGs in New York, the visitors are 0-for-5 on the power play tonight
Any chance of a late Kraken comeback dissolves when Yanni Gourde leaves his feet to check Mattias Janmark into the end boards. He's assessed a major charging penalty and ejected with 3:34 left.
As Gourde is escorted off the ice, two strains of blood are visible dripping from his left eye all the way down his cheek, and more blood from his mouth. The damage came from a post-hit melee at the Edmonton crease, with even goalie Stuart Skinner throwing punches.
Aided by the power play, Zach Hyman scores his 27th to fashion the 4-2 final. Edmonton beats Seattle for the third time this season, with one more meeting March 2 at Climate Pledge Arena.
