Leon Draisaitl scored two goals and added two assists, leading the Edmonton Oilers to a 5-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Monday night. The Oilers’ strong start to the season continued.
Duncan Keith, Kyle Turris, and Kailer Yamamoto also scored for the Oilers, who improved to 7-1-0. Mikko Koskinen made 27 saves.
“I don’t think it was our best game overall, but good teams find a way to win, and we did that tonight,” said Keith, who scored his first goal for Edmonton in his 1,200th NHL game.
Jaden Schwartz and Carson Soucy scored for the Kraken (3-6-1), who suffered their second consecutive loss after falling 3-1 to the New York Rangers on Sunday.
Joey Daccord made 18 saves for Seattle.
“It’s frustrating,” Schwartz said. “The last game was right there for us, and so was tonight. They were opportunistic to start. We had many good chances and good looks, and we just had to find ways to put them in the back of the net. We need to get hungrier around the net, and our power play has to start executing better to get us on the board and build momentum.”
Edmonton scored on its first shot of the game two minutes after Tyson Barrie’s drive deflected off Draisaitl’s skate and past Daccord.
Seattle quickly responded as Schwartz scored his first goal of the season, battling through the defense and slipping a backhand shot through Koskinen’s legs.
Two minutes later, the Oilers regained the lead on a power play. Zach Hyman sent a pass to Draisaitl, who scored his seventh goal of the season into an open net. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins earned his league-leading 11th assist on the play.
The Oilers extended their lead to 3-1 early in the second period when Keith capitalized on the rebound of Draisaitl’s shot.
“It speaks to the depth of our group that we can win in different ways,” Draisaitl said. “We can win on the power play, our goalie can steal one, our defensemen are chipping in, and our third line has won us games. We can win in different ways, and that’s a great asset for a team.”
Seattle cut the deficit to one with 1:20 left in the second period when Soucy joined the rush and picked the top corner of the net.
Edmonton made it 4-2 three minutes into the third period when Devin Shore set up Turris for a tap-in at the side of the net.
Draisaitl capped off his night with his fourth point, assisting on Yamamoto’s goal with 7 1/2 minutes remaining. Yamamoto’s goal was his first in 20 games and just his second in his last 36.
“They kept telling me to get to the net and keep shooting, and eventually it would come. Tonight it finally did,” Yamamoto said.
Game Notes
The Kraken were without leading scorer Jared McCann, who remained sidelined due to COVID-19 protocols. Also missing from Seattle’s lineup were Chris Driedger (undisclosed), Marcus Johansson (undisclosed), Colin Blackwell (lower body), and Mason Appleton (lower body). The only injured player for the Oilers was goalie Mike Smith, who did participate in the morning practice. Edmonton entered the game with the NHL’s top-ranked power play, converting at an impressive 47.8% rate, while Seattle’s power play ranked 30th at 10.3%.
UP NEXT
- Kraken: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night.
- Oilers: Host the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night.
