After a little over a month of adjustments, the expansion Seattle Kraken is finding its stride and notching wins against top-tier teams.
Colin Blackwell and Alex Wennberg scored less than three minutes apart in the second period, propelling the Kraken to a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night.
Yanni Gourde and Adam Larsson each scored in the first period for Seattle, and Philipp Grubauer made 29 saves, including 13 in the third period.
“I think we’re getting a lot of great efforts from up and down the lineup. I think tonight’s a great example of, we had some adversity, but we were able to weather the storm,” Blackwell said. “In the beginning of the season, we might have lost a game like that, but now we’ve got our identity rolling.”
After a successful five-point road trip, Seattle won its third game out of the last four and its fifth out of the last seven, many against some of the league’s top teams.
Seattle’s recent wins include victories over Washington, Carolina, and Florida. Since November 21, Seattle has been 5-1-1, with their 11 points tying Minnesota for the league’s highest.
“Probably the biggest factor tonight was we had contributions from everybody in the lineup,” said Seattle coach Dave Hakstol. “Big or small, we had contributions from everybody.”
Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard each scored and assisted for the Oilers. Stuart Skinner made 30 saves as Edmonton’s three-game win streak was snapped.
McDavid scored his 16th goal to pull the Oilers within one with 8:16 remaining in the third period.
Edmonton had a power play with 1:31 left after Larsson was called for roughing but couldn’t capitalize on the 6-on-4 advantage.
“We had some opportunities, especially on the power play, but didn’t capitalize,” Edmonton coach Dave Tippett said. “We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times. But that being said, we were right in the game until the end.”
Gourde opened the scoring 49 seconds into the game with his sixth goal of the season, putting Seattle up 1-0.
Draisaitl tied it with his league-high 21st goal at 6:41 in the first period. Larsson then put Seattle back ahead with 9:22 remaining in the first.
Bouchard tied the game again with a slap shot at 8:12 of the second period.
Blackwell scored to give the Kraken the lead with 6:54 remaining in the second period, and Wennberg made it 4-2 just 2:47 later, as his pass to Marcus Johansson deflected into the Edmonton net.
During a Seattle power play, Skinner’s glove save on Morgan Geekie kept it a two-goal game, and 16 seconds after the advantage ended, McDavid tipped Bouchard’s shot past Grubauer.
“We had a good push and fought our way back a little bit, but just a little short there,” said Edmonton’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who had two assists. “Overall, it was a solid game, and Skinner made some big saves to keep us in it late.”
WELCOME HOME
Edmonton’s Kailer Yamamoto and Derek Ryan became the first NHL players born in Washington state to play a regular season game in their home state. Both players are from Spokane.
NOTES
Seattle scratched forwards Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz for the second straight game. Eberle skated on his own before morning skate, while Schwartz did not. Kraken assistant coach Paul McFarland took a puck to the forehead in the first period, resulting in a large gash above his left eye. Draisaitl played in his 500th career game. Seattle’s Kole Lind recorded his first career point with an assist on Blackwell’s goal. Nugent-Hopkins reached his 500th career point.
UP NEXT
- Oilers: Host Los Angeles on Sunday.
- Kraken: Host Pittsburgh on Monday.
