Kraken thwart Oilers’ comeback

Amidst the excitement of a new NHL franchise in Seattle, tickets to early season Seattle Kraken games were being scalped at some outrageous prices. Nevertheless, it’s tempting to say that any Seattle hockey fan got their money’s worth in last night’s 4-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers (16-6).

The host Kraken provided another lively Friday night with highlight-reel goals, acrobatic goaltending, and a remarkable closing minute. Seattle held on to the victory despite the Oilers being on a power play, having their goalie pulled, and boasting the league’s two leading scorers – Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

The Kraken improved their record to 9-13-2, 6-6 at home, but the real story is the 5-1-1 mark (on the heels of a six-game losing streak) giving Seattle the league’s best record since Nov. 21. And four of those wins have come over Washington (3^rd overall in points), Carolina (8^th), Florida (1^st), on the road, and Edmonton (7^th).

Yanni Gourde, Adam Larsson, who spent the last five seasons with Edmonton, Carter Blackwell and Alexander Wennberg scored the Kraken goals but netminder Philipp Grubauer literally `saved’ the game with about four minutes remaining.

McDavid, who already had a goal and an assist in the game fired a shot off the back boards (which players sometimes do intentionally) and linemate Jesse Puljuarvi captured the puck and tried to come in from behind the net and tuck the puck home. But Grubauer wheeled around and dove backward in one motion to make the save. That filled the arena with cries of `Gruuuu.’

“When we managed the puck well we put ourselves in a good spot,” said Kraken coach Dave Hakstol. “They had a hell of a push in the third period but you know thar’s going to happen with (Draisaitl and McDavid) on the ice as often as they were. But our guys handled it well and closed out the game.”

Gourde, who said after the Kraken’s last win over Buffalo that the team can play with anyone in the league, gave Seattle its earliest lead of the season at the 49 second mark when he wristed a sliding pass from Ryan Donato into the net.

After Draisaitl’s power-play goal Larsson, normally a defensive-minded defenseman gave Seattle a lead against his former teammates at 10:50 of the first period. Joonas Donskoi, who now has 12 assists on the season, set up the goal after making a nice spin move around the Edmonton defense.

Seattle outscored its guests 2-1 in the second period as well. After Evan Bouchard, a highly-touted young defenseman for the Oilers, tied the game, Carter Blackwell gave the Kraken a lead they would never relinquish. Riley Sheahan stole a puck at the blue line, made a touch pass over to Kole Lind (first NHL point) who head-manned the pass to Blackwell. What made the goal noteworthy – five days ago, Sheahan and Lind were playing in the AHL and Blackwell was a healthy scratch by the Kraken.

“(Edmonton goalie Stuart) Skinner is a big guy and I saw him sprawling just a little,” said Blackwell, of his second goal of the season. “I gave him a head fake and he bit. I was lucky. I almost lost (the puck) but recovered and put it in the top corner.”

Alexander Wennberg made it 4-2 on what appeared to be a lead pass to linemate Marcus Johansson. But the puck hit an Edmonton player and went into the net. Hakstol talks about `little things’ that make a difference. Wennberg won 16 faceoffs in 25 attempts last night. Gourde won 12.

For the second consecutive game, Seattle went with a `shorthanded lineup.’ Captain Mark Giordano missed his fourth consecutive game due to COVID protocol. Forward Callie Jarnkrok and goalie Chris Driedger are on injured reserve and leading scorers Jordan Eberle and Jaden Schwartz along with young defenseman Will Borgen are day-to-day with `lower body injuries.’

“I said it a little bit in jest, but nobody cares who’s in the lineup,” said Hakstol. “Injuries are a part of this league. So, whoever’s in the lineup on a given night, they have to go out and provide something that helps their team win.”

The Kraken play the second game of a four-game homestand on Monday night when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins, who also boast two of the top players in the league – Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin.

GAME NOTES

*To be honest, last night’s game was arguably the worst officiated game in the Kraken’s brief history. Jake Brenk and Mike Markovic – two young referees – let some blatant penalties go uncalled and made some questionable penalty calls. The linesmen got into the act in the final minute when they called icing against Seattle on a play where it appeared an Edmonton player could have reached the puck. That brought the faceoff back to the Kraken defensive zone and led to Edmonton’s last minute power play with Larsson receiving another ‘questionable’ roughing penalty.

*At the first play stoppage in last night’s game the Kraken recognized Edmonton head coach Dave Tippett, who served as Seattle Senior Advisor of Hockey Operations for one year before the Seattle hockey team even had a nickname Tippett was involved in all phases of the operation including construction of Climate Pledge Arena and the team’s training center in Northgate to the team name and jersey design. Yesterday morning during his team’s early morning skate, Tippett had the opportunity to view Climate Pledge for the first time. Tippett was a teammate of Kraken GM Ron Francis on the late, lamented Hartford Whalers who, like the Edmonton Oilers, competed in the World Hockey Association in the 1970’s before joining the National Hockey League.

*Leon Draisaitl has scored more goals on the power play (11) than any Kraken has scored overall this season. Jordan Eberle led the team with ten goals before his injury. Draisatl leads the league in goals (22) and McDavid in assists. (26) and both players have over 40 points in their first 21 games. The last two players on the same team to have 40 points in 21 games were Pittsburgh legends Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr. Lemieux finished the season with 161 points (69 goals and 92 assists) while Jagr notched 149 points (62 goals and 87 assists) in 82 games. The third leading scorer on that team – current Kraken general manager Ron Francis.

* Monday’s game with the Pittsburgh Penguins concludes what could be called `the Riley Sheahan’ portion of the schedule. Amazingly, Sheahan has played for the last five Seattle opponents. Sheahan was drafted by Detroit (Seattle’s foe two nights ago), playing six-plus seasons before being traded to Pittsburgh (Monday’s upcoming opponent). After two years with the Penguins, he was traded to Florida (last Saturday, although Sheahan was still with Charlotte of the AHL during that game) before signing as a free agent with Edmonton (last night’s opponent) and then going to Buffalo (last Monday’s foe and Sheahan was recalled in time for that game) last year as a free agent. Seattle hosts Winnipeg on Wednesday, a team Sheahan never played for.

GAME SUMMARY

1^st Period

S- Yanni Gourde (Ryan Donato) :41

E- Leon Draisaitl (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid) power play, 6:41.

S- Adam Larsson (Jared McCann, Joonas Donskoi) 10:35.

2^nd Period

E- Evan Bouchard (Nugent-Hopkins, Jesse Pulvjarvi) 8:13.

S—Colin Blackwell (Kole Lind, Riley Sheahan) 13:06.

S – Alex Wennberg () 15:53.

3^rd Period

E – Connor McDavid (Draisaitl, Bouchard) 11:44.

Goals Allowed/Saves – E: Scott Skinner 4-30. S: Philipp Grubauer 3-29.

Penalties – Edmonton: 4-8. Seattle: 4-8.

Referees – Jake Brenk, Michael Markovic. Linesmen – Brandon Gawryletz, James Tobias.