Kraken Recap
The trends continue. The Kraken finish off a road trip, not a long one mind you, earning a somewhat unlikely three-out-of-a-possible four points. They return home with a thud, playing poorly at Climate Pledge Arena against a team they do not match up well against.
They see that Oilers emblem on the chests of their opponent and their confidence seems to wane.
Saturday night final: Edmonton Oilers 4, Seattle Kraken 1, with the home team not showing any real urgency until period number three.
1st Period
After Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner robbed Kraken center Yanni Gourde with a great save about four minutes into the game, Edmonton took over. They outshot Seattle 17-5 in the period and scored four times.
The first three came from Zach Hyman, a natural hat trick for a player who seemed to find every loose puck in the slot. He was in position, he beat Kraken to pucks, and he buried his rebound chances. The goals came within a nine minute time span and were similar in nature.
2nd-year forward Dylan Holloway added to the lead, scoring with just 17-seconds remaining in the period. He was Johnny-on-the-spot, picking up a carom off the end boards and tucking it inside the left post behind Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer.
2nd Period
Grubauer would be replaced by Joey Daccord to start period two.
The middle stanza was dullsville, just what the Oilers wanted. They sat on the lead, played strong defensively and kept things at 4-0. Skinner only saw four more Seattle shots on goal.
3rd Period
Seattle woke up in the third. Jaden Schwartz would add to his point streak, now at a career-high nine games after he scored his 8th goal of the season at 2:25 on the power play.
We also saw some feistiness. After Holloway hit Kraken defenseman Brian Dumoulin from behind and took a boarding penalty, leading to the Seattle goal on the man advantage, Vince Dunn made note of it all. Minutes later, the Kraken D-man hammered Holloway with a hit along the end boards behind Daccord and then dropped the mitts.
The fight was brief as the players fell, but a message was sent.
Seattle created more scoring chances in the third period but wouldn’t solve Skinner again.
It’s hard to beat an NHL team by playing with urgency for less than 30-minutes.
Shots-on-goal finished 26-18 in favor of the Oilers. Power Plays: Edmonton 1-for-3, Seattle 1-for-3.
Every single time that a team that has been complete dumpster fire plays Seattle the Kraken give the a get-right win. They have been doing that since they gave the Coyotes their first win of 2021-22.