Kraken Game Facts
This Evening: Edmonton Oilers at Seattle Kraken
Where: Climate Pledge Arena
When: 7 pm pacific
TV/Radio: ROOT Sports NW / FM 93.3
The Kraken continued their remarkable run in Denver with their sixth win overall, regular season and playoffs, at Ball Arena against the Avalanche. That’s since entering the NHL in 2021.
Seattle will now attempt to discontinue two things: Losing at home and losing to the Oilers.
It would be a bad night to have the Edmonton club snap out of its complete funk that’s seen it win a grand total of two games all season.
Key Factors:
It’s pre-morning skate as I write this, but I’m coming back with Philipp Grubauer in net if it’s up to me. As for the Oilers, Stuart Skinner appears to the be the only real option. Jack Campbell, who started the season as the other NHL goalie in northern Alberta, was waived and sent down to the American Hockey League earlier this week.
Wednesday evening’s call-ups from the AHL for the Kraken brought some energy to the line-up on Thursday night. That would be Shane Wright and Ryan Winterton skating alongside Devin Shore. We’ll see if Pierre-Edouard Bellemare returns to the line-up on the 4th line, bumping one of the kids, or if head coach Dave Hakstol sticks with the winning formula from Denver.
Bellemare was dinged up after blocking a shot and getting clipped by the follow-thru during the game in Arizona on Tuesday.
D-man Justin Schultz missed a couple of 3rd period shifts against Colorado after taking a hit in the corner but returned to the game.
Forward Jordan Eberle missed Thursday’s game and is listed as day-to-day. He suffered a deep leg cut from a skate during practice on Wednesday.
Energy winger Brandon Tanev appears close to returning to the line-up. He’s been out since the season opener against the Vegas Golden Knights. Andre Burakovsky remains week-to-week.
Meanwhile, the Oilers are at the opposite end of the Pacific Division standings than what they expected. They’re tied for last place. Their goaltending and defensive play has been awful.
Edmonton has forwards Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown listed as day-to-day.
Who’s Hot? And Not …
Jaden Schwartz pushed his point streak to eight games with a goal in Denver. That ties his career best.
Matty Beniers gained some confidence with two assists in Tempe and then scored his first goal of the season two nights later in Denver.
Not only does Leon Draisaitl lead the Oilers with 15 points this season, he also has 15 points against the Kraken head-to-head in just six games played. Connor McDavid also has 15 points against Seattle.
Time to shadow one or both, which is easier said than done.
Special Teams
Both the power play and the penalty kill for the Kraken finished 21st in the NHL last season. That would be 19.8% and 76.7% respectively. So to suggest they’ve made improvements thus far would be an understatement on the man advantage side of things. Seattle ranks 8th with a 26.2% success rate.
Just the opposite for the penalty kill where the Kraken take care of business just 72% of the time.
The Oilers power play set an NHL record for efficiency last season. This time around it’s off to a bit slower start. Try 23.3%, which isn’t bad at all, but it’s also not the 32.4% they finished with last season.
Their penalty kill is a not-very-good 77%.
Coming In:
Oilers: 2-9-and-1 following a 3-2 loss at the hands of the San Jose Sharks two nights ago.
Kraken: 5-6-and-3, coming off the 4-3 victory in Colorado against the Avalanche on Thursday night.
All-time, Seattle has two victories and five losses against Edmonton.
Recent Kraken:
— Kraken Add Prospects Shane Wright And Ryan Winterton To The Line-Up
