The Kraken gave it their best shot in the 3rd period but fell short against the Edmonton Oilers, with the visitors winning 2-1 at Climate Pledge Arena.
1st Period
The goaltending match-up featured Stuart Skinner for Edmonton and Philipp Grubauer for Seattle.
Kraken winger Andre Burakovsky missed his second straight game with a lower body injury.
Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm had a chance in the first 30-seconds that Grubauer shut down, with the Kraken getting the next two chances after that off of Edmonton D-zone turnovers.
For the next eight minutes, both teams made zone entries difficult.
Seattle picked up the first power play of the period at 8:38 when D-man Darnell Nurse went off for slashing Jared McCann.
Nothing doing, although there were a couple of chances, the best from Jordan Eberle on the side of the doorstep.
Back at full strength, Yanni Gourde had a decent chance on the backhand with 4:06 remaining.
The referees evened up the calls with a very weak cross checking penalty to Jamie Oleksiak at 17:46.
Grubauer had the answer on two Edmonton chances. Kraken worker bee Brandon Tanev killed off the final few moments himself after stealing the puck from Connor McDavid.
2nd Period
The Kraken came out with the better energy, dominating the O-zone possession time and the opportunities over the first five minutes.
The game went end-to-end for much of the first ten minutes. For whatever reason, the linesmen seemed to be waiving the usual criteria for icing. There was plenty of open ice with the Kraken seeing the slightly better chances.
Oilers winger Evander Kane had a glorious chance at the midway point, but Grubauer was up to the task with his left pad.
Moments later off a 4-on-3 rush, McDavid found Leon Draisaitl wide open in the right wing circle for a one-timer and a 1-0 lead. No chance for Grubauer.
At 14:53 Seattle winger Oliver Bjorkstrand went to the penalty box for slashing. The Kraken killed it off, an effort that included a great chance shorthanded for Gourde going hard to the net.
3rd Period
Seattle’s leading goal scorer McCann had the best scoring chance of the night five minutes into the period, alone in the slot, and he fired the puck right into Skinner’s mid-section. Tye Kartye shot wide on a good chance just moments later.
Edmonton extended its lead at the 8:02 mark when a left point shot along the ice from Brett Kulak snuck inside the left post just out of the reach of Grubauer’s right pad.
Seattle picked up its second power play of the game at the 12:00 mark when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins went off for holding. Eeli Tolvanen put the Kraken on the board at 13:23 with a shot that deflected 5-hole on Skinner off D-man Nurse’s leg.
With 53-seconds remaining Seattle picked up a power play when Draisaitl went off for holding. With the Kraken net empty, it presented an O-zone face-off and a 6-on-4 opportunity.
Skinner made two enormous saves, one on Eberle alone on the left side of the crease. The Oilers held on.
Shots on goal ended up 26-24 in favor of the Oilers. Power plays: Edmonton 0-for-2, Seattle 1-for-3.
The NHL trade deadline is in six days.
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