Kraken Bright Start Dims in EDM

The Kraken’s longest road trip of the season finished three up and three down with a 4-2 loss against division rival and fellow playoff contender Edmonton. The six standings points earned stalled after three wins to start the itinerary and now brings Seattle back to the PNW for a four-game homestand that starts with elite Toronto Sunday, then Chicago, fellow outside-looking-in playoff contender St. Louis, and Columbus. The Kraken are now 19-17-9 while Edmonton won its 12^th game in a row in a turnaround that matches up with a new coach.

“We wanted one of these last two games either in New York or tonight,” said Dave Hakstol post-game, “and you walk away feeling like it's a really successful road trip. We weren't able to do that. That's disappointing.

We’ve got to get home. We don't have a lot of time but we’ve got a day off [Friday] to try to get some bodies healed up and feeling better [some players are fighting illness]. Then we have to get back at it at home.”

Fulsome First Period

Playing without catalyst Vince Dunn for the third straight game, this divisional matchup started with a plus-plus for the Kraken when Eeli Tolvanen opened the scoring by converting a stretch pass from linemate Oliver Bjorkstrand. Tolvanen, notched his 12^th goal of the season to make it 1-0 midway through the initial period. Less than four minutes later, Jared McCann took a gorgeous pass from current linemate Jordan Eberle to beat Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner, who entered the game with a 15-2 record in his last 17 starts.

For Tolvanen, he is now just four goals short of his career-high of 16 goals logged last season in 48 games with Seattle after a well-chronicled waiver claim from Nashville. His quick-release snap shot didn’t give Skinner much chance to react, always a good thing when looking to score. Tolvanen now has 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists) in 44 games, setting a career-high he established last year. 

Bjorkstrand’s 24^th assist stakes him as Seattle’s leading scorer in Dunn’s absentia. For McCann, he now leads Kraken skaters with 18 goals, including four in the last four games. His hot hand helped build a 2-0 lead after the first 20 minutes. It’s McCann’s 85^th goal for the Kraken franchise (Dunn recently hit 100 assists as the all-time SEA leader in that category).

Line by Line, Burakovsky Back

The aforementioned McCann again centered veterans Jordan Eberle and Tomas Tatar while the second and third lines were familiar combos. The fourth line featured the new wrinkle with Andre Burakovsky rejoining the playoffs pursuit as the left wing on a presumed fourth line with rookie Tye Kartye back at center and Kailer Yamamoto on the opposite wing. By the third period, with the Kraken down a goal, Burakovksy moved up to play with Alex Wennberg and Jaden Schwartz with Brandon Tanev moving to skate with Kartye and Yamamoto.

Tying Goal Nullified

It appeared late second period that Joey Daccord’s childhood untold hours of shooting and stickhandling pucks were about to dramatically pay off for the visitors. He sent a long stretch pass up ice to Alex Wennberg, whose nimble footwork kept in onside before he zoomed into the Oilers zone to beat Stuart Skinner. But Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch, the former Dave Hakstol assistant in Philly, quickly challenged, presumably because EDM video coaches noticed that Kailer Yamamoto had not hustled quick enough to get out of the offensive zone on his way to the bench for a shift change. Daccord’s quick-release long pass didn’t appear to be anticipated by the former Oiler.

Second Period Askew

Edmonton’s Warren Foegele scored in the first minute (37 seconds ticked off the game clock) of the second period, marking the 21^st time this season the Oilers have tallied in the first two minutes of a period. EDM star Leon Draisaitl tied matters on a power play rebound shot that he banked off Joey Daccord, who had made a spectacular first save – one of nearly a dozen by the rookie, who returned the net after a respite of not facing the Rangers in New York Tuesday.

Foegele scored his second goal of the night and eighth of the year seven-and-half minutes in the frame to make it three goals in reply to the Kraken’s productive first period. Foegele, drafted by Ron Francis when the Hall of Famer was GM of the Carolina Panthers, has done this before to his former boss. He nearly nabbed a hat trick on a third-period scoring chance.

“I felt going into the second period we felt too comfortable [with the two-goal lead],” said Eeli Tolvanen.

Power Play Outage for SEA

The Kraken power play units went 0-for-5 Thursday (though some were not full two minutes), sans quarterback Vince Dunn. There were some good looks but in his post-game remarks, Jared McCann allowed the power play units need to convert with that many opportunities.

A late Yanni Gourde five-minute boarding penalty led to a gut-wrenching insurance goal for the home squad. Zach Hyman notched his team-leading 27^th goal with a 43^rd  assist from Connor McDavid and a 28^th helper from fellow superstar Leon Draisaitl.