GAME RECAP: Kraken 3, Oilers 0

SEATTLE, WA - We keep kraken on.
After blanking the Winnipeg Jets the night prior in their pre-season debut at Rogers Place, the Edmonton Oilers had their fortunes reversed in the second of a back-to-back on Monday with a 3-0 defeat to the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena.
Kraken centre and the franchise's first-ever draft pick Matty Beniers opened the scoring early in the second period before Ryan Donato's wrap-around effort had Seattle ahead by a pair through 40 minutes. Morgan Geekie made it a three-goal game while shorthanded 43 seconds into the final frame off a one-timer on a 2-on-1 with Brandon Tanev.
Olivier Rodrigue and Ryan Fanti split goaltending duties for the Oilers, combining to make 24 saves on 27 shots, while both Martin Jones and Joey Daccord shared the shutout for the Kraken with 29 saves.
The Oilers are back on their road for their third tune-up of preseason at the Scotiabank Saddledome against the Calgary Flames.

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FIRST BLOOD

Beniers broke the deadlock early in the second period with a sublime snipe after a scoreless and uneventful opening frame. The Kraken's first-ever draft pick and 2021 second-overall selection placed a beauty of an opening goal over the right shoulder of Rodrigue with 2:12 gone in the middle stanza after collecting the puck on his backhand, pulling it to his forehand at the bottom of the left circle and putting the hosts on the front foot with over half the game left to play.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Kraken forward Ryan Donato did well to protect the puck with under six minutes to go in the middle frame and double Seattle's lead. The 16-goal and 31-point scorer for the Kraken last season avoided pressure from Oilers defenceman Max Wanner while keeping hold of the puck and wrapping it around to the far side on goaltender Ryan Fanti, who replaced Rodrigue midway through the second period.

SAVE OF THE GAME

The opening 20 minutes lacked quality scoring chances, but Rodrigue was locked in early shot in the slot from Donato, who was found wide open from behind the net by new off-season Kraken signing Oliver Bjorkstrand in the opening two minutes. Rodrigue flashed the blocker and parried away what was the best chance for both teams in a quiet first period at Climate Pledge Arena before being relieved in the second period by Fanti after making 11 saves on 12 shots.

MAJOR & A MATCH

Forward James Hamblin was the victim of a dangerous Illegal Check To The Head with 2:42 remaining in the middle frame from Jacob Melanson, who was assessed a five-minute major and a match penalty for catching the Edmonton, AB product with a late hit after the puck left Hamblin's stick on a dump-in from the neutral zone.
Luckily, Hamblin was no worse for wear and would remain in the game, but the extended power play proved unproductive for the Oilers. On the other end of the second intermission, it was Geekie scoring shorthanded on a 2-on-1 with Tanev to make it a 3-0 game and spell out a frustrating day with the man advantage for the Oilers (0-for-4) despite the penalty kill's perfect 5-for-5 evening.

PARTING WORDS

Woodcroft provies his thoughts on the game:
"I thought it was a really competitive game. It was penalty-filled, so it went both ways, but I thought our team came and worked their tails off to give us a chance to win a road game here. I looked up at the end of the second period and I think we'd given up 10 shots against or something like that, so I saw a lot of really good things in our team game.
"The penalty kill was excellent again. It killed off another 5-on-3 against a really good powerplay that was zipping it around, so I thought we did some good things there. A lot of younger players got good experience, lots of ice time, and we stuck with it right to the last second. We didn't get the result wanted, but a lot of positives signs."

Woodcroft on the power play with a number missing members from the top unit:
"I would say on the positive side of things, some of the players who don't normally play on the power play got some touches on the power play. It leads to some offensive confidence when you're touching it like that. I thought we still had some good looks;l we didn't convert, but we had some good looks. That's the one area of the game that we've yet to touch, partially because we haven't dressed some of our power-play players over the last couple of games. That's going to be an area that we'll work on this week and we're looking forward to growing that part of our game. Like I said, we spent the majority of our time on the penalty kill and it's good to see a lot of positive signs on that in the first two games."
Schaefer on his play in front of friends and family in Seattle:
"Obviously a pretty cool experience playing in Seattle in front of my buddies and my billet family. Definitely one to remember and obviously not the outcome we wanted, but I still enjoyed it."
"I think I had half of my team here and probably some coaches I'm assuming, but my billet familt showed up as well. That's pretty cool."

Shore provides his thoughts on the game:
"It was a tough one. I thought we competed really hard. Any game you go into, you want to win, but today we didn't get the job done. It was the first game for a lot of guys and I thought the compete level was really good. I thought we did some good things out there but we didn't score, so we couldn't get the job done. But ther'es things to build on and it's the time of year where you're trying to establish the team game and your own individual game, so I thought the guys worked hard and just came up short."