GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Kraken 3

SEATTLE, WA -They were down a man all night but didn't show it.
Despite playing the game with only 11 forwards and six defencemen due to injuries and COVID protocol designations, the Oilers were able to rebound from an early 2-0 deficit and pull out a 5-3 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday at Climate Pledge Arena.

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FIRST BLOOD

When you're hot, you're hot. Ryan Donato scored for the third consecutive game to give the Kraken a 1-0 lead 4:18 into the first period, taking a drop pass from Morgan Geekie and using defender Cody Ceci as a screen on Stuart Skinner to sneak a wrist shot underneath the netminder's arm and in for his eighth of the season.

PLAY OF THE GAME

It was a home game of sorts for Spokane native Kailer Yamamoto and he celebrated with a glorious two-way effort to create Edmonton's second goal of the night, on the power play at 17:08 of the opening frame. Tyson Barrie lost the puck just inside the blueline, allowing Seattle speedster Brandon Tanev to burst in on what would have been a breakaway if not for the back-check of Yamamoto, who caught up to Tanev and checked him enough to limit his attempt on Skinner.
The Oilers quickly transitioned back up ice with Leon Draisaitl dropping a pass back to Yamamoto for a one-timer, which created a rebound from goaltender Chris Driedger that Warren Foegele pounced on and buried for his fourth goal of the season and second in as many games. For his impressive effort, Yamamoto earned his second assist and seventh point.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Mad love for that Skinner glove. After a bit of a tough start to the game that saw him surrender a pair of early goals, the Oilers goaltender found a groove between the pipes and made a miraculous glove stop on Jared McCann midway through the second period. With the Kraken on the power play, former Oiler Jordan Eberle slid a nifty cross-crease pass to McCann but Skinner slid across and flashed his leather to deny the sure goal and keep the game tied 2-2 at the time. Three and a half minutes later, Colton Sceviour scored to put Edmonton up by one.

TURNING POINT

It took a coach's challenge and an overturned on-ice call, but the Oilers were able to tally the go-ahead goal at the 8:54 mark of the final frame as Foegele's deflection evaded Driedger for his second of the night, fifth of the season and third in the last two games. Foegele got his stick on an Evan Bouchard point shot and was pushed into Driedger by Kraken captain Mark Giordano. The goal was initially disallowed, but after Edmonton challenged and the officials conducted their review, the proper call was made and the visitors had the 4-3 advantage.

TOP PERFORMER

As he tends to do often, Draisaitl led the Oilers to victory on Saturday with three assists, giving him 58 career three-point games and nine points (three goals, six assists) in three games against the Kraken this season. He moved back into a tie with teammate Connor McDavid in the NHL's scoring race as the defending Art Ross, Hart and Ted Lindsay winners are all square with 49 points.

PARTING WORDS

Foegele on his first mulit-goal game with the Oilers:
"It's pretty cool, but I'm more excited we got the win. The boys dug in extremely hard today. I thought we played pretty simple and fast. It shows how dangerous we can be when we play in their end and keep building off doing the right things. I'm pretty happy we got that win."
Sceviour on the Oilers persevering through adversity:
"There were a number of things working against us with cancelling morning skate and the uncertainty around the game earlier today. And then getting down 2-0 early in a building that feeds off that and gets loud wasn't an ideal start, but we battled back in the first and played well the whole game."

Foegele on the team battling back from a 2-0 deficit:
"The one word that comes to my mind is belief. We stuck together, no one was pouting. We dug in as a group and knew we could come back. I think that was one of the keys at the beginning of the year. When we were down, we believed we were going to come back. You could see on the ice that we believed in each other."
Sceviour on Yamamoto's play of the game in the first:
"We played a solid 200-foot game at both ends of the ice and that play shows it. He worked his tail off to get back on a pretty fast skater that had a step on him, and then beat that same player up the ice to get the shot that resulted in the rebound that Warren put in. That shows the back-and-forth full game we played in one play."
Coach Playfair on Sceviour's contributions to the team:
"Veteran guy. He's got 500 games in the league plus, he's played on some really good teams and he's been able to find his way up and down the lineup. He's done a really good job on the PK, he's done a good job defensively for us and he's provided a consistent role for our group. What happens is those guys find a way to eventually get rewarded because they're doing things right consistently."
Sceviour on tallying his second goal in three games:
"Scoring isn't going to be the number one thing that I bring, but any time you can chip in offensively, especially in a win, it feels great. I'm pretty happy about that. I've been happy with my game in a lot of aspects. I feel like I'm playing the right way and getting rewarded."
Playfair on the successful coach's challenge in the third:
"A couple of things made it confident for us. We watched it live, we watched it again and our video coach Jeremy Coupal said to the bench this was one we should look at. We talked to the referee, made our point clear that we wanted the challenge and it worked out well."