EDMONTON, Alberta – Plenty of pregame talk was about Kraken additions Bobby McMann and Mackie Samoskevich providing a needed speed element previously lacking against a fast-flying divisional foe.
But for the longest time in Saturday’s game, the Kraken couldn’t get the puck away from an Edmonton Oilers team that’s dominated them in this building over the years, taking a succession of first period penalties that stifled any hope of offensive momentum. They finally stayed out of the box, tied things up and held the balance of play from there, but still took a 3-1 loss on a late, tiebreaking Leon Draisaitl goal on a broken play with just 2:27 to go.
The tough loss dropped the Kraken to 1-1-0 on the season ahead of Sunday’s home opener at Climate Pledge Arena against Calgary.
Ryan Shea had swiped at the puck at the blue line to keep it in the Kraken end when it deflected off Connor McDavid’s knee along the side boards and directly to Draisaitl at the net front. McDavid added an empty net goal in the final minute to seal the deal.
Draisaitl had been stymied all night by Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer but this time he wristed it on by him to put Edmonton ahead to stay. Earlier in the period, Jordan Eberle Jordan Eberle came inches away from giving the Kraken a lead, one-timing a Bobby McMann pass after a steal behind the net. Oilers goalie Devon Levi somehow got his glove on the puck and officials even conducted a video review to see whether he’d snared it behind the goal line.
It had been McMann tying the game 1-1 on the power play off a feed from Eberle, wristing one top-shelf, short side beyond Levi. The momentum had already shifted prior to McMann’s goal, with the Kraken staying out of the box the final minutes of the opening period and finally generating some offensive momentum that carried through to the middle period.
The Kraken have only won once in the franchise’s first 10 games at Rogers Place, dropping the last eight in a row to the Oilers on the road.
Edmonton had opened the scoring fewer than three minutes into the game on their first shot on net, a short side snipe from a tough angle deep in the left faceoff circle by Owen Michaels. It was right after that the Kraken began taking a slew of penalties, many of them resulting from Edmonton’s speed and defenders needing to commit infractions to keep forwards from blowing on by them.
The Kraken took three minor penalties in the period and two additional offsetting retaliatory minors that left things at 4-on-4, which isn’t a place anyone wants to be against an Edmonton team that thrives on open spaces. The Kraken opted to use Samoskevich, playing his first official game for them after being out with an upper body injury the prior nine days, in both of the 4-on-4 situations as a speed equalizer.
The Oilers still had the vast majority of puck possession, but Kraken goalie Grubauer, opening goal aside, withstood the barrage from there. He made a couple of tough saves off goalmouth scrambles and a pair of one-timers by German countryman Draisaitl ahead of McMann finally evening things the other way.
The Oilers had given up an eye-popping 13 goals in a pair of opening games against the Vancouver Canucks. And when the Kraken finally stopped making life easy on Edmonton’s defenders by avoiding the penalty box, the home team once again seemed back on its heels defensively.
The Kraken outshot Edmonton 10-4 in the second period and would have taken a lead to intermission if not for goalie Levi thwarting several close-in opportunities. Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour late in the period finished a check on Oilers star McDavid that sent him toppling partway into the home team’s bench in an apt metaphor for how Edmonton’s period had gone.
Things began fairly evenly in the final frame, with the Kraken getting their second power play of the night just more than four minutes in.
McMann had an early chance to put the Kraken ahead in that one, taking a pass in the slot but putting his ensuing shot directly into Levi’s chest.
