GAME RECAP: Kraken 4, Oilers 1 (Preseason)

EDMONTON, AB – Forward Andrew Mangiapane registered the lone tally for the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night in a 4-1 pre-season defeat to the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Place.

Mangiapane put away a cross-crease pass from Evan Bouchard below the goal line with 10:59 remaining in the third period to make it 2-1 for the Kraken, but the visitors responded just over three minutes later through Ben Meyers to restore their two-goal advantage before Jani Nyman added an empty-netter.

"I thought today's game was a little sloppy," Mangiapane said. "I think it was good though to get the rust off, and we're headed in the right direction. These games are preparing you for the regular season, so each game, we have to keep getting better."

Forwards Jagger Firkus and Logan Morrison also scored for Seattle, who were victorious on a night when Edmonton dressed a veteran lineup with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm all making their pre-season debuts.

Goaltender Stuart Skinner also made his first exhibition start and stopped 15 of 18 shots for the Oilers over the full 60 minutes, while Bouchard and forward Roby Jarventie each added lone helpers in the defeat.

The Oilers fall to 2-1-1 this preseason and now look ahead to weekend tune-ups against the Winnipeg Jets (Friday) and Vancouver Canucks (Sunday).

FIRST PERIOD

A veteran Oilers lineup with McDavid, Draisaitl, Bouchard, Ekholm and Skinner all making their pre-season debuts showed some of the rust you'd expect in the opening 20 minutes of their first competitive contest of the preseason, coming off another short summer from another run to the Final.

It was all eyes on the top line for the Oilers to begin Wednesday's tune-up against the Kraken with McDavid and Draisaitl alongside Trent Frederic, allowing the trio to develop some chemistry and giving Head Coach Kris Knoblauch a look at his potential first forward unit to begin the regular season.

"If you look at the stat line, it doesn't look very good, but they spent a lot of time in the offensive zone and he was doing what he was supposed to be doing," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "He was around the net. He made some plays on the half wall. It's early. You see it as they got shut out, and they [McDavid and Draisaitl] don't get shut out very often, so you're thinking doesn't work. But I think the amount of time that they had, we're certainly going to try a little bit longer."

McDavid had a few of his attempted passes broken up in the first period, and a two-on-one with Draisaitl shorthanded late in the last minute that was broken up by the stick of a Kraken defender before he reloaded for another odd-man rush with Mattias Ekholm that needed the Swedish defender to make a pass.

Despite holding onto the puck himself and making a good move, Ekholm couldn't beat Seattle netminder Joey Daccord on the backhand while the Oilers captain sat wide open on the right side, waiting for a pass. McDavid and Draisaitl each played 1:02 and 1:04 on the penalty kill, respectively, in the first period after getting on the ice with more than a minute left in a hooking penalty to Mattias Janmark.

"I'm very comfortable with it," Knoblauch said of using McDavid and Draisaitl on the penalty kill. "I know they will kill somewhat, whether they're primary killers or the secondary ones... but they'll be part of it. How much? We'll find out. But obviously, you've got two of the best offensive players. It keeps the power play on their toes. They're on edge, and they always have to worry about giving up that shorthanded goal. Anytime they're worried about doing that, you don't usually execute as well, so they're very dangerous.

"They had their looks tonight, they had their chances, but it's early in the preseason. We want to see many guys do it."

The Kraken had only one shot on the board when they set up late in the period and beat goalie Stuart Skinner before the intermission to take the 1-0 lead. Irma, AB product Jagger Firkus was at the post to finish off the rebound that fell to his stick from Logan Morrison's spinning shot between the hashmarks.

Skinner played the full 60 minutes and felt a lot lighter and comfortable from losing 10 pounds this offseason, but is looking forward to working on some of the things he thought fell short today over more game action before the start of the regular season.

"I feel way lighter out there, so I just feel like my movements are a lot sharper and a lot easier on my knees," he said. "I feel like I'm landing a lot better on my knees and I feel strong out there. I feel fast, but obviously, I didn't [play] amazing out there today. I believe I can certainly stop the second and third goal, but I feel good. I'm looking forward to getting tested a little more."

SECOND PERIOD

The Oilers were a lot more free-flowing with their chances in the middle frame, but there were still some defensive deficiencies to work out before the regular season after their lack of composure in their own zone contributed to the Kraken building their lead to 2-0 after two periods.

Janmark had a partial breakaway early in the frame off a two-line pass from Atro Leppanën, where Daccord parried aside his quick slapshot from the top of the circle with a Kraken defender coming across to cut him off from making a move towards goal.

The Swedish forward earned the Oilers their first power play midway through the frame, being wrestled to the ice beside the Seattle net by St. Albert product Josh Mahura to send out Edmonton's top power-play unit on Wednesday of Bouchard, McDavid, Draisaitl, Frederic and Tomasek that wasn't converted.

Seattle then made it 2-0 on only their eighth shot of the opening 35 minutes of the contest with under five minutes left in second period.

Bouchard chopped a puck up the wall in the defensive zone that wound up being swatted in between the circles by Frederic, resulting in Ben Meyers saucing a pass in front to Morrison that he slid five-hole on Skinner.

The tally was Morrison's second point of the contest after assisting Firkus' opening goal in the first period.

"I think I didn't get a lot of open looks and a lot of open shots," Skinner said. "You don't get a lot of shots, and then you get a chance. That's a quick little in-tight breakaway. You get scored on like that and it doesn't feel really good for a goalie, but at the same time, that's going to happen. Especially for our team, we're really good defensively, and we take a lot of opportunities offensively. I've played that game many times."

THIRD PERIOD

Andrew Mangiapane notched his first goal of the preseason past the nine-minute mark of the third, but a response from the Kraken 3:10 later via Ben Meyers and an empty-netter from Jani Nyman cooled off Edmonton's hopes of a comeback in this one.

"I thought today there were some good plays that we made and the pace was good, but I think it was just execution," Mangiapane said. "I think we were all doing the routes and knowing what to do, but I think it's just taking it a little bit further, tape-to-tape passes, arriving on time and just little things like that."

"I thought our group was definitely climbing from the last two, I'd say."

Forward Roby Jarventie made a cross-ice feed to Bouchard near the penalty box from the far side in the Oilers' zone that the blueliner one-touched to himself around Jamie Oleksiak, collecting his own feed that bounced off the boards and taking it towards the crease before rounding the Seattle net.

Bouchard chucked a pass across the crease where Mangiapane was waiting on the far side, taking one whack that netminder Niklas Kokko stopped before he was able to slide the rebound under his outstretched arm to pull the Oilers with one, down 2-1 with 10:59 left in the third period.

"It's always nice to help chip in offensively," Mangiapane said. "It was a great play by Bouch there. It was good speed by him, good patience, and I just drove the net and he was able to find me. It was a great pass and I was just kind of lucky to put that in."

Seattle squeezed a response under the right arm of Skinner just over three minutes later, with Jaden Schwartz projecting the puck against Trent Frederic below the goal line and throwing a backhand pass out front for Meyers to sneak past the netminder to restore the 3-1 advantage.

Former Oilers forward Jordan Eberle picked up the secondary helper.

Chasing a two-goal deficit in the final two minutes, the Oilers used it as an opportunity to practice some six-on-five by pulling Skinner for the extra attacker. Ekholm had a great look from one knee between the hashmarks to pull a goal back late, but the Kraken added another from almost 200 feet, courtesy of Nyman intercepting a McDavid pass and throwing it down the ice into the empty net.

4-1 was your final from Rogers Place in favour of Seattle, dropping Edmonton to 2-1-1 this preseason as they prepare to host the Jets on Friday.