Draisaitl breaks tie late in third period to lift Oilers past Kraken

EDMONTON -- Leon Draisaitl scored the go-ahead goal with 2:27 remaining in the third period for the Edmonton Oilers in a 3-1 win against the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Place on Saturday.

Ryan Shea threw the puck along the left boards, where it bounced off Connor McDavid’s knee and slid through the slot to Draisaitl, who chipped the puck past a lunging Philipp Grubauer from in front.

McDavid had a goal and an assist, and Owen Michaels also scored for the Oilers (2-0-1). Devon Levi made 19 saves.

“We didn’t give up a touchdown,” said Edmonton head coach Mike Babcock, whose team defeated the Vancouver Canucks 9-7 on Thursday to split their season-opening home-and-home series. “He (Levi) seems like a confident kid. Your first game with a new organization sometimes things don’t go as well. You get in your own way.

“We got good goaltending tonight. We made a mistake on that second penalty kill and they had a bell ringer and he made the save. We turned the puck over on a reverse and they end up with a great chance. You have to give him credit because we haven’t had that. That was really positive tonight.”

Bobby McMann scored for the Kraken (1-1-0), who will face the Calgary Flames at Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday for the second of a back-to-back set. Grubauer made 22 saves.

“We got a great, solid effort from ‘Grubie,'” Seattle coach Lane Lambert said. “It’s unfortunate that we don’t come out of here with more than what we have, but we have to find ways to come out of buildings like this when the score is tied late.

“That’s a step for us that we have to get to, for sure, but I thought there were a lot of good things in the game tonight.”

Edmonton went ahead 1-0 at 2:51 of the first period when Michaels took a short pass along the boards from Alex Formenton, skated in past the left face-off dot and sent a wrist shot near side into the top corner.

It was Michaels' second goal in as many games after scoring the first of his NHL career in a 9-7 win at the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

“I’m feeling good,” he said. “I’m playing with some great linemates and all of the guys have been great to me and helping me out. It’s been a lot of fun. I’m just taking it one day at a time.”

McMann tied it 1-1 on the power play at 9:06 of the second period, taking a Jordan Eberle pass from below the goal line and lifting the puck past Levi’s blocker from the left circle.

“I think we deserved a better result,” McMann said. “When you see ones like that (Draisaitl goal), you sometimes realize that’s the game of hockey and you want to put yourself in a position where something like that maybe doesn’t matter as much because we have a goal up.

“There’s always ways to counteract that, but yeah, those ones are always tough to see when a game’s so close and you’re playing so well down the stretch toward the end of a game.”

At 7:38 of the third period, Levi appeared to stop a point-blank shot by Eberle, which went to review before being confirmed that the puck did not cross the goal line.

“It felt like I got some good wood on it and was just really in tight,” Eberle said. “He made a great save, I wasn’t sure if it was in or not. Sometimes there’s good goalies in this League.

“You give teams respect and too much room, they’re going to create chances like in the first that cause you to take some penalties and we were kind of on our heels. But I liked our response after that. It’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint so we need to keep building here and get some confidence and keep rolling.”

McDavid scored into an empty net to secure the 3-1 final at 18:55.

NOTES: Draisaitl has 35 points (nine goals, 26 assists) against the Kraken, which is the most against the franchise. He has now recorded a point in 15 of his 16 career games against Seattle, including 12 multipoint performances. ... Draisaitl has scored a game-winning goal against 29 different franchises. The only active players to do so against more are Nathan MacKinnon (32), Sidney Crosby (30), Steven Stamkos (30), Sebastian Aho (30) and Kyle Palmieri (30).