That was ugly.
On Thursday evening, the Edmonton Oilers played against the Seattle Kraken in Washington State, getting smashed by a score of 6-1 for their second consecutive loss. Without Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the exhausted Oilers were completely dominated by a non-playoff team. Let’s take a look at what happened in this game.
Jeff Skinner appeared to break the 0-0 deadlock late in the first period, firing a backhand past Joey Daccord. After review, the goal was waved off. Connor Brown had made contact with the puck using a high stick. Fair enough. But where was this level of scrutiny on April 21, 2023, when the Kings used a high stick just before their Game 3 overtime-winning goal?
Early in the second period, the game found its spark. On the power play, Jaden Schwartz slipped unnoticed to the side of the net. With precision, he tapped in the puck for an effortless goal. Just two minutes later, Schwartz struck again. This time, it wound up being the game-winner.
In the middle of the second period, Jani Nyman (unrelated to Zach Hyman) notched his third career goal with a skillful deflection in the high slot, beating Calvin Pickard and putting the Kraken up 3-0. Just 16 seconds later, Matty Beniers capitalized on a defensive lapse, finding himself completely unguarded in front of the net to extend the lead.
The rain continued to pour. After a disallowed goal for Seattle, the Kraken potted their fifth goal less than two minutes after their fourth goal, putting this game away. I’m not quite sure what Edmonton’s defence was doing on this one.
Five minutes into the third period, Hyman (not Nyman) broke up Daccord’s shutout bid, banging home his 27th goal of the season. To dash any hopes of an Oilers comeback, Jared McCann was the first player ever to beat Olivier Rodrigue in the NHL.
Takeaways…
Where do you even start? This was not a good game and had a similar feel to Wednesday’s game. The Oilers had a rough second period, allowing a total of five goals (six without the disallowed goal). Similar to Wednesday’s game against the Dallas Stars, this was the period that lost them the game, only there was no epic comeback attempt.
To play Devil’s Advocate, this was a scheduled loss. Due to being on TNT or ESPN or whatever, the Oilers game on Wednesday didn’t get done until just after 11:00 PM local time. They then had to fly to Seattle for the second of a back-to-back and who knows what time they got into the airport at.
Add in the fact that they are still without Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and now Mattias Ekholm, and that’s not a recipe for a victory. Still, the Oilers played pretty well for six of the seven periods with McDavid and Draisaitl coming into this game. They’ll be okay.
Olivier Rodrigue, a 2018 second-round pick, made his National Hockey League debut, saving seven of eight shots. There was a breakaway and a two-on-one save mixed in and the only goal that beat him was a nice one. Realistically, the Oilers should start Rodrigue on Saturday just to see what they have in him. Who knows? Goalies getting hot have helped win teams Stanley Cups in the past. The Oilers will now return home for a Battle of Alberta with their provincial rivals, the Calgary Flames on Saturday. It’s unclear if Draisaitl, McDavid, or even Ekholm will be back for the Oilers, but they’ll need to bring a better effort against the Flames, a team desperately in need of points as they push for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
