EDMONTON, Alberta — The Kraken scored five unanswered goals and took Tuesday’s rematch against the Oilers, 5-2.
Coach Dave Hakstol called Friday’s 7-2 home loss to Edmonton “embarrassing.” The Kraken allowed a goal to superstar Connor McDavid that could be described the same way 48 seconds into Tuesday’s second period.
But then the tide abruptly turned. The Kraken erased a 2-0 Oilers lead in just 31 seconds. First Matty Beniers scored on the power play, which had scored just three times in 32 attempts dating to the start of December. Beniers batted in Daniel Sprong’s midair rebound, giving the Kraken man-advantage goals in back-to-back games.
The power play, which had tumbled to 20th in the league (21.0%), won’t get credit for the next goal, but the Kraken were up a man. On the next shift, Seattle drew another call and Jaden Schwartz redirected a Beniers feed into the crease during the delayed penalty. Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner swatted at it with his stick and sent it into his own net.
Adam Larsson recorded an assist to extend his career-high point streak to seven games. The stay-at-home defenseman matched Jordan Eberle’s franchise record for points in consecutive games.
The next two came right off faceoffs. First, Justin Schultz saw his rebound shoot out from the crease. Eeli Tolvanen took a whack at it, then Yanni Gourde finished it.
Kraken winger Jared McCann chased Oilers goaltender Skinner when he made it 4-2. Alex Wennberg swung a no-look pass to his linemate, who put in his team-leading 17th of the season.
Neither Beniers nor Gourde had found the back of the net since Dec. 11. Schwartz’s goal drought extended to Dec. 1.
The Kraken made it through the first four minutes unscathed, a marked improvement over Friday’s game at Climate Pledge Arena against the same opponent. Seattle trailed 3-0 at that point.
Discipline played a part in their second-period scoring surge. Edmonton scored on its first three power plays of the season against Seattle. Sprong was whistled for tripping midway through the first period at Rogers Place and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins deposited the latest man-advantage goal. Jones leapt forward to smother the puck but it was outside his reach.
It looked like the Oilers’ top-ranked (32.1%) power play would go four for four, but the Kraken bench challenged a third-period goal, saying Edmonton was offside earlier on the play. A video review confirmed that and Seattle held onto its 4-2 lead.
That meant the Kraken didn’t have to be too bold on a double minor for high-sticking. Wennberg threw in the empty-netter.
The Kraken crowd parted to allow McDavid’s latest, improbable goal 48 seconds into the second period. It was his 33rd of the season. Buffalo’s Tage Thompson caught him in Washington, scoring a hat trick to also reach 33 goals.
