GAME THREAD: Edmonton Oilers vs. Seattle Kraken

Edmonton Oilers (6-1-0), 2nd, Pacific

Seattle Kraken (3-5-1), 7th, Pacific

01 November 2021

Rogers Place

730 PM MST

TV: Sportsnet 1

Radio: 630 CHED

SB Nation Opponent: Davy Jones’ Locker Room

ALL WRAPPED UP

Mikko Koskinen turned aside 29 of 30 shots, while Leon Draisaitl and Warren Foegele scored for the Oilers en route to a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. The Oilers could have easily made this one 5 or 6-1 in this one, but Canucks netminder Thatcher Demko kept it closer than it should have been. Both Oilers goals were scored on the power play, which continues to boasts a lofty success rate.

The Oilers are back home looking for their seventh win in eight games as the Kraken are in town. Can the Oilers continue their special teams success and pick up their seventh win of the season against a Kraken club that was in action last night?

Let’s go to the tape.

THE OILERS ARE SAYING

It’s been good the last few games. I thought today we played really fast. When you’re playing fast, you’re not really hanging out in your own zone too much. We’re playing more in the o-zone. The D have been great. I thought Mikko played unbelievable. It’s crappy that we didn’t help him there at the end, but it was a good road win. We take the two points and move on.

Source

That’s Oilers forward Warren Foegele after Saturday’s 2-1 win in Vancouver.

Foegele scored his second of the season in Saturday’s win. He’s got four points early on, he’ll no doubt look to build on that tonight with Seattle in town. More on Edmonton’s powerplay in just a bit.

THE KRAKEN ARE SAYING

“We don’t like the outcome, but there were not many parts of this game I didn’t like.”

Source

That’s Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol after his club’s 3-1 loss to the Rangers last night.

The Rangers put up just eighteen shots in their win over Seattle last night. Igor Shesterkin helped spoil Seattle’s chances with 31 of 32 saves.

HAVE SOME OF THIS

• The Oilers are hosting Indigenous Celebration Night at Rogers Place tonight. Proceeds of tonight’s 50/50 will go to Native Counselling Services of Alberta, while distinguished elders Chief Littlechild (Treaty 6 First Nations), Grand Chief Arthur Noskie (Treaty 8 First Nations), Audrey Poitras (Metis Nation of Alberta Provincial President) and Edna Elias (Inuit Elder) will be present.
• The Oilers are 6-1, which is pretty good! They’re getting great goaltending right now, and their power play is again off the charts (actually, it’s 47.8%). If there’s a complaint? I’d take some more 5 on 5 scoring, but scoring a goal half the time on the power play is a good cover-up.
• Connor McDavid only had one point in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Vancouver. That made news because it wasn’t a multi-point game.
• The fourth line is one line that needs some help on the Oilers, and it starts at centre. Any time Devin Shore is out on the ice, the Oilers are surrendering a bunch of chances to the other club. I’d hope to see some Ryan McLeod before too long.
• Mikko Koskinen is back in net tonight after nearly grabbing a shutout on Saturday. Koskinen (4-1-0, .934 SV% / 2.26 GAA) will likely go up against Joey Daccord, as Philipp Grubauer was in action last night. That’d be a tall order for Daccord.
• POWER OUTAGE; Seattle is 22nd in the league in goals per game, but their power play is third-worst in the league (10.3%). Only the Arizona Coyotes (8%) and the Golden Knights (literally 0%) have a worse success rate.
• Evan Bouchard has landed. He played over 24 minutes on the top pair with Darnell Nurse. Fortunately for the Oilers, they’ve got another year after this one to work out those contract details.
• SICK BAY: Mike Smith is still day-to-day, though it sure looks like that he’ll be back sooner than later. For the Kraken, goaltender Chris Driedger and centre Mason Appleton are on injured reserve. Forward Jared McCann is out while on Covid-19 protocol.