Oilers 2, Kraken 6
Edmonton Oilers were probably the better team on Wednesday night, but Seattle Kraken had the better goaltender and we all know how that ends.
This one ended 6-2 Kraken, who scorched Olivier Rodrigue for 3 good goals and 3 bad ones in running away with the win. It was decided in a bizarre middle period in which the Oilers outshot the Kraken 15-5 but somehow got outscored 4-2.
It was the fourth time in 7 preseason games that the Oil have been scorched for 6 GA. All were scored at even strength, with Edmonton’s bottom two defence pairings being lit up in the process.
It was something of a dress rehearsal game, with the Oilers dressing their top three lines and top three defencemen, though many of the players on the fringes of the roster didn’t exactly advance their cause. The outcome of this tune-up game was far less than the sum of its parts.
Player thumbnail reports follow, sorted by lines and pairings. As usual, with different players having very different priorities at this time of year, we’ll hold off on player grades until the games start counting for points.
Forwards
#93 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins – Did his best work on (both) special teams, earning a secondary assist with a sharp pass to McDavid on Draisaitl’s powerplay goal. Just 1 shot on net.
#97 Connor McDavid – Showed his breathtaking speed on occasion, most notably a powerplay rush where he fired a hard wrist shot that Philipp Grubauer gloved. A couple of other danger thrusts but couldn’t solve Grubauer. Made a nice feed to Draisaitl on Edmonton’s first goal.
#18 Zach Hyman – Took an unnecessary penalty in the early going. Played his usual grinding game with 3 shots on net.
#53 Jeff Skinner – Showed a couple of flashes with some decent passes and one nice inside move leading to a shot on net, but it was his only one.
#29 Leon Draisaitl – High event game. Made a great defensive play early to thwart what looked like a certain goal-against, but took a cross checking penalty in the continuation. Drew 2 penalties the other way. Unable to field a pass at the offensive blue line, leading to a counter attack and goal against. Got the Oilers on the board with a one-timer on the powerplay. Set up the 2-2 with a terrific goal mouth pass to Dermott for the close-in finish. Crooked numbers across the event summary, including 2 points, 2 PIM, -2.
#33 Victor Arvidsson – A nice secondary assist on Dermott’s goal. Biggest development may have been his involvement on the penalty kill, mainly paired with Henrique. Blocked a couple of shots and limped off both times.
#13 Mattias Janmark – Played his usual competent game. Solid on the PK, with a couple of excellent clearances. -2 at 5v5, even as the Kraken mustered but 3 shots in his 11 even-strength minutes.
#19 Adam Henrique – Lost his man in the slot who promptly tipped home the 1-0. Otherwise solid. Looked good on the penalty kill.
#28 Connor Brown – Up and down his wing in his signature fashion. He’s skating well.
#8 Drake Caggiula – Another industrious game Didn’t pick up his man in the neutral zone and that man (Shane Wright) promptly scored the 4-2 on an uncontested slot shot.
#48 Noah Philp – His line with Caggiula and Ryan had a rough time of it, coming up on the short end of shot shares, scoring chances and goals (0-2). Philp had a couple of decent looks on a third period shift but couldn’t cash. Best of the Oilers on the dot with 5/7=71%.
#10 Derek Ryan – OK on the penalty kill, didn’t get much done at evens. 0/5=0% in the faceoff circle.
Defencemen
#14 Mattias Ekholm – Lined up to Bouchard’s left at even strength, and to Nurse’s right on both special teams (PK1, PP2). Absorbed a pair of heavy hits in the first period. Played just 12:34 at even strength, least of the 6 defenders.
#2 Evan Bouchard – Had a few good moments, showing off one of his signature moves with a shift to his right to lose his man in the offensive zone. Rang a powerplay drive off the iron.
#25 Darnell Nurse – Made his first appearance of the preseason. Looked reasonably sharp for much of it, landing a team-high 6 hits and excellent shot shares of 11 for, 6 against. Alas, he had just a .333 save percentage behind him meaning 4 of those 6 shots found twine. Iffy coverage on the 5-2, when he floated too high in the d zone and left the danger man at the edge of the crease to tip it home.
#24 Travis Dermott – Versatile left shot d-man got his first chance to play the right side, paired with Nurse. Had his best success jumping into the play, thrice getting loose in the low slot for good shots, cashing his own rebound to temporarily tie the score at 2-2. Nifty skater had some decent moments behind his own blueline, but a couple of iffy ones as well. His 4 shots on net tied McDavid for the team lead.
#27 Brett Kulak – Made a fine defensive stop to snuff a 3-on-2 rush. Bad read on a loose puck in the neutral zone resulted in a 2-on-1 and the 2-0 goal.
#44 Josh Brown – Had a strong sequence early in the second when he cleared out his man, then the puck from the edge of the crease. But things went downhill from there. Last man back but couldn’t cut out the pass on the 2-0. Way out of position in the neutral zone on the 3-2, whether it was a bad pinch on the puck or a poor decision to go for a hit was hard to tell.
Goalie
#35 Olivier Rodrigue – Turned aside all 7 shots he faced in the first period but collapsed in the middle frame, stopping but 1 of 5. The first was a mid-air tip from the slot and the last a slot shot that pinged in off the post. The 2 in between were not good at all, however: a jam shot from the edge of the crease that found a hole where none should have existed, and a slap shot that squeezed between his blocker and body and trickled over the line. Bounced back a little in the third with a couple of decent stops, but was beaten on another deflectiom. then leaked in another shot to the short side to finish the scoring, and most likely his time with the big club for the foreseeable future. 23 shots, 17 saves,. 739 save percentage.
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