About 10 seconds into Saturday night’s game at Climate Pledge Arena the lights went out and the screen went totally dark.
It looked like the series finale of The Sopranos.
And, in keeping with the mafia theme, the Edmonton Oilers made sure the Seattle Kraken were sleeping with the fishes when it was all over.
Even though Edmonton had its second goal before Seattle had its second shot, the end result was neither quick nor painless — a 3-0 Oilers lead late in the second period turned into 3-2 in the waning moments of the third.
But when the night was over the Kraken were locked in a trunk with a shovel and the Oilers were driving to the nearest swamp.
The win is Edmonton’s third in a row as they continue their torrid pace (14-3-1 in the last 18) and improve to 9-2-0 in their last 11 against the Kraken.
It was a textbook road game — Edmonton held Seattle to three shots in the first period and six in the second — but as has been the case in too many of their recent games, they let their foot off the gas and let the other team back in the game.
The takeaways:
• The glaring Oilers mistake kept Anaheim in Friday night’s game and that was the case again on Saturday. With the Oilers ahead 3-0 late in the second period and controlling every aspect of the game (the shots were 24-9 and the high danger chances were 10-0), Kasperi Kapanen tried a behind the back pass at the offensive blue line and Seattle scored on the resulting two-on-one the other way to make it 3-1 after 40.
Then Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard misplayed a rebound early in the third period to serve up Seattle’s second goal and suddenly the rout was a one-goal game with 13 minutes to play.
The visitors couldn’t exhale until Leon Draisaitl’s empty-net goal sealed the 4-2 decision.
• Draisaitl needed less than one minute to extend his points streak to 14 consecutive games, tying the longest run of his career, when he set up Vasily Podkolzin 57 seconds after the opening face-off.
It’s been over a month since he was last held off the scoresheet (Dec. 3 in Vegas) and he’s only been blanked in eight of Edmonton’s 39 games this year.
His last 14-game streak came in 2019.
Draisaitl is now second in the league in scoring this year with 59 points, behind only Nathan McKinnon. He’s the runaway leader in goals with 29.
• Podkolzin’s goal is his first since Nov. 30, a 14-game scoring drought. The Oilers love what he does to help the second line function, getting in on the forecheck, winning pucks battles, keeping plays alive with deft passes and being solid defensively, but you need production from your second-line left winger. He had five assists in that 14-game span and there’s no ignoring Draisaitl’s mounting totals, but they’re glad to see him bury one.
• Jeff Skinner also ended his scoring drought. It had been eight games without a goal, with one of those games being when he was healthy scratched. But he looked very much like a goal scorer in finishing the play to make it 2-0.
The fourth line looked also very good against Anaheim on Friday. It drew a penalty on the forecheck to set up the 1-0 power play goal and then Skinner and Corey Perry set up Nurse to make it 2-0.
• At the other end of the feast-famine spectrum, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the third consecutive game and the fourth time in the last five games as he continues to pick up speed after his dreadful start. After one goal in his first 19 games he has nine goals in his last 19 games.
The Oilers are 9-0-1 this year when Nugent-Hopkins scores a goal.
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