Playing in the ninth game in 14 days, the Seattle Kraken were unable to overcome three unanswered goals from the Edmonton Oilers while Zach Hyman had a three point game in a 5-2 Kraken defeat on Tuesday night, before 18,183 fans at Rogers Place.
Daniel Sprong, setting a new career high with 15 goals and Vince Dunn, extending his point streak to eight straight games, both scored for the Kraken.
After Sprong’s goal, Connor McDavid, Derek Ryan and Warren Foegele responded to give Edmonton a 3-1 lead.
Just 22 seconds into the third, Dunn cut the deficit to 3-2 off a face-off win, before Hyman and Ryan McLeod ended the scoring on back to back goals. Hyman’s goal to boost Edmonton to a 4-2 lead came 1:03 after Dunn’s early goal in the third period.
Martin Jones stopped 28 shots while Jack Campbell got the win for Edmonton with 29 saves.
With Vegas and Los Angeles idle on Tuesday, the Kraken remained tied for second in the Pacific Division, two points back of Vegas.
THREE TAKEAWAYS:
1. It’s not easy playing in nine games in 14 days. Dave Hakstol said the Kraken didn’t suffer in their performance because of the travel circumstances. They facts remain that it was the second game in 24 hours – and while the Kraken were 2-0 in the second leg of those stretches before the loss on Tuesday, they also didn’t play at the end of nine games in 14 days, moving through five time zone changes that can whip the mind and body. By that account, the Kraken came out ready, but were still facing an Edmonton team that had three days of rest. The extra gear was missing on Tuesday night, the Kraken lost the battle in shot quality, and the game when they arrived at the second period, which has generally been good to them. Edmonton instead ripped off three straight goals, including two in the second period alone.
2. Paydirt lies at the front of the net. The Oilers scored one goal that was a work of art: McDavid’s end-to-end rush that still benefited from what Hakstol called a “trip," victimizing Justin Schultz (who lost his balance attempting to defend). Other than that, every Oilers goal was scored in a range of approximately five feet or less, leaving the Kraken vulnerable defensively. Warren Foegele was knocked down and still belted a rebound past Jones, from his backside. Tough to defend that. But other goals by the Oilers came with persistence at the net, an element the Kraken are seeking on a continuous, consistent basis to remain firmly in their place across the playoff hunt.
3. You hope for the best with Justin Schultz. Last seen with less than seven minutes left in the second period before leaving the game due to injury on a hit by Dylan Holloway against the end boards, Schultz vacated a top four defensive pairing with Jamie Oleksiak and forced Hakstol to play the remainder of the game with five defensemen, making a battle of endurance even tougher given the recent schedule. No update was available on Schultz after the game, who had an assist on Sprong’s first period goal, hasn’t left Oleksiak’s side for almost the entire season, and has been excellent in his role as a mobile defenseman who can run the point on the power play. Health has been on the Kraken side for much of this season. Pending the outcome with Schultz, and Jaden Schwartz’s undetermined timeline with an undisclosed injury, the Kraken depth is close to entering places they haven’t gone before with testing their limits.
KRAKEN LINEUP at EDMONTON, 1/17:
Burakovsky-Beniers-Eberle
Tanev-Wennberg-McCann
Tolvanen-Gourde-Bjorkstrand
Donato-Geekie-Sprong
Dunn-Larsson
Oleksiak-Schultz
Soucy-Borgen
Jones
Grubauer