The Edmonton Oilers came back from a 2-0 deficit for the second-straight game to beat the Seattle Kraken 4-2 Thursday night at Rogers Place. The Oilers have won 12 straight games.
“This is a huge divisional opponent,” Oilers forward Warren Foegele said after the game.
“We’re clawing back and so are they, so it’s good we got the win.”
The Kraken went ahead when Eeli Tolvanen beat Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner on a breakaway halfway through the first.
Less than four minutes later, Kraken forward Jared McCann also found himself in alone and sniped his 18th of the season to make it 2-0.
The Oilers generously gave up another breakaway to Brandon Tanev, but his backhand try tumbled wide.
“It’s been a trend,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said about falling behind in games.
“It’s made it hard for us, but we’ve stuck with it and persevered and got the wins. But it’s definitely not something we like to do.”
“It’s been a theme of this winning streak — we stay composed,” Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm said.
The Oilers struck 37 seconds into the second when Foegele worked a wrister through Seattle netminder Joey Daccord.
Four minutes later, Leon Draisaitl banked a power-play shot in off Daccord for his 21st.
Three minutes after that, Draisaitl sent Foegele in alone for his second of the evening and a 3-2 Oilers lead.
“This group keeps battling back,” Foegele said after the game.
“We’re super calm and hopefully we can continue this.”
“I thought all night they were our best line and created a lot of stuff,” Knoblauch said about the trio of Foegele, Draisaitl and Evander Kane.
The Kraken briefly celebrated a tying goal late in the second, but Alex Wennberg’s marker was called back on a successful offside challenge.
With 3:34 left in the third, Kraken forward Yanni Gourde was slapped with a five-minute major for charging after leaping to throw a high check on Ekholm deep in the Oilers’ end.
“I didn’t love the hit,” Ekholm said. “I don’t think you should ever jump into a hit.
“I think he jumped right into my face. I was just the recipient of it.”
Oilers winger Zach Hyman scored on the ensuing power play. Connor McDavid assisted on the play to extend his point streak to 12 games.
Draisaitl had a goal and three assists. Skinner made 25 saves.
The Oilers were 2-for-4 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
The Oilers (25-15-1) will visit the Calgary Flames on Saturday. You can listen to the game live on 630 CHED, beginning with The Faceoff Show at 6:30 p.m. The actual game starts at 8 p.m.