The Edmonton Oilers cruised to a 6-0 win over the Seattle Kraken in NHL pre-season action Tuesday night at Rogers Place.
Darnell Nurse drifted a long shot past Chris Driedger to open the scoring less than six minutes into the game. With the Oilers’ two-man advantage, Jesse Puljujarvi tapped in a pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to make it 2-0.
Late in the first, Zack Hyman was on the scoring end of a pretty passing play with Connor McDavid and Puljujarvi.
“I think (McDavid) just creates so much space for himself that he can find those angles, and he’s such an elite passer that if you go to the right spots and get open, he’ll find you,” Hyman said.
“He’s an ultimate worker,” Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said of Hyman.
“I think it’ll work well with Connor because if he can find some pucks and get them to Connor, (he) can make things happen and Hyman’s goal was a perfect example of that.”
Brendan Perlini fired home a one-timer off pass from Devin Shore in the second period, with McDavid adding a power-play goal to make it 5-0 Edmonton after two.
“You can’t put into words how much more fun it is to play hockey when you have a loud building and adamant and passionate fans cheering for you,” Hyman said.
Perlini added another one in the third, giving him three goals in two pre-season games.
“To be honest, I was just looking to come in and play my style of game, Perlini said. ” I had a relationship with (Tippet) before in Arizona, so it’s nice coming in and knowing him and (Associate Coach Jim Playfair) and how they coach. It definitely makes it easier.”
“One of his greatest attributes is he shoots the puck a ton ,and that’s what he’s doing right now,” Tippett said.
“He’s playing for his life right now and it’s good to see a guy giving everything he’s got.”
Mike Smith played the first half of the game in goal and made 18 saves. Mikko Koskinen went the rest of the way and stopped 16.
The Oilers play in Winnipeg on Wednesday. The game is on 630 CHED with the Face-off Show at 4:30 p.m. The game starts at 6 p.m.
With files from 630 CHED’s Brenden Escott
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