Leon Draisaitl had two goals and two assists as the Edmonton Oilers downed the Seattle Kraken 5-2 Monday night at Rogers Place.
“I thought Draisaitl’s line was really good, I thought (Duncan) Keith and (Cody) Ceci were good and I thought Mikko was good,” Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said. “We won. We were opportunistic. We capitalized on some chances and we found a way to get two points.”
The teams combined for three goals in the first 6:01 of the game.
Draisaitl had a Tyson Barrie point shot deflect in off his skate. The Kraken’s Jaden Schwartz replied by splitting the Oilers’ defence and whacking a backhand under goaltender Mikko Koskinen.
Draisaitl struck again, this time on the power play, finishing off a feed from Zach Hyman.
Oilers defenceman Duncan Keith, playing in his 1,200th career game, converted a pass from Draisaitl to make it 3-1 early in the second.
“A couple good players there with the assist, so that was pretty special. Obviously, I don’t think it was our best game overall, but good teams find a way to win, and we did that tonight. I’m proud and grateful to be a part of this organization,” Keith said.
Carson Soucy joined the rush and brought the Kraken back within a goal with 1:20 left in the frame.
Former Oiler Jordan Eberle had a breakaway two-and-a-half minutes into the third but was denied by Koskinen.
“He was phenomenal between the pipes. He made a lot of big saves at a lot of crucial times,” Yamamoto said.
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“I just want to have fun no matter what happens,” Koskinen said.
Less than 20 seconds later, Kyle Turris tapped home a pass from Devin Shore to make it 4-2 Oilers.
Kailer Yamamoto was sent in alone by Draisaitl and slid a shot under Seattle netminder Joey Dacccord for his first of the season to round out the scoring.
“Any time you start the season without a goal in seven games, you start to worry a little bit,” Yamamoto said. “Over the last couple games, I definitely thought I’ve played a lot better hockey, but (the coaches) were just telling me to get to the net and keep shooting, and eventually, it’ll come.”
“He’s doing some things you like in the game — he always works, he’s competitive — but at some point, you’ve got to start finding results,” Tippett said. “It’s good to see him get on the board. Hopefully, that will loosen up the grip on his stick a little bit.”
Koskinen made 27 saves to improve to 5-1.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid had an assist to extend his point streak to eight games.
The Oilers (7-1) will host Nashville on Wednesday.
– With files from 630 CHED’s Brenden Escott
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