Despite playing with a roster reduced by injuries and COVID, the Edmonton Oilers scored a 5-3 road win over the Seattle Kraken Saturday night.
“I think we had a mindset of how we wanted to play,” Associate coach Jim Playfair said after the game. “Obviously we had the disruption of going through the day the way it went, but they found a way to collectively get together. And I thought our pace of play was good, I thought our consistent structure was really good, and we played a solid game.”
LISTEN BELOW: Jim Playfair
The Kraken scored on their first shot when Ryan Donato’s long wrister eluded Stuart Skinner 4:18 into the game. Less than five minutes later, Jared McCann made it 2-0. The Oilers responded when Evan Bouchard blasted a point shot past Chris Driedger for his fifth. With the Oilers on a power play, Skinner denied Brandon Tanev on a breakaway. Seconds later, Warren Foegele fired in a rebound to make it 2-2.
Colton Sceviour flipped in his second of the season to give the Oilers the lead with 7:08 left in the second. Carson Soucy pulled the Kraken even before the end of the session.
“It wasn’t an ideal start, but we battled back in that first (period) and played well that whole game,” Sceviour said.
LISTEN BELOW: Colton Sceviour
In third, the puck bounced off Foegele and into the net. The goal was initially disallowed because of goalie interference. The Oilers challenged, and video review showed that Mark Giordano pushed Foegele into Driedger. That put Edmonton up 4-3 with 11:06 left. Connor McDavid put it away with an empty netter.
“It’s pretty cool,” Foegele said about scoring twice in the game. “I’m more excited that we got the win there. The boys dug in extremely hard today. I thought we played pretty simple and fast and it shows how dangerous we can be when we play in their end.”
LISTEN BELOW: Warren Foegele
Leon Draisaitl had three assists. Skinner made 14 saves to improve his record to 4-5.
The Oilers, who outshot Seattle 41-17, played the game one man short of a full roster. Jesse Puljujarvi was placed in COVID protocol Saturday morning, joining Duncan Keith, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Ryan McLeod, Devin Shore and head coach Dave Tippett. Kyle Turris didn’t make the trip after blocking a shot Thursday against Columbus.
Cooper Marody and Seth Griffith were in the lineup after being called up from Bakersfield Friday night. Marody assisted on Bouchard’s goal for his first NHL point. Griffith helped create a turnover leading to Sceviour’s goal.
The Oilers, 18-11, will host Anaheim on Monday.
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