Yanni Gourde scored in the game’s opening minute and the Seattle Kraken never trailed in a 4-3 win over the visiting Edmonton Oilers on Friday night.
Adam Larsson, Colin Blackwell and Alex Wennberg also scored for the expansion Kraken, who won for the first time in six tries against a Pacific Division rival. Philipp Grubauer made 29 saves as Seattle improved to 5-1-1 over its past seven games.
Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid scored for Edmonton, which had a three-game winning streak end and dropped to 7-1-0 against division foes. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added two assists, and Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner stopped 30 of 34 shots.
McDavid pulled the Oilers within 4-3 at 11:44 of the third period, tipping Bouchard’s shot from the left point through Grubauer’s legs.
Grubauer robbed Edmonton’s Jesse Puljujarvi with 6:29 left after a shot from the point went wide of the net and bounced off the end boards. Puljujarvi was positioned next to the right post and the puck came right to him, but Grubauer reached back and smothered Puljujarvi’s shot toward an open net.
The Kraken killed off a penalty in the final two minutes with Skinner pulled for an extra attacker.
Gourde opened the scoring just 49 seconds into game. He converted a one-timer from the top of the right faceoff circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Ryan Donato on a three-on-two breakaway.
Draisaitl tied it with a power-play goal at 6:41 of the first. His one-timer from the bottom of right faceoff circle came after a nifty passing sequence between Nugent-Hopkins and McDavid.
Larsson, a defenseman selected from Edmonton in the expansion draft, restored Seattle’s lead at 10:38 of the first on a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle.
Bouchard tied it at 2-2 at 8:12 of the second, his slap shot from the right point deflecting off the shin pad of Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn and inside the near post.
Blackwell gave the Kraken a 3-2 lead at 13:06 of the second, capitalizing on an Edmonton turnover just outside its own blue line. Blackwell split two defenders and lifted a backhander over a sprawling Skinner.
Wennberg made it 4-2 at 15:53 of the second, his centering pass from the right faceoff dot for Marcus Johansson instead sliding under Skinner’s right leg pad.
–Field Level Media
