One might suspect the Seattle Kraken spent most of the time off since their Saturday afternoon 4-0 loss to the visiting Edmonton Oilers working on their offense — and more specifically, their power play.
Whether that proves true should be evident Thursday night, when the Kraken return to the ice in Edmonton for a rematch with the Oilers.
The Kraken went 0-for-6 with the man advantage on Saturday, including a 5-on-3 edge for 1:45 in the first period. It was Seattle’s third straight defeat (0-2-1).
“A lot of times when you don’t capitalize on a 5-on-3, it sort of reaches up to bite you in a game,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “We had a good look at that. We had a long time to have that 5-on-3, and the fact we didn’t capitalize on it was disappointing. …
“We can move pucks quicker (on the power play). When we get teams on the ropes, when there’s a shot and there’s a rebound, we’re too slow to move the puck, and therefore, (the opposing penalty-killers) are able to reset.”
In contrast, the Oilers converted on both of their man advantages.
Jaden Schwartz, the Kraken’s scoring leader with a meager 15 points (eight goals, seven assists), sat out on Saturday and is expected to miss the next six weeks with a lower-body injury.
The Kraken just got forwards Jared McCann and Kaapo Kakko back last week. McCann, the franchise’s all-time leading goal- and point-scorer, missed 17 games. Kakko has been sidelined twice already this season with injuries, his latest absence costing him six games.
The injuries and offensive struggles might prevent Kraken rookie Berkly Catton from being loaned to Team Canada for the World Junior Championships that begin Dec. 26.
Catton has yet to get his first NHL goal — though he came close Saturday against the Oilers. He has five assists through his first 19 games and hasn’t looked out of place.
“At least getting good looks,” said Catton, who had 54 and 38 goals the previous two seasons with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs. “It’ll be a sense of relief (to score), for sure.
“Just trying to not just focus on that, and think there’s lots of other components of the game that I can contribute with.”
Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner bounced back after getting pulled from his previous start to make 26 in the shutout at Seattle.
“I was able to play a solid game,” Skinner said. “I thought you saw that from everybody, and I think this is one of the games where we were able to play a really solid 60-minute game.”
Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman each had a goal and an assist for the Oilers on Saturday.
“(We were) just steady right from the get-go,” said Nugent-Hopkins, who returned after missing nine games due to an undisclosed injury. “I thought we controlled the pace early, but we took some penalties that, obviously, you need your goalie to be kicking on the PK, so he did a great job of that.”
While the Kraken have been idle since Saturday, the Oilers opened a five-game homestand with a 1-0 home loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
“Obviously, you’re disappointed any time you lose,” said Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch, whose team has dropped five of its past seven games (2-4-1). “You’re looking for the negatives, you look to critique the things we didn’t do … but overall, I thought we played a game that more often than not would result in us coming out victorious and feeling good about ourselves.
“I’m disappointed that we lost, but it was more of what we need.”
–Field Level Media
