By Canadian Press

Drasaitl dominant as red-hot Edmonton Oilers down Seattle Kraken 5-2

Nov 1, 2021 | 9:25 PM

EDMONTON — Leon Draisaitl had two goals and two assists as the Edmonton Oilers continued their hot start to the season with a 5-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Monday.

Duncan Keith, Kyle Turris and Kailer Yamamoto also scored for the Oilers, who improved to 7-1-0.

Jaden Schwartz and Carson Soucy replied for the Kraken (3-6-1) who have lost two straight.

Edmonton’s Mikko Koskinen stopped 27-of-29 shots and Joey Daccord had 18 saves for Seattle. 

Edmonton scored on its first shot of the game two minutes in when a Tyson Barrie blast deflected off of Draisaitl’s skate and past Daccord.

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Seattle responded just a couple of minutes later as Schwartz scored his first goal of the season, battling to split the defence and then sending a backhand shot through Koskinen’s legs.

Two minutes after that the Oilers regained the lead using their lethal power play. Zach Hyman sent a pass across for Draisaitl, who scored his seventh of the season into a wide-open net. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins picked up his league-leading 11^th assist on the play.

The Oilers went up 3-1 early in the middle frame when Keith crept up to deposit the rebound from a Draisaitl shot past Daccord.

Seattle clawed back within one with 1:20 left in the second as Soucy joined the rush and picked the top corner.

Edmonton made it 4-2 three minutes into the third as Devin Shore made a nice feed to Turris at the side of the net for the tap-in.

Draisaitl got his fourth point with seven-and-a-half minutes to play as he sent Yamamoto in and he made a nice move to score his first goal in 20 games and just his second in his last 36.

The Oilers remain at home to face the Nashville Predators on Wednesday, while the Kraken return to Seattle to play the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.

Notes: The Kraken were without leading scorer Jared McCann, who remained sidelined due to COVID-19 protocols. Also absent from the Seattle lineup were Chris Driedger (undisclosed), Marcus Johansson (undisclosed), Colin Blackwell (lower body) and Mason Appleton (lower body). … The lone player injured for the Oilers is goalie Mike Smith, who did participate in the morning practice. … Keith played his 1,200^th NHL game. … Edmonton came into the contest with the top-ranked power play in the NHL, clicking at a ridiculous 47.8 per cent clip. The Kraken’s power play was 30^th at 10.3 per cent.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2021. 

Shane Jones, The Canadian Press