By Canadian Press

Leon Draisaitl scores his 30th goal, Stuart Skinner makes 24 saves as Oilers top Kraken 2-1

Mar 2, 2024 | 3:55 PM

SEATTLE (AP) — Leon Draisaitl scored his 30th goal of the season off the league-leading 73rd assist from Connor McDavid, Brett Kulak scored early in the third period, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Seattle Kraken 2-1 on Saturday.

Stuart Skinner made 24 saves and nearly posted his third shutout of the season as Edmonton won its third straight, kept the pressure on Vegas for second place in the Pacific Division and swept all four games in the season series with Seattle.

Edmonton has won six straight against the Kraken and is 9-2-0 against them since Seattle joined the NHL.

Draisaitl’s goal came midway through the second period, but Kulak provided the winner 8:02 into the third period. Kulak’s shot from near the blue line appeared to take a slight deflection and beat Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer.

Kulak’s goal came after another big save from Skinner, who continued to be a problem the Kraken can’t solve. Skinner has won seven of his nine career starts against Seattle, including all four games this season.

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Skinner got some luck early in the first period when Justin Schultz’s shot hit the post and stayed out. He was otherwise solid, making key saves on Jordan Eberle early in the game, Tomas Tatar late in the second period and a big stop on Seattle goal leader Jared McCann early in the third.

Eeli Tolvanen scored his 15th of the season on a power play with 6:37 remaining to end Skinner’s shutout bid on a puck thrown to the front of the net and deflected past the Edmonton goalie.

Seattle had one final chance on a 6-on-4 opportunity with the net empty after Draisaitl was called for a penalty with 53 seconds left. However, Skinner made a series of big saves in the closing seconds, including another denial of Eberle to preserve the victory.

Grubauer made 24 saves for Seattle coming off his first shutout of the season two days earlier against Pittsburgh.

The regulation loss for Seattle could end up being the final blow in the Kraken’s attempts to stay in the Western Conference wild-card race and could lead to some moves by the Kraken ahead of next Friday’s trade deadline.

UP NEXT

Oilers: Host Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Kraken: At Calgary on Monday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Tim Booth, The Associated Press