Three Takeaways – Kraken start fast but come up short against McDavid, Oilers

That’s a shame. The Seattle Kraken took a good swing at the high-flying Edmonton Oilers on Monday, but one of the NHL’s best teams gained a shred of momentum in the second period, and that was all it needed to slip past Seattle for a 4-2 win.

In a game where the Kraken scored first—thanks to a positive goalie interference bounce—and carried a 2-1 lead into the dressing room after 20 minutes, they just couldn’t keep their foot on the gas for the full 60 minutes. In the end, a second-period lapse and a dismal power play cost them.

Here are Three Takeaways from a 4-2 Kraken loss to the Oilers.

Takeaway #1: Second-period letdown

The Kraken earned their second 5-on-3 in as many games toward the end of the first period. Even with the massive advantage, they didn’t generate much, and the Oilers came out and killed off the remaining 35 seconds when the second stanza began.

That seemed to spark Edmonton. Soon after returning to full strength, Connor McDavid had a 2-on-1 opportunity with Zach Hyman. Joey Daccord stopped the initial shot but lost track of it after it deflected off the inside of his blocker. McDavid buried his own rebound, tying the game at 2-2.

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They gotta watch out for 97.

2-on-1 rush, and McDavid gets his own rebound. Daccord loses track of it after it hit the inside of his blocker.

Oilers looking a little different to start the 2nd so far…

2-2. #SeaKraken #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/yIz3aMQGqk

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) January 28, 2025

The eventual game-winning goal by Corey Perry, scored at 9:38 of the second, came with several oddities. A little earlier, Hyman hit the crossbar with a wide-open net, and everyone in Rogers Place—including a goal horn operator with an itchy trigger finger—thought it was in. The horn blast created confusion in the building, and play on the ice went back and forth in a firewagony style. Seattle seemed momentarily disorganized.

Perry capitalized on the chaos by pulling off a variation of the “Hocus Pocus” play, sneaking onto the ice unnoticed by taking his time with a line change. While his mates defended down a man in their zone, Perry lingered near the offensive blue line, until Darnell Nurse found him with a stretch pass for a breakaway.

It was a clever move, but I partly blame the goal horn operator for causing the initial confusion. I also fault the Kraken for failing to convert on a 5-on-3, a missed opportunity that loomed large.

Takeaway #2: The power play killed the Kraken

I already mentioned the 5-on-3 in the previous Takeaway, but the Kraken’s power play as a whole struggled mightily in this game. Seattle had four power-play opportunities compared to Edmonton’s one. Not only did the Kraken fail to score on any of them, but they also struggled to create sustained pressure.

Coach Dan Bylsma didn’t hold back when assessing the team’s performance with the manpower advantage.

“Even the one in the third period, I think it was… It just wasn’t good enough,” Bylsma said. “You want your power play, A., to provide a goal, but B., provide a spark, and the power play didn’t do that. And that was a dent in the game.”

It’s also so easy to point to the failed 5-on-3 as the turning point in the game. Remember, against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, Seattle converted on a 5-on-3, and that put the game on the rails for the Kraken. Bylsma emphasized after that game how crucial it was to convert on the opportunity.

But on this night, the Oilers killed the penalties with ease, and momentum swung firmly in their favor.

Takeaway #3: Interesting goaltending decision

Before the game, I was curious how Bylsma would manage his goaltenders for this back-to-back with travel. Conventional wisdom suggests using your stronger goalie against the better team and your backup against the weaker one.

Even with Joey Daccord in net for his 10th consecutive game (he didn’t start all of them but played in each), this matchup against the Oilers always felt like an uphill battle for the Kraken. To win, they needed more stellar play from Daccord and a full 60-minute effort from the team.

Daccord was solid, making 27 saves, though perhaps not as sharp as in his previous outings. Meanwhile, the team played well but fell short of the sustained 60-minute effort required to beat a team like Edmonton.

Now, Bylsma has no choice but to start Philipp Grubauer on Tuesday when the Anaheim Ducks visit Climate Pledge Arena. That shouldn’t be a concern; your backup goalie, especially one earning $5.9 million, should be able to handle the second game of a back-to-back against a relatively weak opponent.

But Grubauer has had two of his worst performances of his Kraken tenure when handling one segment of back-to-backs. On Nov. 29, he gave up seven goals on 26 shots in an 8-5 loss to the San Jose Sharks in the first of back-to-backs. That night, Bylsma clearly wanted to get the hook but resisted, knowing that he needed Daccord for the following night. Then, on Jan. 12, when Grubauer started the second leg of a back-to-back at the Detroit Red Wings, he allowed three goals on four shots before Daccord was forced to step in. That was the last time Grubauer has seen game action.

Part of me would have preferred to see Daccord rested Monday, giving Seattle the best chance to earn two points out of these four on Tuesday. That said, it was also encouraging to see the Kraken remain competitive with the Oilers, so… insert shrug emoji here.