With star forwards Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid still sidelined due to injuries, the Edmonton Oilers continue their pursuit of a top-two finish in the Pacific Division when they travel to Seattle to play the Kraken on Thursday.
It will be the second game of a back-to-back set for the Oilers (41-25-5, 87 points), who trail the second-place Los Angeles Kings by two points in the race for home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Edmonton had a five-game point streak (4-0-1) end with a 4-3 home loss to the Dallas Stars on Wednesday. The Oilers trailed 4-0 midway through the third period but fought back with three goals in the span of 9:05 to make it a one-goal game down the stretch.
“I thought we showed a lot of resilience,” Edmonton forward Connor Brown said. “We didn’t get deflated between periods. We came out, grinded and grinded and almost clawed our way back.”
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch added, “I love the character in this team. The fact we were able to come back against a really good team without our two top players, very pleased with that.”
Draisaitl, who leads the NHL with 49 goals and is tied for second in scoring with 101 points, hasn’t played since March 18 due to an undisclosed injury. He participated in some drills but no line rushes in the morning skate prior to the Wednesday loss.
McDavid, tied for fourth in the NHL with 90 points, missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury.
“Leon will be back sooner than Connor,” Knoblauch said. “We’re looking at a week, maybe shorter, for Leon, and Connor will be longer than that.”
Starting goalie Stuart Skinner likely won’t make the trip to Seattle after leaving the Wednesday loss with 13:26 to go after getting clipped in the head by the knee of Mikko Rantanen. Calvin Pickard finished up and saved all three shots he faced.
Seattle (30-36-6, 66 points), 17 points behind the St. Louis Blues for the final wild-card spot with just 10 games to go, has lost nine straight games to the Oilers dating back to January 2023, including a 5-4 loss on Saturday in Edmonton.
The Kraken followed that with a 4-3 overtime defeat at Calgary on Tuesday, Seattle’s third straight setback (0-2-1).
With his squad all but eliminated from the playoff race, Seattle coach Dan Bylsma said the team is focused on trying to build a strong finish to carry over into next season.
“I like what I saw from this group,” Bylsma said after the loss to the Flames. “The guys are clearly wanting to make a statement here with the last 10 games of the season. That was a 20-man effort, and that’s coming from everybody. Guys hanging their jerseys together. Guys playing for each other. And that’s how you play the game.”
Kraken forward Tye Kartye added, “We’re just trying to instill a culture of battling and never giving up and playing for the guy beside you. So, for the last 10 games, we’re just trying to instill that into our game.”
–Field Level Media
