By Canadian Press

Oilers strike late to knock off determined Kraken 5-3

Oct 7, 2022 | 8:45 PM

EDMONTON — Leon Draisaitl had a goal and three assists as the Edmonton Oilers closed out NHL pre-season play on Friday with a 5-3 victory over the Seattle Kraken.

Jesse Puljujarvi, Tyson Barrie, Evander Kane and Connor McDavid also scored for the Oilers, who ended up with a 5-3 record in exhibition action.

Daniel Sprong, Matty Beniers and Jared McCann responded for the Kraken, who dropped to 4-2.

It took 13 minutes for the first goal of the game when Seattle’s Sprong was able to dig a puck out of defender Brett Kulak’s skates during a scramble in front and lifted a rebound past Oilers goalie Jack Campbell for his second goal of the pre-season.

Edmonton pulled even on the power play with 33 seconds remaining in the opening period as Draisaitl fed it back to Barrie and he unleashed an absolute bullet past Kraken keeper Phillip Grubauer. It was also Barrie’s second goal.

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Campbell kept it a tied game with a sequence of saves five minutes into the middle frame, stopping Oliver Bjorkstrand on a point-blank shot and then making a stop while prone on the ice on a rebound by Sprong.

Seattle edged back ahead 11 minutes into the second period as Andre Burakovsky missed an open net but the puck caromed back in front to Beniers, who chipped his fourth pre-season goal into the net before Campbell could get back across.

Edmonton tied the game five minutes into the third period as Connor McDavid sent a deft pass through the net front to Puljujarvi, who sent it past Grubauer.

Draisaitl got a gift goal with five minutes left in the third as Grubauer tried to clear a puck with a pair of Oilers charging toward the net and inadvertently banked it off the Edmonton forward and into a wide-open cage.

Seattle looked to have sent the game to extra time when McCann scored on the power play with a long-range bomb with 2:18 remaining.

However, just 20 seconds later, Draisaitl made a nice pass to Kane in front and he scored to give Edmonton the late lead.

McDavid would add an empty-net goal.

NOTES: Both teams launch into regular-season action on Wednesday as the Oilers host the Vancouver Canucks and the Kraken head to Anaheim to take on the Ducks. … The Oilers placed forward Mattias Janmark and defenceman Dmitri Samorukov on waivers Friday with the expectations of assigning them to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors should they clear waivers. Goalie Calvin Pickard and defenceman Slater Koekkoek cleared waivers earlier in the day. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2022.

Shane Jones, The Canadian Press