The Edmonton Oilers will continue their late push for a possible Pacific Division championship on Tuesday when they host the Seattle Kraken.
Edmonton (37-28-9, 83 points) comes into the contest with just its second three-game winning streak of the season. The Oilers, who entered Monday’s play in second place in the Pacific Division, three points behind first-place Anaheim, haven’t won four in a row.
However, Edmonton is 9-6-1 since the Olympic break, and has won five of its last seven. What makes that stat even more impressive is the fact the Oilers have done it without star forward Leon Draisaitl (35 goals, 97 points), who was injured on a hit by Nashville’s Ozzy Wiesblatt in the first period of an eventual 3-1 victory against Nashville on March 15.
“You’re not going to replace a guy like that,” said center Connor McDavid, who leads the league with 124 points. “He’s a special guy. We need to find ways to get wins in a weird kind of division here. We’ve got to punch our ticket to the dance, and everybody’s stepping up.”
McDavid had a goal and two assists to lead the Oilers to a 4-2 victory over the Ducks on Saturday. The Oilers led 3-0 entering the third period before Anaheim battled back to cut the deficit to 3-2. Zach Hyman sealed the win with an empty-netter.
“For the first 50 minutes, it was as good as we’ve played all season,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said.
The win moved the Oilers three points ahead of third-place Vegas and seven points above the Western Conference playoff cut line with eight games to go. It came on the heels of grinding out a key 4-3 overtime win over the Golden Knights on Thursday in Las Vegas.
“That’s the type of winning you have to do this time of year,” McDavid said. “It’s not the prettiest, but we’re getting it done. Contributions all over. Good solid defense, good goaltending. It’s been good.”
When asked about the possibility of catching the Ducks down the stretch and winning the division title, McDavid replied: “We’re just trying to win games. That’s it. Trying to win games and play good hockey. If it happens, it happens.”
Seattle (32-29-11, 75 points) is one of six teams in the hunt for the final Western Conference wild-card spot. The Kraken have lost five of their last six games (1-3-2) and come in off a 3-2 shootout loss at Buffalo on Saturday afternoon.
Seattle built up a 2-0 lead against the Sabres on goals by Chandler Stephenson and Bobby McMann but Buffalo rallied to tie it midway through the third period on a goal by Peyton Krebs. The Sabres then garnered the crucial extra point by winning the shootout on goals by Tage Thompson and Jack Quinn.
The Kraken, fifth in the Pacific Division, are two points behind Nashville for the final wild-card spot but have two games in hand on the Predators.
“I think the guys are feeling the magnitude of the moment and the time of the season,” center Bobby McMann, who scored his seventh goal in eight games since being acquired in a trade with Toronto on March 6, said. “We recognize how important these games are and how important this push is. So, guys are playing with a ton of emotion, a ton of intensity.”
“It’s late in the year,” forward Kaapo Kakko, who had two assists, added. “We need these points right now. … These are like the playoffs already for us. We have to win these games.”
