Edmonton Oilers' Evander Kane (91) celebrates a goal against the Seattle Kraken during third period NHL preseason action in Edmonton on Friday October 6, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
EDMONTON – Evander Kane had a goal and an assist as the Edmonton Oilers closed out pre-season play with a 3-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Friday.
Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman also scored and Evan Bouchard had a pair of assists for the Oilers (5-2-1), who have won three straight exhibition contests.
Oilers goalie Jack Campbell made 35 saves in the win.
Jared McCann replied for the Kraken (3-2-1) as Philipp Grubauer stopped 22 shots.
Edmonton controlled the bulk of the play for the first half of the opening period, but it was the Kraken who struck first on just their third shot with seven minutes remaining, as McCann won a race to gather up the puck at the line and had a clear lane to beat Campbell.
Bouchard made a perfect pass ahead to a hard-charging McDavid a couple of minutes later for an easy redirection past Grubauer. It was McDavid’s fourth goal of the pre-season.
Seattle was the dominant club for most of the second period, outshooting Edmonton 14-4 up until there was four minutes left when the Oilers deadly power play struck. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fed it to Hyman, who out-waited a sprawling Brandon Tanev before scoring on a wrist shot to give Edmonton a 2-1 lead heading into the final frame.
Edmonton took a two-goal lead as Kane unleashed a monster wrist shot that beat Grubauer up high.
Campbell made a few stellar stops in the dying minutes with the Seattle net empty to preserve the victory.
NOTES
The Oilers had three regular players out with injuries at the moment. Forward Ryan McLeod skated with the main group on Friday and is expected to be ready for the start of the regular season. Defenceman Mattias Ekholm also skated, although like fellow blueliner Brett Kulak, his status to start the season is still uncertain”¦ Kraken standout defenceman Vince Dunn also skated after missing a sizeable chunk of camp, but is uncertain for a season start.
UP NEXT
The Kraken start regular season play in Vegas against the Golden Knights on Tuesday. The Oilers take on the Canucks in Vancouver on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2023.
