Olivier Rodrigue makes his NHL debut in a 6-1 defeat to the Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday that puts an end to Edmonton's nine-game win streak against their Pacific Division rivals
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SEATTLE, WA – The Seattle Kraken scored five unanswered goals during the second period on Thursday night in a 6-1 victory at Climate Pledge Arena that wrapped up a tough home-and-away back-to-back for the Edmonton Oilers without a handful of their most-important players out due to injury.
The Oilers had played six of their seven periods without both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the lineup admirably before Seattle cracked open the contest in the middle frame with five goals in a span of 11:27 to ensure their nine-game losing streak to Edmonton would come to an end on Thursday.
Jaden Schwartz added to his impressive career totals against the Oilers with two more goals, giving him 38 points (20 goals) in 25 career games, while wingers Jared McCann and Jani Nyman each recorded a goal and an assist for the Kraken. Goaltender Joey Daccord picked up his first career victory versus Edmonton with 36 saves after owning an 0-6-1 all-time record against them coming into the contest.
After taking the brunt of his team’s defensive errors and surrendering five goals on 29 shots after two periods, goaltender Calvin Pickard was swapped out with Olivier Rodrigue to begin the third period the 24-year-old call-up from the Bakersfield Condors could make his NHL debut.
Rodrigue was beaten once on seven shots by a lucky batted puck out of mid-air from McCann, but the netminder looked solid in his League debut, and the Oilers will need more of the same from him when called upon with No. 1 goalie Stuart Skinner currently day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Zach Hyman was able to score as consolation in the third period for his 27th goal of the campaign, giving the Oilers winger five goals in his last four games.
The Oilers will return home to Rogers Place to host the Calgary Flames in the Battle of Alberta on Saturday night before hitting the road for four games next week against Vegas, San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim.
The only ‘Skinner’ who was able to suit up for the Oilers on Thursday night had the lone goal of the first period taken off the board when Jeff Skinner’s back-hand finish with 50.6 seconds left in the opening 20 minutes was ruled out by a Seattle coach’s challenge for a high stick on winger Connor Brown.
Calvin Pickard was making the start for the Oilers with Stuart Skinner not on the road trip and day-to-day with an upper-body injury he sustained from receiving a knee to the head from Dallas winger Mikko Rantanen in the third period of Edmonton’s first half of a back-to-back on Wednesday at home.
The 32-year-old had a 17-7-1 record this season and proven he can handle the starter’s job when needed, and he began the night in Seattle strongly with 11 saves in the first period, keeping it a 0-0 game that could’ve ended with the Oilers ahead at the first intermission if it weren’t for the slightest of margins on Connor Brown’s high stick seconds earlier.
Jeff Skinner thought he’d given the Oilers the lead when he a put a backhand past goalie Joey Daccord in the last minute of the period after it looked like Connor Brown might’ve got a piece of the puck of a fluttering puck in front above the crossbar with a high stick.
The Kraken made a successful coach’s challenge to scrape off Skinner’s goal from the scoreboard, and it’d be the turning point in the game where Seattle would take over with a five-goal middle frame that put them well on their way to ending their nine-game losing streak to the Oilers coming into Thursday.
That’s a period where you just have to forget about it quickly and move on.
After a natural hat-trick from Jason Robertson in the second period of Wednesday’s 4-3 defeat to the Stars did the damage, the Kraken took it to another level in Thursday’s middle stanza by scoring five unanswered goals in a span of 11:27 to take a commanding lead through 40 minutes.
Forward Jayden Schwartz has loved to play the Oilers over his career and would score twice in the first four minutes of the frame with his 19th and 20th career goals against the club, increasing his career numbers against Edmonton to 20 goals and 18 assists in 35 career games.
Over seven minutes later, rookie winger Jani Nyman started a forgettable 1:51 stretch for the Oilers past the midway mark of the period where they allowed three more goals, putting a terrific deflection on defenceman Adam Larsson’s chest-high shot past Calvin Pickard for his third goal of the season and the three-goal advantage for Seattle.
There was no shame in allowing a goal on a deflection like Nyman’s, but the Oilers would switch off almost completely after falling behind 3-0 to allow the Kraken to expand their lead without the need to expend much effort in the process.
Centre Matty Beniers crept in from the left circle before Kaapo Kakko found him wide open to put his 18th goal of the season into the empty cage behind Calvin Pickard.
Over the next 95 seconds, the Kraken would have another goal from Jordan Eberle overturned for offside, but they inevitably got it back soon after to make it 5-0, turning a miscontrolled puck along the boards by Troy Stecher into an easy redirection in front by Andre Burakovsky off Ryker Evans’ low spot-pass.
The Oilers had a plus-31 goal differential in the second period prior entering their last game against Dallas, but eight goals allowed over two middle frames on Wednesday and Thursday in this back-to-back dropped that number to plus-23.
Without two their best options in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl out because of injury for the second straight game, while Mattias Ekholm and Stuart Skinner were also unavailable, a stretch of seven solid periods for the Oilers without some of their gamebreakers was coming to an end – along with their nine-game winning streak against the Kraken.
Goaltender Olivier Rodrigue would come in to make his NHL debut for the final 20 minutes after replacing Calvin Pickard to begin the period, and the 24-year-old netminder acquitted himself well with six saves on seven shots in the frame after getting beaten on an unlucky goal from winger Jared McCann.
The first big-league save Rodrigue had to make wasn’t an easy one, reacting quickly on a dangerous shot from the slot from former 40-goal scorer Jared McCann and making a great reaction save to cover up the pick with his right pad.
McCann was denied by Rodrigue again moments later off a giveaway by the Oilers in their own zone, but the Seattle forward did find a way to put one past him eventually with a backwards batted puck out of mid-air after Zach Hyman had made it 5-1 four minutes earlier with an unassisted marker to end goaltender Joey Daccord’s shut-out bid.
With a 6-1 victory, Daccord would record his first-career win against the Oilers in eight tries, while the triumph was Seattle’s first win in 10 games against their Pacific Division rivals dating back to January 2023.
