Oilers extend franchise-record win streak to 12

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Warren Foegele had two goals, Leon Draisaitl had a goal and three assists and the Edmonton Oilers rallied to beat the Seattle Kraken 4-2 on Thursday night to extend their winning streak to a franchise-record 12 games.

Zach Hyman also scored for Edmonton, and Stuart Skinner stopped 25 shots. The Oilers have gone 20-3-0 in their last 23 games to improve to 25-15-1. They tied the record for the longest winning streak by a Canadian team set by the 1967-68 Montreal Canadiens.

“I am happy we got the win. This group just keeps battling back and we were super calm. Hopefully we can continue this,” Foegele said. “Stu played a huge game again and that is what you need from your goaltender.”

The Oilers have come from behind eight times during the 12-game streak.

“It’s been a theme of this winning streak. We stay composed,” defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “I feel like it hasn’t really mattered if it’s going into the third, going into the second, going to the last five minutes of the game… We find a way right now to stay in it and end up on the right side of things.”

Eeli Tolvanen and Jared McCann scored to give Seattle a 2-0 lead. The Kraken lost their third in a row during the tail end of a six-game trip after a nine-game winning streak.

“Our first 20 was good and, obviously, the first 10 minutes of the second period was what cost us,” Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said. “We weren’t as sharp as we needed to be and obviously gave up too much in that time span. We did push back after that, but we weren’t able to capitalize on what was a good start.”

Seattle started the scoring midway through the opening period when Oliver Bjorkstrand sprang Tolvanen with a long breakaway pass. The Finnish forward beat Stuart Skinner high to the glove side for his 12th of the season.

The Kraken went up 2-0 a few minutes later when McCann picked the top corner for his 18th after a giveaway by Evander Kane.

Edmonton scored 37 seconds into the second. A big rebound on Draisaitl’s shot fell to Foegele and he scored his eighth before goalie Joey Daccord could get across.

The Oilers drew even on the power play 4:38 into the second when Draisaitl banked in his 22nd of the season off Daccord. Draisaitl has 10 goal in his last 13 games.

Edmonton added a third goal in a seven-minute span when a backhand pass from Draisaitl sent Foegele in all alone.

The Oilers put the game away with 2:38 remaining while Yanni Gourde served a five-minute major for charging. Connor McDavid sent a pretty backhand across the crease to give Hyman an easy power play tap-in for his 27th of the season. The assist extended McDavid’s points streak to 12 games.

Edmonton tied its franchise record with 10 consecutive games allowing two or fewer goals.

UP NEXT

Kraken: Host Toronto on Sunday night.

Oilers: At Calgary on Saturday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl