The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Seattle Kraken 4-2 at Rogers Place on Thursday, January 18, extending their franchise-record winning streak to 12 games. After Eeli Tolvanen and Jared McCann had given Seattle a 2-0 first-period lead, the Oilers recovered behind two goals each from Warren Foegele, Leon Draisaitl, and Zach Hyman.
While Joey Daccord of the Krakens made 32 saves in a losing effort, Stuart Skinner of Edmonton finished with a win after making 25 stops. With 41 games completed, the Oilers have reached the precisely halfway point of their 2023–24 season with a record of 25–15–1, good for 51 points. Since American Thanksgiving, they are 20–3-0.
Oilers Make Another Resurrection
Edmonton came back from a 2-0 deficit in the first period to score four goals in a row, including three in a 7:01 span in the second period to give the Oilers a one-goal lead that they would hold. On Tuesday, January 16, at Rogers Place, they overcame a 2-0 deficit to win 4-2 after going down.
Related: Oilers defeat Maple Leafs 4-2 to win 11 straight games.
In the second period, Foegele scored Edmonton’s first goal after only 37 seconds. Then, at 7:38, he scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal after being set up for a partial breakaway by Draisaitl, who finished with three assists. When the 27-year-old forward scores, Edmonton is 23-2-3 (a point percentage of.875) since acquiring Foegele from the Carolina Hurricanes before the 2021–22 campaign.
With nine goals so far in 2023–24, Foegele just needs five more goals to tie the NHL career high. He scored 13 goals in 2019–20 with the Hurricanes and with the Oilers in the previous season.
Skinner Maintains His Trends For the Oilers, Alive Skinner is going into uncharted territory. The 6-foot-4 goalie has won his previous nine starts, one less than the franchise record held by Andy Moog and Grant Fuhr for the most wins in a row by a goalie. In addition, he has only let up two goals in eight straight games, which puts him one game away from tying Tommy Salo and Nikolai Khabibulin for the longest run among Oilers goalies to give up two goals or fewer.
Skinner is 19-4-0 with a goals-against average (GAA) of 2.15 and a save percentage (SV%) of.921 over the last ten weeks after having a very difficult start to the season. His 19 victories since the beginning of November tie him for the most in the NHL during that time.
The Los Angeles Kings’ 2-1 loss to the Nashville Predators at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday, along with Edmonton’s victory over the Kraken, puts the Oilers ahead of the Kings for third place in the Pacific Division. The Kings have a 21-13-8 record, good for 50 points.
As their amazing rise continues, Edmonton has never held this high in the standings throughout the 2023–24 campaign. In the Pacific Division standings, three clubs separate Edmonton from the Kings, and on November 25, the Oilers were behind Los Angeles by 16 points. They have scored 38 points in 22 games since then, while Los Angeles has finished 8-10-5.
The Oilers are now aiming for the second-place Vegas Golden Knights.
