EDMONTON — What looked like a bad omen turned out to be a speed bump.
Kraken coach Dave Hakstol called Friday's home loss to Edmonton "embarrassing." Seattle allowed a goal to superstar Connor McDavid that could be described the same way 48 seconds into Tuesday's second period.
But then the tide abruptly turned. The Kraken scored five unanswered goals and took Tuesday's rematch against the Oilers, 5-2.
"Obviously, there was a lot of emphasis on what happened last game. That made us even more hungry today," Kraken defenseman Adam Larsson said. "I thought from top to bottom, every guy played a solid game."
The Kraken erased a 2-0 Oilers lead in just 31 seconds. First, Matty Beniers scored on the power play, which had converted just three times in 32 attempts dating to the start of December. Beniers batted in Daniel Sprong's midair rebound, giving the Kraken man-advantage goals in back-to-back games.
The power play, which had tumbled to 20th in the league (21.0%), won't get credit for the next goal, but the Kraken were up a man. On the next shift, Seattle drew another call and Jaden Schwartz redirected a Beniers feed into the crease during the delayed penalty. Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner swatted at it with his stick and sent it into his own net.
Larsson recorded an assist to extend his career-best point streak (one goal, six assists) to seven games. The stay-at-home defenseman matched teammate Jordan Eberle's franchise record for points in consecutive games.
"I really don't care about points," Larsson said. "It's good to see guys get rewarded, but I just want to win. The way we're doing it right now is pretty fun."
The next two goals came right off faceoffs. First, defenseman Justin Schultz saw his rebound shoot out from the crease. Eeli Tolvanen, playing in his second Kraken game, took a whack at it, then Yanni Gourde finished it.
"We weren't trying too much. We weren't trying to pass through guys," Gourde said. "We just put it at the net and worked our way there."
Kraken winger Jared McCann chased Oilers goaltender Skinner when he made it 4-2. Center Alex Wennberg swung a no-look pass to his linemate, who put in his team-leading 17th of the season. Jack Campbell took over in Edmonton's net and stopped all three shots he faced.
Neither Beniers nor Gourde had found the back of the net since Dec. 11. Schwartz's goal drought extended to Dec. 1.
Martin Jones made 30 saves for Seattle.
"The best part of our game and the most important part: we checked throughout our lineup tonight," Hakstol said.
The Kraken made it through the first four minutes unscathed, a marked improvement over Friday's game at Climate Pledge Arena against the same opponent. Seattle trailed 3-0 at that point.
Discipline played a part in Tuesday's second-period scoring surge. Edmonton scored on its first three power plays of the season against Seattle. Sprong was whistled for tripping midway through the first period at Rogers Place and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins deposited the latest man-advantage goal. Jones leapt forward to smother the puck but it was outside his reach.
It looked like the Oilers' top-ranked (32.1%) power play would go four for four, but the Kraken bench challenged a third-period goal, saying Edmonton was offside. A video review confirmed the offside and Seattle held on to its 4-2 lead.
"That's the guys in the backroom — that's Tim (Ohashi) and Brady (Morgan) doing a great job, working through their process, taking the short amount of time that they have, and they got it right," Hakstol said. "And that's a really tight call, but it's clear."
That meant the Kraken didn't have to be too bold after Gourde drew a double minor for high-sticking. Wennberg later threw in the empty-netter.
The Kraken allowed McDavid's latest, improbable goal early in the second period. It was his league-leading 33rd of the season.
The Oilers have now dropped seven of their past 11, five in regulation, but still managed to leapfrog the Kraken last week. Seattle (20-12-4) was back in third place in the Pacific Division on Tuesday after its second straight win, but can expect continued challenges from the Oilers and Calgary Flames.
Two-time Stanley Cup champion Gourde said the Kraken should focus on taking steps, rather than regaining the confidence of a 10-1-1 November. Though one is a natural result of the other.
"Confidence is a weird thing. It comes and goes. I don't think we should be too worried about that," he said.
"After Christmas, every game is going to get tougher and tougher. Every opponent you're going to face is going to be better structurally. You're going to have to fight your way to the net, fight your way to each goal. That's what creates confidence.