Edmonton vs Seattle: Another Oilers success for McDavid and Draisaitl

Seattle have a tough back-to-back. After a home game against the Rangers, the Krakens will travel to Edmonton. Will McDavid and Draisaitl’s Oilers meet no resistance from a tired opponent? Let’s pick a few options to bet on at once.

The Oilers have been impressive at the start of the season. They have scored 29 pucks in 7 games and won 6 of them five times in regulation time. Dave Tippett’s team played their previous game in Vancouver just after their first season loss - 3-5 at home to Philadelphia. The Canucks weren’t as tough as the Flyers and lost to the Oilers 1-2. The Oilers scored both of their goals on the power play.

Edmonton are very good in the regular season - everyone is used to that in recent years. But the only way to measure the Oilers’ success in the season is through their playoff performance. We’ll return to that conversation near the end of the regular season.

The Kraken are often compared to Vegas, which reached the Stanley Cup final in its debut season in the league. Indeed, the Golden Knights’ roster was no stronger than Seattle’s, but there was Gerard Gallant, after whose departure the Golden Knights fell apart year after year. Dave Hakstol is good, but not yet Gallant, who at a certain point just figured out how to win more often. At this point, he’s already taken the World Cup with Team Canada too.

Another reason for the Kraken’s not-so-successful performances at the start of the championship is a strong bias towards attack. Here’s a prime example. Centre-forward Jared McCann is currently the team’s leading scorer. McCann has 7 points on goal+passes but a -3 assist rating. Clearly, with such a defensively weak third unit, Seattle have no chance of success throughout the season.

The favourite for the upcoming game is obvious. The difference in levels is already big enough, and then the Kraken come to play in Edmonton after a tough match-up with the New York Rangers. The Kraken are unlikely to have even the slightest chance of success.

We predict that Edmonton will confirm their status as favourites.

• Handicap 1 (-1.5) for 2.05;
• Handicap 1 (-1) for 1.79.