Kraken can’t hold onto two-goal lead in 5-4 loss to Oilers

The training camp attendees looking to stand out succeeded Saturday night, even if the Kraken as a whole did not. A night after beating Vancouver at home, Seattle lost 5-4 at the Edmonton Oilers and fell to 1-3 in the preseason.

In his first Kraken training camp, free-agent signing Ben Meyers (one goal, one assist) continued to make a strong case for himself should a roster spot eventually open up. In the first period he picked off an attempted clear and sent it back toward the Edmonton net. Teammate Jacob Melanson knocked the puck in to tie the game at 1.

Next up, Seattle’s 2023 first-round selection Eduard Sale scored his first in preseason play and Seattle’s only power-play goal thus far. Ryan Winterton lobbed a saucer pass over sprawled-out Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm to Sale on the other side of the net. Sale had an empty slice of net to work with to make it 2-1.

Kraken veteran Brandon Tanev set up John Hayden’s goal with a flashy, spin-o-rama pass to the net to go ahead 3-2. Meyers then scored his second of the preseason, a stunner on a two-on-one with Melanson. He ripped a hard, precise shot in off the crossbar.

Unlike many of the other training camp visitors — Kraken draftees who have little to no NHL experience — Meyers and Hayden are fighting to stick around with the poise of veterans.

Undrafted Meyers played 67 games the past three seasons with the Colorado Avalanche and Anaheim Ducks. Hayden has appeared in 249 NHL games since his debut in 2017. Both are former college captains of Minnesota and Yale, respectively.

Seattle was up 4-2 over Edmonton with a little over two minutes left in the second period, but let it go gradually. The Oilers tied the game shorthanded in the third period. Raphael Lavoie then beat unscreened Kraken goaltender Philipp Grubauer five-hole with 2:54 left in regulation to make it 5-4.

Grubauer had better moments, including a kick save on Edmonton’s Zach Hyman. He got some help from his goal posts and a rolling puck in the final seconds of the second period, which broke up what looked like a sure goal on an odd-man rush.

Winger Brandon Biro had two assists for Seattle.

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