EDMONTON — Jack Campbell has laid his claim to be the starting goaltender for the Edmonton Oilers once again.
Campbell made 35 saves as the Oilers closed out pre-season play with a 3-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Friday. Campbell, who lost the starting job to rookie Stuart Skinner last season in a shaky first season after signing a five-year, $25 million contract with the Oilers, has had a rock-solid pre-season to start his second campaign in Edmonton.
He's allowed just one goal in each of his three starts and made 101 saves on 104 total shots.
“I just feel really grounded out there and just trying to control the game and control the rebounds, and the guys in front of me are doing a great job,” said Campbell, 31, who added his confidence level is cresting. “Yeah, it’s pretty solid right now. Feeling good, just having fun and the boys are playing great.
"It’s fun to get some wins and just tune things up, and I think we’re ready to rock-n-roll here come next week.”
Evander Kane had a goal and an assist and Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman also scored for the Oilers (5-2-1), who have won three straight exhibition contests.
“I think it was a good way to end off,” Kane said. “I think our team got better the last five periods that we played. Obviously, Soup’s (Campbell) been playing really, really well, so it’s nice to end off with a win and get ready for Wednesday in Vancouver.”
Defenceman Evan Bouchard also continued to shine in pre-season action with a pair of assists in the win.
Jared McCann replied for the Kraken (3-2-1) as Philipp Grubauer stopped 22 shots.
“I think offensively we’re getting a lot of chances, it was good,” McCann said. “But we’ve got to figure it out defensively, we gotta give Grubby (Grubauer) some better looks at the puck and not give so many breakaways up”.
Edmonton controlled the bulk of the play for the first half of the opening period, but it was the Kraken who struck first on just their third shot with seven minutes remaining, as McCann won a race to gather up the puck at the line and had a clear lane to beat Campbell.
Bouchard made a perfect pass ahead to a hard-charging McDavid a couple of minutes later for an easy redirection past Grubauer. It was McDavid’s fourth goal of the pre-season.
Seattle was the dominant club for most of the second period, outshooting Edmonton 14-4 up until there was four minutes left when the Oilers deadly power play struck. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fed it to Hyman, who out-waited a sprawling Brandon Tanev before scoring on a wrist shot to give Edmonton a 2-1 lead heading into the final frame.
Edmonton took a two-goal lead as Kane unleashed a monster wrist shot that beat Grubauer up high.
Campbell made a few stellar stops in the dying minutes with the Seattle net empty to preserve the victory.
NOTES
The Oilers have three regular players out with injuries at the moment. Forward Ryan McLeod skated with the main group on Friday and is expected to be ready for the start of the regular season. Defenceman Mattias Ekholm also skated, although like fellow blueliner Brett Kulak, his status to start the season is still uncertain … Kraken standout defenceman Vince Dunn also skated after missing a sizable chunk of camp, but is uncertain for a season start.
UP NEXT
The Kraken start regular season play in Vegas against the defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights on Tuesday. The Oilers take on the Canucks in Vancouver on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2023.
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press
