Ingram makes 27 saves, Oilers shut out Kraken to gain in Pacific

EDMONTON -- Connor Ingram made 27 saves, and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Seattle Kraken 3-0 at Rogers Place on Tuesday.

It was Ingram's second shutout this season and his ninth in the NHL.

“The more you play the easier it is going to get,” said Ingram, who celebrated his 29th birthday. “I thought everybody in front of me did a great job today, I didn’t really have to do much back there.

“Maybe that bad bounce on the PK that kicks out to the slot. Other than that, I thought everybody in front of me made my job really easy.”

Connor McDavid, Kasperi Kapanen and Max Jones scored for the Oilers (38-28-9), who have won four in a row for the first time this season.

Edmonton moved to two points behind the Anaheim Ducks for first in the Pacific Division.

“Our game isn’t sexy right now, it’s not fancy," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “It’s just a lot of little things, and that’s usually the difference between winning and losing.

“We have six 'D' and 12 forwards each night who are doing it.”

Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves for the Kraken (32-30-11), who have lost six of seven (1-4-2), and finished a six-game road trip 1-3-2.

“I thought there were some good things. We know that they are a bit of a handful in the offensive zone. I thought we, for the most part, kept their opportunities to a minimum," Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. "I think we had some, not a lot, but we had some good enough chances to score. It was a low-scoring game and we did not convert on our opportunities.

“It clearly wasn’t the start we wanted.”

Seattle remained two points behind the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference

“We know where we are," Seattle forward Matty Beniers said. "Obviously, tonight was very important and we didn’t get it done, but there is really no reason to dwell on it now, it’s learn from it and then win the next one. Then it’s win the next one, and that’s the mentality that we have in here. We’re obviously not happy about tonight, but we’re going to move on and win the next one.”

Jones put Edmonton up 1-0 at 5:28 of the first period. Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn attempted to clear the defensive zone by batting the puck out of midair, but it bounced to Jake Walman at the blue line, where he sent a wrist shot that deflected in off of Jones’ helmet over Grubauer’s left shoulder.

“I think it hit my elbow and then my face. They don’t ask how … I guess you guys do. I think it was literally off my face,” said Jones, who played his 300th NHL game. “I feel like ever since we had the conversation about just everyone stepping up a bit, it seems like everyone’s kind of just doing a little bit extra out there.

“The start of the game it was pretty evident, you saw how fast it was and how fast we were playing. Just playing simple and it kind of carried out through the whole game.”

Kapanen made it 2-0 at 12:43 after he forced a turnover at the Oilers' blue line by intercepting a pass from Seattle defenseman Adam Larsson. Kapanen then beat Grubauer during a 2-on-1 rush to the blocker side with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle.

“I thought it was pretty close to a perfect first period. It’s hard to always follow up a period like that, but I thought throughout the game we played solid,” Kapanen said. “Teams are going to have their pushes and they’re going to have their chances but when you have a goalie like ‘Ingo,’ who is playing extremely well right now, that’s what it looks like, so it was a good effort.”

McDavid scored an empty-net goal at 17:34 to secure the 3-0 final and extend his goal streak to five games. It is McDavid's seventh career goal streak of at least five games, tying Glenn Anderson a for the fourth-most in Oilers history. McDavid also extended his point streak to five games (six goals, four assists).

Edmonton was 0-for-1 on the power play; Seattle was 0-for-3.

“I thought we had some good looks,” Kraken forward Jared McCann said. “It’s easy to be negative when the puck’s not going in but we’re going to keep pushing and keep moving forward.

“It’s easy to say we’re just not scoring and that’s why we’re losing. I feel like we’re doing a lot of other good things that are creating good offense, playing good defensively, we’re just not finding the back of the net right now.”

NOTES: Ingram became the sixth goaltender in Oilers history to post multiple shutouts in his first season with the club, joining Mikko Koskinen (four in 2018-19), Mathieu Garon (four in 2007-08), Cam Talbot (three in 2015-16), Mikhail Shtalenkov (three in 1998-99) and Jussi Markkanen (two in 2001-02). ... Edmonton forward Matt Savoie’s goal streak ended at three games (three goals). ... Ingram became the first goaltender in Oilers history to record a shutout on his birthday. ... Seattle forward Bobby McMann's goal streak ended at three games (three goals), and his point streak also ended at three games (three goals, two assists). ... Grubauer played his 400th NHL game. ... Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz returned to the lineup after missing 10 games with an upper-body injury. He had one block in 15:00 of ice time.