We didn’t have to wait long for the Oilers and Kraken to square off again after what was a spicy afternoon in Seattle on Saturday. That game started to boil over a little bit, and it was nice to see two Pacific Division teams getting fired up and getting after it. Ultimately, the better team won, and Edmonton walked away with a 4-0 shutout, evened the season series, and set the stage for what we all hoped would be a fun night at Rogers Place with the Kraken in town. What I don’t think any of us expected was the 9-4 blowout the Oilers gave us. In terms of a night we all needed, this one hit every note.

I love watching Connor McDavid play. As Bob Stauffer would say, he is the most advanced hockey player ever to play the game, and it is a luxury that we’re able to watch him do his thing on a nightly basis. But if there was one thing that grinds Oilers fans’ gears about our beloved captain, it’s that he doesn’t shoot the puck enough. Despite being a human cheat code, our man loves setting up his boys. Everyone knows Connor is a pass-first player, and he’s one of the best to ever do it, but he’s also got an incredible shot that fills the net when he uses it. After Tuesday’s game against Minnesota, McDavid called himself out for passing up shots for additional passes, but he did not make the same mistake against the Kraken. When Connor shoots, Connor often scores, and he did so three times against Seattle. Three goals and four points? Light work when he goes supernova.

Starting with his first goal of the night, McDavid opened the scoring with a laser beam that beat Joey Daccord over the shoulder before he even knew what hit him. It was the kind of shot that made you wonder why he doesn’t let it rip every time the puck is on his stick. On his second goal, McDavid was barreling toward the net and the goalie had to respect the cross-ice pass to Hyman on the doorstep. As it turns out, he made a terrible choice because No. 97 ripped the puck through his legs so quickly that you’d think Daccord’s controller disconnected. His third goal was the result of being in the right place at the right time to collect a missed shot by RNH and tuck the puck into a wide-open net. The point here is that the best passer on earth is also one of the best shooters on earth, and if goals 12 and 13 on the season taught us anything, it’s that good things happen when he makes that choice. There’s nothing wrong with being selfish sometimes, and I’m pretty sure all of his teammates wouldn’t mind at all if McDavid chose to look out for himself a little more often.

Vasily Podkolzin is the kind of player who may never score 30 goals, but I absolutely believe he has it in him to score 20. And so far this season, he’s showing signs of being on his way to getting there. But before you check my math and see that his five goals put him on pace for only 15, it’s important to note that I think this will happen over the coming years. It’s a longer-term project. Right now, Podz is on pace to match or beat his highest goal total in the NHL (14), which is excellent on its own, but the goals he’s scoring make me think there’s still plenty more to pull out of him. It’s not just that his pace is higher, but also that he’s scoring goal scorers’ goals this year, and I’m thinking our man is starting to feel himself a little bit. Feel good, play good, you know?

The Draisaitl-esque goal he scored near the goal line was the kind of shot he probably wouldn’t have taken last year, and that progression only happens after hours of practice and healthy confidence in one’s ability to make a play. We’ve heard plenty of times how Podz is the first guy at the rink and the last to leave, and you’d like to think that extra time working on his craft will pay off in the long run. So, even though we’re only talking about his fifth goal of the season, the skill needed to get those pucks in the net is high. From my side of the laptop screen, Podkolzin is raising the bar for himself offensively, and that would be a great second pitch to add to his relentlessness on the forecheck. Leon Draisaitl has spoken openly about how much he enjoys to play with Podkolzin, and I can only imagine how much more that love can grow if he can start scoring a few more of these pretty goals. With the way he’s looking, I’d be betting Gregor’s money on it.

With the three assists he picked up against the Kraken, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has chipped in with five points since returning from injury. The power play looks better, the penalty kill does too, and it’s clear as day how much he means to the team and how much they suffer when he’s not in the lineup. It’s like the execution took a quarter turn downward, and it took him coming back for the boys to look right again. Not that I’m saying Nuge is some magic elixir or something, but I am saying he tends to smooth things out on the ice a lot more than he gets credit for. When RNH is playing at his best, it’s no surprise that nearly every facet of the Oilers’ game improved when he came back, but even I wouldn’t have expected the hot start to the year he’s having.

As President and CEO of the Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fan club since he was drafted in 2011, nothing makes me happier than seeing Nuge’s production match up with my opinion of him. He’s scoring big goals, he’s dishing like mad, and he looks a lot more like the version of him that put up 104 points a few years back. Will he get there? Probably not, but it’s hard to ignore the production we’ve been getting. Through the 19 games he’s played, Nugent-Hopkins has quietly produced 21 points (6G, 15A) despite sliding all over the place in the top nine. Yet, as he’s always done, the guy goes about his business without so much as a peep of discontent, and he’s making it work at a high level at both ends of the rink. While only time will tell whether he can keep his numbers up, I’m pumped to see my man playing as well as he is as we inch closer to game 1000.