The Edmonton Oilers are back.

On Thursday evening, the Oilers smashed the Seattle Kraken 9-4 in a much-needed win. The Oilers are now 12-11-5 this season with three more games on this five-game home stand.

Just over seven minutes into the game, the Oilers took a 1-0 lead thanks to a short-side shot by Connor McDavid at the faceoff dot. As that goal announcement was happening, the Oilers made it 2-0 as Leon Draisaitl found Vasily Podkolzin down low, who one-timed it past Joey Daccord. Usually, it’s Draisaitl scoring from that angle.

Midway through the first, the Oilers had a power play. It took just seven seconds for the Oilers to take a 3-0 lead, as Leon Draisaitl received a cross-ice pass in his spot, beating Daccord. The Kraken showed life toward the end of the second period, scoring twice to make it 3-2 heading into the first intermission.

It was all the Oilers from there. Shortly before the Kraken’s second goal, Matthew Savoie was robbed on a breakaway. Early in the second period, he got a second chance on the penalty kill, making a nice move to lift it over Daccord’s pad.

McDavid scored his second of the game just over six minutes into the second period, as the Oilers’ captain caught Daccord sleeping, passing it off his pads and into the back of the net. That chased Daccord from the game, but the Oilers weren’t done, as Zach Hyman scored midway through the second period with a nifty backhander on a semi-breakaway.

The Kraken scored; it didn’t matter. Early in the third period, the Oilers forced a turnover with their forecheck, with Mattias Janmark beating the Kraken netminder to give the Oilers a 7-3 lead. McDavid scored his hat trick with his second power play goal of the game, while Savoie scored his second of the game for his fifth of the season. The Kraken scored one with five seconds left, giving us a final score of 9-4.

As good as this game was (more on that soon), it didn’t come without some unfortunate news as Connor Clattenburg left the game with what appeared to be an eye injury. He was high-sticked in the third, and it didn’t look great. Hopefully, he’s okay.

Last Saturday, the Oilers defeated the Kraken 4-0, thanks in large part to their special teams. The Oilers killed off all six penalties they took, while scoring on the two power plays they received. On Thursday, they scored on their first four power plays, unfortunately failing to score on their fifth. The Kraken were 0/3, but scored their opening just after an opportunity ended.

With that win, the Oilers have played some pretty darn good games over the last two weeks, even if their record doesn’t reflect that. It all started with that 7-4 loss in Washington, as they played well on the second game of a back-to-back against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Then, they beat the Florida Panthers to force Game 8. Ignoring the 8-3 loss to the Stars, the Oilers then beat the Kraken 4-0, were goalie’d in their 1-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild, and then smashed the Kraken again.

It’s nice to be on the winning side of a blowout. In November, the Oilers fell 9-1 to the Colorado Avalanche and 8-3 to the Dallas Stars. They needed a game like this. It’s the third time since the 2004-05 lockout that the Oilers have scored nine goals. However, they still haven’t scored 10 since 1996.

Only three Oiler forwards didn’t register a point in this game: Trent Frederic, Curtis Lazar, and Clattenburg. Both Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid had four-point nights, with the latter scoring the hat trick. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ return cannot be understated, as he picked up three assists. Adam Henrique and Matthew Savoie each had two points, the latter scoring the first multi-goal game of his NHL career.

On defence, only the top pairing picked up points. Evan Bouchard had three assists and was a +2, while Mattias Ekholm had two assists. Darnell Nurse and Brett Kulak were both held pointless, as were Ty Emberson and Alec Regula, with the two right-shot defencemen finishing as a -1.

Calvin Pickard finished with a sub-900 save percentage, but that’s only due to the goal with five seconds left in the game. His stops went largely unnoticed because of the score, but he faced 32 shots and saved 28 of them. Solid game for the Oilers’ backup netminder.

The homestand continues on Saturday, as the Oilers host the Winnipeg Jets in the nightcap of Hockey Night in Canada. That game has a start time of 8:00 PM MT.