Hey look at that, another three-game winning streak.
On Monday evening, the Edmonton Oilers hosted the Seattle Kraken, defeating the newest Pacific Division team 4-2 to regain the top spot in the Pacific Division. Let’s take a look at what happened.
Just over three and a half minutes into the first period, Connor Brown made a nice play to break up a 2-on-1 for the Kraken. However, Eeli Tolvanen picked up the loose rebound and buried it as Brett Kulak proceeded to hit Oiler netminder Calvin Pickard. The play was reviewed, but it ultimately counted.
Coming into Monday’s game, there was a lot of talk about why Mattias Janmark was in the lineup over Jeff Skinner. Janmark pulled a Michael Jordan and said “I took that personally”, getting hit with the puck and beating Joey Daccord. It’s his first goal against a goalie since Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Kraken retook the lead late in the first though, as Vince Dunn’s shot from the point was that of the “seeing-eye” variety, beating Pickard rather cleanly. It gave the Kraken a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.
Welcome back, Connor McDavid. Early in the second period, his pass on the 2-on-1 was saved, but the rebound came out right to him with Joey Daccord looking the other way. Pretty easy tap-in for the league’s best player for his 21st of the season.
There’s cherry picking, and then there’s whatever the heck Corey Perry was doing. The forward was all alone at the blue line midway through the second period. A nice stretch pass by Darnell Nurse gave him the breakaway, with The Worm beating Daccord five-hole for the 3-2 lead. This is what I do in NHL 25, by the way.
Can you believe it? The Oilers scored an empty net goal. Mattias Ekholm picked up the puck after some pressure in Edmonton’s zone and blasted it into the gaping cage.

Takeaways…

Mattias Janmark deserves to be in the lineup for every game. Sure, he doesn’t score a lot, but he’s an excellent penalty killer and does all the little things right. Like many others, I wish he’d return to his early days when he scored 19 goals, but he’s the perfect fourth-liner. It’d be nice if Jeff Skinner gets an opportunity in the top six, but the fact we’re upset about the Oilers having too much depth is a very good thing.
Calvin Pickard started the game and was solid, saving 26 of 28 shots for a .929 save percentage. Stuart Skinner and his wife had a child, meaning the Oilers used an emergency backup goalie, Tyler Palmer who plays for the University of Alberta Golden Bears. Unfortunately, the Oilers couldn’t give him a Matt Berlin moment due to how close the game was.
Noah Philp will be in the National Hockey League for the foreseeable future. He didn’t pick up a point in this game, but he’s forged some chemistry alongside Corey Perry and Kasperi Kapanen. He had a big hit behind the Kraken goal and made smart plays with the puck. It’s all you can ask for.
The bad: Edmonton took a whole lot of penalties. The good: they killed off the four penalties they did take. Moreover, they only had one power play, so this was a pretty big win in the grand scope of this.
With the win, the Oilers regained the top spot in the Pacific Division. Their record is now 32-15-3 with 67 points, one more than the Vegas Golden Knights, who play tomorrow against the Dallas Stars.
Up next is a game against the Detroit Red Wings, the fifth of six games during this home stand. The Wings are streaking as of late, winning 10 of their last 14 games. Former Oilers head coach Todd McLellan has done a good job of turning that team around and even won against his other former team, the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.
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