No Connor McDavid, no Leon Draisaitl? No problem.
On Saturday evening, the Edmonton Oilers hosted the Seattle Kraken. They defeated the 32nd National Hockey League franchise by a score of 5-4 to earn a point in their last five games, bringing their record to 4-0-1 in that span. Let’s go through what happened. With just under five and a half minutes left in the first period, the Oilers were at the backend of their first power play when Adam Henrique received the puck near the blue line. He was given far too much space, snipping it past the Kraken netminder for the 1-0 lead.
Just over a minute later, Stuart Skinner allowed a juicy rebound off the pad, with the Kraken banging it in to tie the game up at one. The game stood at 1-1 heading into the first intermission but at the end of a penalty kill four minutes into the second period, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ shot took a deflection off a Kraken stick and past the netminder to restore the one-goal lead.
With about seven minutes gone in the second period, Bouchard turned the puck over, leading to a breakaway and a goal for the Kraken to tie the game up at two. It was the last time this game was tied. Jeff Skinner scored his third goal in the past two games with seven and a half minutes left, ripping a one-timer by Joey Daccord for the 3-2 lead.
Late in the second period and on a double minor power play, Nugent-Hopkins shot the puck on the net with Zach Hyman screening the goalie, scoring his second of the game. Six minutes into the final frame, André Burakovsky beat Skinner to make it a one-goal game once again.
The game stayed this way until the dying minutes and with 2:17 left in the period, Nugent-Hopkins fired it into the empty net for the hat trick. And it’s good he added the insurance goal, as it ended up being the game-winning goal, with the Kraken adding another one before the end of the game.
Takeaways…
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins played 23:02, the second-most minutes for any Oiler except for Darnell Nurse. His hat trick was the fourth of his career and his first since Mar. 26, 2019. Over his past four games, Nugent-Hopkins has four goals and nine points, with all five of his assists being of the primary variety. He has stepped up in the biggest way possible, as the Oilers were without Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl for the first time since who knows how long (barring end-of-season rest games). Nugent-Hopkins was the only forward with a multi-point game while Darnell Nurse and Mattias Ekholm each picked up two assists.
Adam Henrique got on the board in this game, which was very much needed. Jeff Skinner continues to look good as well, I don’t imagine he’ll be out of the lineup anytime soon.
Speaking of Skinner(s), Stuart Skinner didn’t have a great game statistically, allowing four goals on 27 shots for an .871 save percentage. If not for the late goal, he likely would’ve finished with a save percentage above .900.
The bad news? The Oilers don’t play until Wednesday. This isn’t all bad news, as it gives both Draisaitl and McDavid time to rest before their match-up against the Dallas Stars. It’s the first game of a back-to-back, as the Oilers play the Kraken on Thursday.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, Flames Nation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
