The Vegas Golden Knights threw the hockey world for a loop with their unceremonious firing of coach Bruce Cassidy on Sunday afternoon. Enter John Tortorella, who made his coaching debut with his new team on Monday night.

It goes to show how quickly the pressure shifts in the hockey world.

A week and a half ago, Connor McDavid’s comments following the loss to Tampa Bay read to some like Kris Knoblauch’s seat was getting extremely hot. Since then, to Knoblauch’s credit, the Oilers have gelled and played a consistent brand of structured hockey.

“I’m pro keeping coaches as long as possible,” Knoblauch joked when asked about the Vegas situation on Monday after practice.

Knoblauch can breathe a little easier for the moment. Three points up on Vegas, and three points behind Anaheim, the Oilers are stacking good performances together. The coach has found clicking line combinations and stuck with them.

Meanwhile, the Seattle Kraken are scratching, clawing, trying to stay in the wildcard race. They’ll play their sixth straight road game when coming to town tonight.

Hot sticks

Both Matt Savoie and Jack Roslovic have three goals in their last three games, being the finishers for their lines.

Savoie’s inclusion with Connor McDavid and Vasily Podkolzin on the top line has them outshooting the enemy 22-10 over these three games. It’s the third three-game point streak for Savoie since the Olympic break.

He now sits 12th amongst rookie scorers with 31 points and has been one of the most productive rookies since the end of February.

Meanwhile, Jack Roslovic now has his third 20-goal season under his belt after Saturday’s tally, sitting two back of his career high of 22. Playing beside Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman, Roslovic has the Oilers’ highest output in goals per per 60 at five-on-five.

“I feel good. Game’s improving, the team game is improving. So I love the direction that it’s going right now. We just got to figure out a way to keep it going,” said Roslovic after practice on Monday.

“It’s always important,” he added, after being asked about production with Draisaitl out of the lineup. “With Leon in, with Leon out, the more that us guys like Matt [Savoie] and I can contribute, the better.”

As the good vibes grow around the likes of Savoie, everyone’s favourite Russian in Vasily Podkolzin, plus the deadline adds of Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy, there’s a player wearing bigger pads who might take cake for likeability from all of them.

Connor Ingram will tell you he’s taking things day-by-day, no matter how unlikely this season has been. After not being invited to Utah Mammoth training camp several months ago, he’s the Edmonton Oilers’ starter.

“Would you have believed it if I told you?” Ingram responded.

“Like, I’ve always said, my job doesn’t change. No matter what league you’re in, wherever you’re playing, I’m gonna put my skates on the same way and just try and go do my job. Hockey’s never been easy. It’s something that I’ve had to work at my whole life. I think that was the whole goal is just put your head down and go to work.”

McMassive addition

The price for Bobby McMann was a second and a fourth round pick. In return, the Seattle Kraken have gotten a fast player who’s already paid massive dividends in their hunt for a playoff spot.

McMann’s scored seven goals and 11 points in eight games as a member of the Kraken, and there are reports Seattle wants to keep him around for the long term.

I don’t blame them.

“We knew what we were getting with him. I think he’s done a great job of coming in and giving us the jump and the spark that we need,” said coach Lane Lambert about McMann.

Paired up with Kappo Kakko and Chandler Stephenson, they provided the two goals against the Sabres on Saturday, an eventual 3-2 loss in the shootout. But McMann’s presence is keeping believe high.

“We’ve just got to get pucks out of the D-zone and he can do the rest,” quipped Kakko.

The boxscore results are working for that line, but the standings results are a mixed bag. The Kraken have won just one of their last six games. A week ago, they found a way to scrape a point out of the Panthers game, then beat the Lightning in overtime on Thursday. However, blowing a two-goal lead to lose to the Sabres cost them a point.

The Eastern Conference has gotten the better of the West, there’s no doubt. Seattle flew home and got a night in their own beds, before heading to Edmonton. After this sixth consecutive road game, the Kraken will play five of their final nine games at home.

Entering tonight, they sit two points back of Nashville for the last wildcard spot with two games in hand.

McCann suit up

Shane Wright left Saturday’s game after a high hit delivered by Logan Stanley. Lambert said, “we’ll see how he feels” on his status for tonight’s game. Wright’s production has dropped off this season after a 44-point campaign in 2024-25. He’s scored 11 goals and 26 points while playing in all 72 games. Wright hasn’t scored since before the Olympic break.

Jared McCann has dealt with a variety of injuries this season, but is back in the lineup after nine days between games. He played 15:16 and went minus-one vs the Sabres. McCann has 18 goals on the season, but just two in his last 15 games.

Jaden Schwartz has been out indefinitely since March 7.

On the other hand, the Oilers are getting positive injury news.

Curtis Lazar returned to the lineup on Saturday, playing 9:09 of ice-time with one shot on goal. Knoblauch said Trent Frederic and Colton Dach are “very close” to returning, but neither are expected yet for tonight.

Notes:

Special teams have played a huge role in this season series. The Oilers have scored on a powerplay goal in each of the three matchups this season, going an astounding 7/9 in the season-series. The penalty kill has also been strong, with an 11/12 mark.
The Oilers powerplay is now one-for-17 without Leon Draisaitl (including the three powerplays in the Nashville game he got hurt). This could be the game to get things back on track. The Kraken penalty kill is 31st in the league at 73.4 per cent. Can Jack Roslovic’s shot-first mentality stoke some life?
Edmonton and Philadelphia are the only teams in the league without a four-game win streak. That can change for both teams tonight.
Ho-hum. Connor McDavid has five goals in his last four games. With 42 goals, he would need eight goals in the last eight games to achieve his second 50-goal season.
This is already McDavid’s second highest goal total and third highest point total of his career. His 124 points are back to first in the NHL, a three-point cushion on Nikita Kucherov.
Jordan Eberle leads the way for the Kraken with 51 points. With 23 goals, its his ninth season scoring 20-plus.
Adam Larsson played in his 1000th NHL game against the Florida Panthers last Tuesday. He became just the 23rd Swedish-born player to achieve the milestone.
The Oiler record with Curtis Lazar in the lineup: 23-13-3.
The Oilers improved their home record back to .500 in the calendar year vs Anaheim, standing at a 9-9-1 mark.
Edmonton has been impressive against the Pacific Division, going 13-5-2 overall, and 8-0-2 at home.
Kraken are 20-2-3 this season when taking a lead into the third period.
SEA is 4-22-7 when scoring two goals or fewer in regulation.
All-time, EDM is 7-1 at home vs SEA.

Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and has been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, he also collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4.

PRESENTED BY CAPITAL GMC BUICK

Hockey fans recognize elite performance instantly, and that’s exactly how Capital GMC Buick operates. With one of the city’s deepest selections of top-quality GMC and Buick vehicles and a customer experience built to win year after year, this dealership consistently leads the pack. Five current NHL players proudly drive vehicles from Capital GMC Buick, and for good reason. The store has been rated the #1 GM dealership in Canada by DealerRater for three consecutive years, is the only GM dealer in Edmonton endorsed by J.D. Power as a Dealer of Excellence, and has raised over $30,000 for the Stollery Children’s Hospital.

Featured

Editorials

Recent articles from Michael Menzies

Pre-Scout: Oilers look to keep stacking performances against McMann-led Kraken

Oilers injury update: Trent Frederic and Colton Dach are ‘very close’ to lineup return

Friedman: Cassidy’s ‘frayed relationship’ with Golden Knights players began in Oilers’ playoff series

MORE NEWS. IN YOUR INBOX.

CLICK TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER