GAME RECAP: Jets 6, Oilers 1

WINNIPEG, MB – Forward Connor Brown scored on a late deflection for the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night in a 6-1 pre-season defeat to a loaded Winnipeg Jets lineup at Canada Life Centre.

"I think it's awesome that you get to play against pretty much a full roster of veteran NHL players," defenceman Brett Kulak said. "For me, that's exactly what you want. During preseason, you want the challenge. You want to get a feel for the pace and puck movement that those guys have."

The Oilers received 23 saves on 27 shots from goaltender Stuart Skinner over 40 minutes during his pre-season debut, conceding a first-period marker from Nikolaj Ehlers before Kyle Connor, Colin Miller and Neal Pionk each got on the scoresheet to make it 4-0 before the second intermission. Collin Delia played the final period for the Blue & Orange and allowed two goals on 10 shots.

Brad Lambert provided a power-play goal for the Jets early in the final frame, and captain Adam Lowry was able to clean up a turnover from Delia while shorthanded for the 6-0 lead with just over eight minutes remaining. Connor Brown provided late consolation for the Oilers with a redirection in front off a point shot from defenceman Noel Hoefenmayer with 3:28 left in regulation.

The Oilers continue their pre-season schedule on Saturday night at Rogers Place against the Seattle Kraken.

FIRST PERIOD

For how heavy of a Jets lineup it was, the Oilers were certainly gave them a hard fight in the opening 20 minutes.

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said pre-game that he was expecting a stacked squad from Winnipeg on home ice, and that's exactly what the hosts did by dressing 11 of their top-12 NHL forwards along with four of their veteran defencemen and an NHL-proven netminder in Kaapo Kahkonen.

The bench boss was looking forward to seeing how his lineup filled with players looking to make an impression and only five from last season's Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final (Derek Ryan, Connor Brown, Mattias Janmark, Brett Kulak and Stuart Skinner) could handle the environment at Canada Life Centre on Wednesday.

"The game's a little bit different and no one's really played together before," Kulak said. "You're just trying to keep it simple and work on things and make your game strong and go from there. Each day, you're trying to take a step forward and build your game for the regular season."

Making his pre-season debut, Skinner showed his readiness 4:33 into the opening period with a strong opening save on Mark Scheifele, standing up the centre after Kyle Connor found him alone in the slot with his saucer pass for a dangerous chance at opening the scoring.

Forward David Gustafsson stuck the post soon after, but Skinner looked sharp less than a minute later by dropping to the butterfly and sealing off a low shot from Jaret Anderson-Dolan off the feed from below the goal line by Nino Niederreiter.

"He made a lot of big saves in the first period, and often you see a goaltender let in four and you think he'd had a bad night – especially after two periods," Knoblauch said. "But that wasn't the case at all. It's just the quality chances that they had."

The Jets would eventually break through, with Vladislav Namestnikov giving the feed into the middle to Nikolaj Ehlers for the forwards to flip over the top of the sliding Skinner to make it 1-0 at 12:11 of the opening frame.

Defenceman Connor Carrick showed sweet hands less than two minutes later on a dangle from along the goal line to the front of the net before trying to slide it five-hole on Kahkonen, but the Finnish netminder managed to keep it out.

Edmonton's best chance of the period came on the five-minute mark after Drake Caggiula threw a backwards pass form the top of the Oilers' zone to Matt Savoie, who then moved it to a streaking Noah Philp for a partial breakaway where he was pressured off the puck and unable to test the Jets' goalie.

"I think we kept them to the outside and managed the puck pretty well," Kulak said of the first period. "We played pretty sound and a lot of guys showed they think the game well and we've got a lot of talented players in the organization."

SECOND PERIOD

After the Oilers kept it close in the first period, the Jets took off by scoring three times in the middle frame and outshooting them 15-5.

Caggiula made another set-up early in the period to Seth Griffith in the slot that the Bakersfield leading scorer from last season had taken away by Kahkonen, marking one of Edmonton's few offensive opportunities in the period.

Kyle Connor showed his slick hands on a breakaway to beat Skinner five-hole at 15:46 of the frame with a quick backhand along the ice that was created after Scheifele found the winger wide open through the neutral zone.

The Oilers killed off their first penalty of the night during the first seven minutes of the period, but the Jets cashed in on their second look not long after, seeing defenceman Colin Miller's wrist shot go through traffic to beat Skinner for the 3-0 lead.

Before the break, Skinner motioned to the official for goaltender interference after a shot from defenceman Neal Pionk was delivered into the back of the net despite Rasmus Kupari catching a piece of his right arm while battling in front with Max Wanner, but the Oilers netminder's wishes were waved off to maintain the 4-0 lead for the Jets through 40 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD

Goaltender Collin Delia was slated to take the crease for the final 20 minutes and faced an early Jets power play where the hosts made it a five-goal game.

Forward Brad Lambert powered a one-timer under the left arm of Delia from the left circle just 1:13 into the final frame, making it five before the hosts capitalized on a misplayed puck from the netminder during an Oilers power play that the Jets captain intercepted and wrapped inside the far post while shorthanded.

Late in the contest, the Oilers were able to get on the board off a deflection delivered by Connor Brown off the point shot provided by defenceman Noel Hoefenmayer, providing the Blue & Orange late consolation in a period that Coach Knoblauch thought was a good response from his team considering the lopsided scoreline and the strength of opposition.

"I thought we had a good, strong third period," Knoblauch said. "I thought we came out where the game's got out of hand and we could've quit, but we had a little push in the third period, which is nice, and got some scoring chances and a goal. Obviously, they're much more veteran team – almost their NHL lineup – which is a good test for our guys that we feel are ready for the NHL. And when you're in a situation like that, you find out if you're NHL ready or not.

"I liked a lot of our guys that showed up and played a strong game, and obviously, there's some guys that you can just tell they aren't quite ready. That's a good indicator for us."