PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers at Kraken

The Edmonton Oilers begin a weekend back-to-back on Saturday afternoon at Climate Pledge Arena against the Seattle Kraken.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 2:00 p.m. MT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.

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PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers at Kraken

SEATTLE, WA – After finishing a five-game homestand with two straight victories, the Edmonton Oilers will begin a weekend back-to-back on Saturday afternoon when they head to Climate Pledge Arena for a Pacific Division matchup with the Seattle Kraken.

Edmonton will then return home to Rogers Place to host Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday night.

The Oilers are coming off a 3-2 overtime win over the Blues on Wednesday that was capped off by Connor McDavid’s first goal in 11 games in sudden death that went along with the captain's two assists in the victory, extending his home point streak to 24 games (13G, 44A) with his sixth straight multi-point outing.

Zach Hyman also reached the 40-goal plateau for the first time in his career, recording goals in the first and second periods against St. Louis to become the second player in the League this season to reach the mark behind only Toronto’s Auston Matthews.

Stuart Skinner was steady between the pipes, making 32 saves to secure his second consecutive victory and improve to 27-13-2 on the season with a 2.68 goals-against average, a .904 save percentage and two shutouts in 43 appearances.

The Edmonton product is set to receive the start on Saturday in Seattle before Calvin Pickard takes the crease for Sunday's matchup at home with Pittsburgh.

Skinner's biggest contribution on Wednesday came in the final frame when he shut the door on a Blues’ two-on-none to come up with a game-defining blocker stop for him and his teammates, helping the Oilers finish the game allowing two goals or less for the second straight game after having failed to do so in the previous 10 games during February.

“I think we're tightening up things, looking a little bit better and not giving up those [costly] goals,” the bench boss said. “A lot has to do with the penalty kill being so good and then also, the play of Stuart Skinner. We could’ve easily given up more than two goals in the last two games, but he has been really good.”

Including the services of Skinner, the penalty kill has been a big contributor over the Oilers last four games, killing off 11-of-13 shorthanded scenarios with the sixth-highest PK percentage in the NHL (84.2 percent) since Feb. 23.

“[Against Los Angeles] we had a kill and it was pretty much the turning point of the game where we scored shortly after,” Knoblauch said. “I think we we were down five-on-three for 30 seconds or something, and that was a complete momentum-changer. Stu made some really big saves on that kill, and your best penalty killer is usually your goalie.

“I just see our forwards and defencemen who are part of that penalty kill playing with their instincts, attacking more, and their sticks are on that puck breaking up more plays rather than them being up in the air."

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, a principal penalty-killer for the Oilers, was another big reason why the Oilers weren’t chasing the game longer than they had to on Wednesday night.

The longest-tenured Oilers player of 13 seasons and 857 regular-season games took away a clear-cut breakaway for centre Robert Thomas with an incredible backcheck and stick lift on St. Louis’ leading scorer in the final frame, helping keep it 2-2 before Edmonton went on to win it in overtime.

No. 93 wants to see the Oilers build more on their defensive game early in contests after conceding the opening goal for the fifth straight time on Wednesday, and it’ll have to happen much earlier on Saturday with the Oilers and Kraken set to wrap up the season series with a matinée meeting at Climate Pledge Arena.

“I think it's our mindset for any game really, but it's keeping it simple early and just kind of building our forecheck and forcing ourselves to get skating,” he said. “Sometimes, you’ve got to give the puck up to go get it back, and when we're playing our best, that's kind of our mindset and how we kind of build games throughout the full 60.

“Tomorrow, that will be important. We're travelling today and then an early start tomorrow, so we want to get our legs going right away. You're not going to be able to pick your way through the neutral zone all the time. It's just putting pucks deep and kind of building a game from that.”

The Oilers have enjoyed success against their relatively new Pacific rivals, having won five straight meetings and winning eight of their 10 matchups all-time since the Kraken joined the League as an expansion side in 2021.

Edmonton will be hoping to deny the Kraken their 100th win in franchise history and hand them their 100th loss, with the Kraken going 99-99-25 in 224 games.

If Seattle wins, they'll become the seventh-fastest active team in the NHL to reach 100 regular season wins ahead of the Oilers, who reached 100 wins in 232 games.

Seattle has been surging as of late, winning five of their last seven games (four in regulation) as they try to chase down a playoff spot.

The Kraken are seven points back of the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators for the Wild Card spots in the Western Conference and will begin a busy month of March on Saturday versus Edmonton that includes 14 games – half of which will be against teams that currently occupy a playoff spot in the West.