The Edmonton Oilers began a four-game road trip with a stop in Seattle to play the Kraken on Saturday night (Jan. 4). This game saw the Oilers come away with a 4-2 victory, extending their winning streak to three games. The Oilers have the Kraken’s number since they joined the league in 2021. They are 10-2-0 against Seattle all-time, including racking up seven straight victories over their new divisional foe.
Less than a minute into the contest, the lights momentarily went out at Climate Pledge Arena, so play was abruptly stopped. While the lights did come back on, the Oilers made sure it stayed dark for the home team, as they dominated for large stretches. Seattle’s Goaltender Philipp Grubauer was the only reason this game was remotely close. He outplayed Calvin Pickard at the other end in the losing effort, but Edmonton was too much to handle.
The Oilers were on the second half of a back-to-back, as they played the Anaheim Ducks the night before, but they didn’t look like it. They were engaged and ready to play from puck drop. So, here are four takeaways from this textbook road victory.
Oilers Had a Great Start
The Oilers were buzzing early and often, which resulted in a quick goal just 57 seconds into the game courtesy of Vasily Podkolzin. While head coach Kris Knoblauch shuffled the deck with his line combinations as of late, the trio of Podkolkin, Leon Draisaitl, and Viktor Arvidsson has remained intact, and they produced instantly. That second line has found chemistry, and their opening goal was the result of knowing where each other was on the ice and executing a beautiful three-way passing play that was eventually one-timed into the net by the Russian winger.
Related: Oilers Double Up Kraken 4-2
Just over five minutes into the game, Jeff Skinner gave the Oilers a 2-0 lead. He found a soft spot behind the defence and received a pass from Kasperi Kapanen, before showing some great hands in tight and going forehand, over the sprawling goaltender. Skinner has been a major talking point in Edmonton for all the wrong reasons, but he showed why he’s been a perennial 20-goal scorer in this league. That was an important goal for his confidence, so hopefully he can build off this and have a successful 2025 in Oil Country.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins gave Edmonton a 3-0 lead midway through the second period, which took the life out of the building. The Kraken did have a pushback and brought the score within one, but it never really felt like Edmonton lost control of the game. They stuck with it and finally put the game away with a rare empty-netter.
Oilers Depth Players Contribute
For the second straight game, Connor McDavid was held off the scoresheet, but that didn’t matter. The Oilers got contributions from throughout their lineup. As mentioned earlier, the Oilers got a fourth-line goal from Skinner, assisted by Kapanen and Derek Ryan. Podkolzin also lit the lamp, while Arvidsson got two assists, and both Brett Kulak and Connor Brown registered a helper. If the Oilers are going to go on another deep playoff run, they need players other than McDavid and Draisaitl to step up and contribute offensively, especially on the road where you don’t have the last change.
Calvin Pickard Was Shaky Despite the Win
The most important stat for a backup goaltender is the win column, and that’s exactly what Calvin Pickard got on Saturday night. However, he was very shaky throughout the contest and was lucky he wasn’t busier in the Oilers’ crease. He stopped 15 of 17 shots for an .882 save percentage (SV%), and it was an adventure every time Seattle got a chance toward the net. Their second goal came from a weak shot from the blue line in which Pickard gave up a brutal rebound right on the doorstep to Jaden Schwartz who had a gaping cage.
So far, Pickard has started 13 games, but only two of them have been against teams currently in a playoff spot. While he is your backup and not expected to play against the top teams, the organization should still feel comfortable playing him against tougher competition, but that hasn’t been the case. He’s getting sheltered matchups, which adds to the pressure of Stuart Skinner because he’s constantly playing against the tougher teams in the league.
Oilers Were Stingy Defensively
For most of the game, the Oilers put on a clinic on how to defend on the road. They suffocated Seattle’s offensive attack and only allowed 17 shots while limiting them to only 14 scoring chances, and five high-danger chances, none of which came on Seattle’s two power plays. To put that into perspective, the Oilers had 32 shots with 30 scoring chances and 15 high-danger chances. The road squad also dominated the faceoff circle, winning 58.6% of the draws. They didn’t give the home fans a lot to cheer about for much of the game, which is exactly the outcome you’re looking for.
With this win, the Oilers improved to 24-12-3 on the season, with 51 points, and are still in a tie for second place in the Pacific Division with the Los Angeles Kings who also won earlier in the day. However, the Kings do have a game in hand. The Oilers haven’t lost a game in January since Jan. 25, 2023, winning 14 straight games in the month. Edmonton has a few days off before continuing their road trip in Boston against the Bruins on Tuesday night (Jan. 7), as they look to make it four straight victories and remain undefeated in 2025.
