Seattle Kraken's Matty Beniers (10) is stooped by Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner (74) as Jake Walman (96) defends during first period NHL action in Edmonton on Saturday, March 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

EDMONTON - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had three goals for the hat trick as the Edmonton Oilers dug deep without their two top forwards to record a narrow 5-4 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.

Adam Henrique and Jeff Skinner also scored for the Oilers (41-24-5) who were playing without star players Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, both expected to be out for up to a week with injuries. Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse each had a pair of assists for Edmonton, which is now 4-0-1 in its last five games.

Kaapo Kakko had a pair of goals and Andre Burakovsky and Jaden Schwartz also replied for the Kraken (30-36-5) who have lost two straight and were also without their leading scorer, with Chandler Stephenson going down with an injury in their last outing.

Stuart Skinner made 27 stops to collect the win in net for the Oilers, while Joey Daccord recorded 24 saves in the loss for the Kraken.

TAKEAWAYS

Kraken: A pair of young Finnish players stood out as 24-year-old Kakko’s two goals moved him to just one point shy of his career high of 40 points, achieved with the New York Rangers in the 2022-2023 season. And playing in just his sixth NHL game, 20-year-old Jani Nyman was elevated to the first line and picked up his first two NHL assists to go with the pair of goals the 2022 second-round pick had previously tallied.

Oilers: It was the first time since McDavid was drafted by the Oilers that both he and Draisaitl were out of the lineup with injuries. On two previous occasions they were both healthy scratches in the final game of the season to rest up in advance of the playoffs. Both players have been absolute Kraken killers to date. No player has had more points per game in his career (2.17) against Seattle than Draisaitl, with 26 points in 12 games. McDavid has 19 points in 13 games against the Kraken.

KEY MOMENT

Leading by just a goal, but killing a penalty while Seattle pulled its goalie for yet another attacker, Edmonton was able to get a huge goal with 2:17 remaining in the game as Nugent-Hopkins was able to send it the length of the ice into the empty net for his hat trick goal, the fourth of his career and first since 2019. The short-handed tally was Nugent-Hopkins' 20th goal of the season and gave him nine points in his last four games. It was also Edmonton’s first hat trick of the season. The goal proved huge as Seattle made it 5-4 just 14 seconds later to make for a tense finish.

KEY STAT

Edmonton came into the contest with a pair of 4-2 victories over Seattle under their belts already this season and had won eight straight against the Kraken, outscoring them 33-17 in those games.

UP NEXT

Kraken: Visit the Calgary Flames on Tuesday.

Oilers: Host the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 22, 2025.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025