Edmonton Oilers' Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) celebrates his hat trick goal against the Seattle Kraken during third period NHL action in Edmonton on Saturday, March 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

EDMONTON - Chalk one up for the rank and file on the Edmonton Oilers.

Faced with playing without star forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on Saturday against the Seattle Kraken, Edmonton’s supporting cast came up big for a 5-4 victory, led by veteran Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who recorded three goals for his fourth career hat trick and the first three-goal showing by an Oiler this season.

Adam Henrique and Jeff Skinner also scored for the Oilers (41-24-5) with McDavid and Draisaitl both expected to be out for up to a week with injuries.

“We obviously believe in ourselves and our group no matter who’s in or out of the lineup,” said Nugent-Hopkins, who became the third Oilers player in the last 30 years to record a power play, an even-strength and a short-handed goal in the same game.

“We understand that when you lose two of the best players in the world that you’re going to feel it. But I think the way that you play as a team shouldn’t matter too much, who’s in and who’s out. Obviously, we want them in, of course, but I thought the guys did a great job of stepping up and playing our game.”

Nugent-Hopkins has been on fire of late with nine points in his last four games.

“Confidence plays a big part in this game and sometimes when it doesn’t go for you, you can lack some confidence,” said Nugent-Hopkins, who with 48 points for the season is still quite a distance behind the torrid 104-point campaign he put together in 2022-2023.

“But you try to stay with it and try to do the little things right and hope it pays off. Sometimes a guy kind of gets rewarded for how the team plays and I thought that’s kind of what happened (for me) tonight.”

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said that rather than getting down in the dumps about their two top players being sidelined, his team saw it as an opportunity to take on bigger roles.

“Absolutely, they're excited,” he said. “The most important part is they're engaged more, they look at the shifts coming up and they know they're going to be playing regularly, rather than defaulting to two of the best players. You feel better about yourself and you contribute."

Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse each had a pair of assists for Edmonton, which is now 4-0-1 in its last five games. Stuart Skinner made 27 stops to register the win in net for the Oilers.

Veteran Jeff Skinner now has three goals in his last two games for Edmonton.

“He's using his legs a lot more,” Ekholm said. “He looks rejuvenated. He's always worked, but sometimes with players like that, they’re almost like a magnet to the puck. The puck just seems to find him right now.”

Skinner said it has felt good to contribute.

“Sometimes that’s just the way it goes. That’s the way the game is.,” he said. “Sometimes you get a lot of chances and they don’t go in for you and sometimes it just bounces off you and it goes in. You just have to stick with it, get as many opportunities as you can and bury them when you get the chance.”

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.

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

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025