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…
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