Nugent-Hopkins scores hat trick, Oilers hold off Kraken

EDMONTON -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a hat trick for the Edmonton Oilers, who won without Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the lineup, 5-4 against the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Place on Saturday.

Since McDavid entered the NHL in 2015-16, it is only the third game the Oilers have played without both McDavid (lower-body injury) and Draisaitl (undisclosed injury), and the first one due to injury.

“We obviously believe in ourselves and our group no matter who’s in or out of the lineup,” said Nugent-Hopkins, who recorded his fourth NHL hat trick. “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.”

Jeff Skinner and Adam Henrique also scored, and Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse each had two assists for the Oilers (41-24-5), who extended their point streak to five games (4-0-1). Stuart Skinner made 27 saves.

Edmonton remained in second place in the Pacific Division, three points behind the Vegas Golden Knights.

“Whether it was [Jeff Skinner] or ‘Nuge’ scoring goals, or if it was guys on the fourth line stepping up and giving us some quality shifts, up and down the lineup, we did a good job,” Ekholm said. “It's nice to see guys that don't really usually get those minutes, maybe (play in) those certain situations, and they got them tonight, and they did a good job.”

Kaapo Kakko scored twice, and Jani Nyman and Jared McCann each had two assists for the Kraken (30-36-5), who have lost three of four (1-2-1). Joey Daccord made 24 saves.

Seattle is 14 points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

“Tonight we were facing a team that didn’t have their top two guys and the power play and penalty kill become the story of the game,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “It was critical of awareness late in the power play with your puck play and turn one over and gave them an opportunity, then we’re fighting back pretty much the whole game because of it.”

Henrique gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead on the power play at 14:30 of the first period, sending a wrist shot from the top of the left circle past Daccord’s glove.

Kakko tied it 1-1 on the power play at 15:49, retrieving a loose puck in the crease after Stuart Skinner made the save on both the initial shot by Nyman and the rebound by Matty Beniers.

Nugent-Hopkins gave Edmonton a 2-1 lead at 3:48 of the second period, scoring on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that deflected off the stick of Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour and over the right shoulder of Daccord.

“They scored a fluky one off my stick over his shoulder; we had a couple of tough breaks,” Montour said. “Joe did his thing, he did what he can. Both power-play goals he couldn’t see and another one right in the slot wide open.

“We had trouble getting out of the corners, they did a good job cycling and bringing up to the half wall and creating their own space. Joe did his thing to try and get us a win and we battled as best we could.”

Kakko tied it 2-2 with his second goal of the game at 7:01 after deflecting a pass by Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard at the other end. Nyman was there to pick up the puck and send Kakko on a long breakaway to deke past Skinner’s left pad.

Jeff Skinner put Edmonton ahead 3-2 at 12:31, taking a pass into the slot by Connor Brown and sending it past Daccord’s glove.

“When guys have success, it’s usually the result of four other guys on the ice making good plays and feeding off each other,” Jeff Skinner said.

Nugent-Hopkins’ second goal of the game made it 4-2 on the power play at 18:11, sending a wrist shot from the top of the left circle through traffic, stick side past Daccord.

Tye Kartye appeared to score for Seattle at 3:08 of the third period, chopping away at the puck under Stuart Skinner’s pad next to the left post. But the play was overturned after a coach’s challenge by Edmonton determined goaltender interference on John Hayden, who pushed Skinner into his net.

Andre Burakovsky then cut it to 4-3 at 5:57 with a wrist shot from the right dot past Skinner’s left arm.

Nugent-Hopkins completed the hat trick to extend it to 5-3 at 17:43 after scoring short-handed into an empty net during a 6-on-4 with Daccord pulled for the extra attacker.

Just 14 seconds later, Jaden Schwartz scored at 17:57 on the power play to make it 5-4, redirecting a centering pass by McCann.

NOTES: Nugent-Hopkins recorded his first hat trick since March 26, 2019, against the Los Angeles Kings. He also became the 11th player in franchise history (and third Oilers player in 30 years) to score a hat trick with an even-strength, power-play and short-handed goal. … Kakko improved his totals with the Kraken to 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists), tied for the most points among players acquired by a team in-season in 2024-25 with Cam Fowler (seven goals, 18 assists in 39 games played with the Blues). ... Nyman became the third Kraken player aged 20 or younger to record a multi-assist game, joining Beniers (seven times) and Shane Wright (Jan. 4, 2025). … The other two games the Oilers were without both Draisaitl and McDavid were April 29, 2022 (3-2 shootout win against the Vancouver Canucks), and April 18, 2024 (5-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche).