GAME RECAP: Kraken 6, Oilers 1

SEATTLE, WA – The Seattle Kraken scored five unanswered goals during the second period on Thursday in a 6-1 victory at Climate Pledge Arena that wrapped up a tough home-and-away back-to-back for the Edmonton Oilers without a handful of their most-important players because on injuries.

The Oilers had played admirably for six of their seven periods without both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the lineup before Seattle cracked things wide open in the middle frame with five goals in a span of 11:27 to ensure their nine-game losing streak against Edmonton would come to an end.

Edmonton also played without goaltender Stuart Skinner, who's day-to-day with an upper-body injury he sustained in the third period of Wednesday's 4-3 defeat to the Dallas Stars, and defenceman Mattias Ekholm, who was getting the night off for for maintenance purposes.

"You're never going to replace the players that we lost night, but I think tonight wasn't a very good effort from us," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "But hopefully, it's just a one off. I liked how we played with the lineup we had. The effort's been good, but tonight, playing a back-to-back against a team that was much fresher and had a lot more speed, they controlled most of the play."

Jaden Schwartz added to his impressive career totals against the Oilers with two more goals in the second period to give himself 38 points (20 goals) in 25 career games against Edmonton, while wingers Jared McCann and Jani Nyman each recorded a goal and an assist for Seattle. Goaltender Joey Daccord picked up his first career victory versus Edmonton with 36 saves.

Olivier Rodrigue made seven saves during his NHL debut after Calvin Pickard was relieved to begin the third period after allowing five goals on 29 shots.

"He made a lot of big saves," Knoblauch said. "He looked engaged, the rebound control was good and his agility made for some really big saves, so it was nice to see. It would've been nice to see him have an easy period, but he was tested with some big ones. It was nice to see that he can do it."

Zach Hyman added his 27th goal of the campaign in the third period as consolation to extend his point streak to five games (5G, 2A).

The Oilers now return home to Rogers Place to host the Calgary Flames on Saturday night in the Battle of Alberta before hitting the road next week for four games against Vegas, San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim.

"Get some rest tomorrow and back at it again on Saturday," Zach Hyman said. "It's an easy one to get up for. We haven't played those guys in a while, and they're in the hunt for a playoff spot, so it'll be a good game."

FIRST PERIOD

The only 'Skinner' who was able to suit up for the Oilers on Thursday had the only goal of the first period taken off the board after Jeff Skinner's back-hand finish with 50.6 seconds left in the opening 20 minutes was ruled out by a Seattle coach's challenge for a high stick against winger Connor Brown.

Calvin Pickard was making the start for the Oilers with Stuart Skinner not on the road trip and day-to-day with an upper-body injury he sustained from receiving a knee to the head from Dallas winger Mikko Rantanen in the third period of Edmonton's first half of a back-to-back on Wednesday at home.

The 32-year-old had a 17-7-1 record this season and proven he can handle the starter's job when needed, and he began the night strongly with 11 saves in the first period to keep it a 0-0 game. The opening frame could've ended with the Oilers ahead at the intermission if it weren't for the slightest of margins on a high stick from Connor Brown seconds earlier going against them.

Jeff Skinner thought he'd given the Oilers the lead when he a put a backhand past goalie Joey Daccord in the last minute of the period after it looked like Connor Brown might've got a piece of the puck of the puck in front with the blade of his stick above the crossbar.

The Kraken made a successful coach's challenge to scrape off Skinner's goal off the scoreboard, and it'd be the turning point in the game where Seattle would take over in a five-goal middle frame that put them well on their way to ending their nine-game losing streak to the Oilers.

"You would like for it to stand and count, and obviously it brings momentum," Hyman said. "But you've got to be able to handle those swings."

SECOND PERIOD

After a natural hat-trick from Dallas winger Jason Robertson did the damage to the Oilers during the second period of Wednesday's 4-3 defeat, the Kraken took it to another level on Thursday by scoring five unanswered goals in a span of 11:27 fo the middle stanza to take the commanding lead.

"We just stopped working, made too many mistakes and they capitalized on a bunch of them," Hyman said. "Our game, the foundation is work, and if we're not working, especially with the guys out of the lineup, we don't really have a chance. So I thought we just let our game slip a little bit there, and they took advantage"

Knoblauch said his team's troubles in the second period started right from the onset when the theme of turnovers was firmly established when one of their errors resulted in Mattias Janmark taking a hooking penalty that sent Seattle to the power play, where they scored their first goal 1:18 into the period.

"I thought in the first period it was okay. It wasn't our best playing back to back against a team that was a little fresher. They were going to have more jump, more legs and we survived," Knoblauch said. "But in the second period, it starts with the first shift where we turn the puck over a couple times and we're forced to take a penalty, and they score on that and then we're just reeling after."

Jaden Schwartz loves to play the Oilers, and the Seattle winger scored twice in the first four minutes of the middle frame for his 19th and 20th career goals against the club, netting a power-play goal during Janmark's penalty and another off a Jake Walman giveaway less than two minutes later to increase his career numbers against Edmonton to 20 goals and 18 assists in 35 career games.

Over seven minutes later, rookie winger Jani Nyman started a forgettable 1:51 stretch for the Oilers past the midway mark of the period where they allowed three more goals (coudl've been four) by putting a terrific deflection on defenceman Adam Larsson's shot to score his third goal of the season.

There was no shame in allowing a goal on a deflection like Nyman's, but the Oilers would switch off almost completely to allow the Kraken to expand their leadto 4-0 without the need to expend much effort in the process. Centre Matty Beniers crept in from the left circle and Kaapo Kakko found him wide open to score his 18th goal of the season into the open cage beyond Pickard.

Over the next 95 seconds, the Kraken would have another goal from Jordan Eberle overturned for offside, but they inevitably got it back soon after to make it 5-0 when they turned a miscontrolled puck along the boards by Troy Stecher into an easy redirection in front by Andre Burakovsky.

The Oilers had a plus-31 goal differential in the second period prior to Wednesday's game against Dallas, but eight goals allowed in the middle periods on Wednesday and Thursday dropped that number to plus-23.

Without two their best options in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl available for the second straight game, and both Mattias Ekholm and Stuart Skinner also out of the lineup, a stretch of seven solid periods for the Oilers without a few of their best players was coming to an end – along with their nine-game winning streak against the Kraken.

"It doesn't matter if we lose a one-goal game or a big one like tonight, I think the effort over the last few games has been really good, and some of the games maybe could've went another way," Knoblauch said. "But tonight, we definitely didn't deserve to win and hopefully that's just a one-off.

"Hopefully, we can turn the page and move on."

THIRD PERIOD

It was time for Oli to get his first crack at NHL action.

Goaltender Olivier Rodrigue would come in for the final 20 minutes to make his NHL debut after replacing Calvin Pickard, and the 24-year-old netminder acquitted himself well with seven saves on seven shots in the frame that included the Oilers starting the period on the penalty kill.

"Oli did a really good job and made some really big saves, especially coming in," Knoblauch said. "We wanted to maybe put him in during the second period, but we waited until the third, where we were shorthanded and that's not an ideal time to put a goalie in. But he responded well.

A lot of big saves and we're happy for him to have the period that he did."

The first major save that Rodrigue had to make wasn't an easy one, reacting quickly to a dangerous shot from the slot from former 40-goal scorer Jared McCann for a great reaction save before covering up the pick under his right pad.

McCann was denied by Rodrigue again moments later off an Oilers turnover in their own zone, but the Seattle winger was eventually able to put one past him after he managed to surprise everyone by batting a backwards puck out of mid-air and into the Edmonton net.

Zach Hyman did add consolation with an unassisted marker that ended Joey Daccord's shutout bid and extending his point streak to five games (5G, 2A) with his 27th goal of the season.

Daccord recorded his first-career win against the Oilers in eight tries (1-6-1), while the 6-1 victory was Seattle's first win in 10 games against them dating back to January 2023.