Skinner makes 26 saves, bounces back to help Oilers shut out Kraken

SEATTLE -- Stuart Skinner rebounded from getting pulled in his previous start, making 26 saves for the Edmonton Oilers in a 4-0 win against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday.

Skinner allowed four goals on eight shots in the first period Tuesday before being removed in an 8-3 loss to the Dallas Stars. On Saturday, he got his second shutout of the season and the ninth of his NHL career, tying Grant Fuhr for fourth on the Oilers’ all-time list.

“I think it was good,” Skinner said. “I was able to play a solid game. I thought you saw that from everybody, and I think this is one of the games where we were able to play a really solid 60-minute game.”

Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman each had a goal and an assist for the Oilers (11-10-5), who had lost four of five.

“[We were] just steady right from the get-go,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “I thought we controlled the pace early, but we took some penalties that, obviously, you need your goalie to be kicking on the PK, so he did a great job of that.”

Joey Daccord made 21 saves for the Kraken (11-7-6), who were shut out for the second time in three games and have lost three in a row (0-2-1).

Seattle went 0-for-6 on the power play, including a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:45 in the first period, after going 0-for-5 in a 3-2 loss to Dallas on Wednesday.

“A lot of times when you don’t capitalize on a 5-on-3, it sort of reaches up to bite you in a game,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. “We had a good look at that. We had a long time to have that 5-on-3, and the fact we didn’t capitalize on it was disappointing.”

Nugent-Hopkins, in his return from missing nine games with an undisclosed injury, made it 1-0 with a power-play goal at 11:29 of the first. He took a pass from Evan Bouchard at the bottom of the left face-off circle and scored with a chip over Daccord’s glove.

“That’s part of the reason why Nugent-Hopkins is so important,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “He's part of that kill. He had a big block, and he’s in on the power-play goals.”

Nugent-Hopkins said, “The first [power-play goal] was a great play by ‘Bouchie,’ but, yeah, I think [power-play success] is going to start with our work, and we can make plays off that.”

Draisaitl pushed it to 2-0 on a 3-on-2 rush at 12:30 of the second period, cutting to the slot and snapping a shot inside the left post.

Hyman extended the lead to 3-0 with a power-play goal at 18:51. He scored in the slot when Draisaitl’s centering pass intended for McDavid hit Hyman’s skate in the slot and went through through Daccord’s five-hole.

“The special teams were outstanding tonight, both power play and penalty kill,” Knoblauch said.

McDavid then made it 4-0 at 6:25 of the third period. He took a feed from Hyman, waited out Daccord and lifted a shot from the bottom of the left circle to the short side.

The Oilers were 2-for-2 on the power play.

“We can move pucks quicker [on the power play],” Lambert said. “When we get teams on the ropes, when there’s a shot and there’s a rebound, we’re too slow to move the puck, and therefore, [the opposing penalty-killers] are able to reset.”

NOTES: Draisaitl has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in an eight-game point streak and eight assists in a seven-game assist streak. … Kraken forward Kaapo Kakko returned after missing six games with a lower-body injury. He was minus-1 with one shot on goal in 16:35 of ice time.