GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Kraken 1

SEATTLE, WA – How about that Hyman?

Zach Hyman recorded a natural hat trick in the first period on Saturday to claim his second career hat trick that powered the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena.

"He was bound and determined to make sure we came out with a lead in that first period, and I think all of his goals were within about a four or five-foot radius," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said.

The 31-year-old winger scored twice at even strength and once with the man advantage in an 8:46 stretch of the opening frame, while Dylan Holloway provided extra insurance before the first intermission with his first goal of the 2023-24 campaign by tucking a bounce off the back boards into the top corner with less than 18 seconds remaining in the first period.

Netminder Stuart Skinner was beaten once on 18 shots on an unlucky redirection off the skate of Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz in the final frame, but the Edmonton product made the big saves when necessary, including robbing former Oilers defenceman Adam Larsson in the third period to backstop the Oilers to their first win in four games.

"I think it's big. It was a hard game to win," Skinner said. "It was hard-fought and that's what it takes to win in the NHL. We've got to just keep on doing that and keep on doing the things that are going to make us successful."

The Oilers head home to Rogers Place to host the New York Islanders on Monday night before rematching the Kraken on Wednesday.

FIRST PERIOD

A natural hat trick? More like a natural Zach trick.

The first period saw one-way traffic towards the Seattle crease that was directed by Hyman, who secured his second-career hat trick of the natural variety by scoring three straight goals in the opening 20 minutes to give the Blue & Orange a commanding advantage over the Kraken.

"Just from a team perspective, I think just getting ahead, scoring first, and being able to build a lead... you want to have a cushion and it makes everybody feel a little bit more comfortable," Hyman said.

Before the pucks started to flow into Seattle's net, it was a massive save by Skinner on Yanni Gourde in the opening four minutes that set the tone of the entire period.

"I thought we came out and tried to dictate the play, not wait and see how the game was going to play out and we did a good job of that," Woodcroft said. "And critical to that was that save that Skins made early in that first period."

Evander Kane chipped a loose puck past a Kraken defender at the blue line to create a partial two-on-one with Hyman before the midway mark of the opening frame, where No. 18 won a stick battle between himself and the two defending Kraken skaters before roofing a back-hander over the right shoulder of netminder Philipp Grubauer.

On Edmonton's second power play of the evening four minutes later, Hyman was hard at work filling the net-front role and picked up his second goal of the period when the Toronto, Ont. product put home the rebound that came off Evan Bouchard's hard point shot from the top of the zone.

There was plenty of Blue & Orange representation in the seats at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday night and the Oilers hats were soon falling to the ice.

The Oilers crashed the net in the final two minutes of the first frame, as was their mantra all night on Hockey Night in Canada, and the dogged determination of the forwards around Seattle's goal produced Hyman's hat-trick marker when he picked up an unassisted tally after the puck was poked onto his stick with Kane and Nugent-Hopkins causing chaos in the crease.

The hat trick was the second of Hyman's career after the 31-year-old recorded his first in a 6-3 victory over the Nashville Predators last season on Dec. 13, 2022.

Before the buzzer sounded on a perfect opening period, Dylan Holloway would add Edmonton's fourth on a bounce off the backboards that the young winger roofed into the top of Seattle's net with 17.2 seconds remaining in the frame.

All four of Edmonton's goals in the period came from the net-front area after Stuart Skinner made the big save they needed to push forward when he robbed Yanni Gourde by shutting the five-hole in the opening four minutes.

SECOND PERIOD

After the heights of a four-goal first period, a relatively quiet middle frame was just what the Oilers needed to stay grounded.

Edmonton and Seattle weren't able to generate any goals in the second period, with offensive looks coming at a premium with the Oilers working hard to keep their defensive details tight with a four-goal lead.

Dylan Holloway came close to knocking in his second goal of the game, but as the winger slid to try and poke home a loose puck past netminder Joey Daccord, who relieved Grubauger to begin the second period, a crucial intervention from defenceman Jamie Oleksiak in the crease cleared the puck away from danger to keep the Kraken from falling behind by five.

Through 40 minutes, the Oilers were outshooting the Kraken 26-9.

"Tonight was I think it's the third time we've given up 18 or fewer shots in our season," Woodcroft said. "It's nice to win one when you give up 18 or less, and I think it's probably the sixth time that we've given up 27 or less. It's nice to win one when you do that."

THIRD PERIOD

The Kraken got a goal back on the power play when Eeli Tolvanen's pass-shot from inside the right circle caught the skate of Jaden Schwartz on its way into the back of the net to cut Edmonton's lead to 4-1 with 17:35 left in the final period.

With Seattle pressing their hardest after Schwartz's tally, it took a big save from Stuart Skinner to settle the game down.

Oliver Bjorkstrand's shot on goal struck a body in front before falling for former Oilers defenceman Adam Larsson, who threw his head into the air after Skinner slid across to deny his former teammate (albeit for one game in 2020-21) with a terrific reaction save.

"One comes to mind is that I think it was 4-1, and there's a pass backside off of the face-off and he's able to get his blocker on it," Hyman said. "That's a save that keeps it 4-1 rather than 4-2, and then they're pushing. I just think that was a huge save."

Edmonton failed to record a shot in the final frame, so the heavy lifting came from between their pipes to slow down Seattle's momentum.

"Guys dug in," Woodcroft said. "You mentioned Skinner's save in the first period too. I saw him make two huge saves after the other team had a power-play goal. That's big and people dug in for him and it was nice to get the result."

Edmonton was able to see out the victory and collect two important points at Climate Pledge Arena and improve to 3-9-1 on the season.

PARTING WORDS

Woodcroft on the Oilers being able to build on this victory:

"As I said yesterday, we're a real process-oriented group. This group's won a lot of games, so you stick with the process even though you're not getting the result. But I'll tell you what, we talked about it yesterday. It's nice to get a result. It's nice to be rewarded for a good effort. Like I said earlier in this scrum, I think it's the third time we've given up 18 or fewer shots. It's nice to win one of those games."

Hyman on the Oilers locking the game down in the final 40 minutes:

"I think it was a pretty low event game after that [first period]. I don't think there were many Grade-A's both ways I think. Kind of locked it down from there, and Stu made the saves that he needed to make some big ones there. I just think it was the first time we played a full 60 and just really controlled the game from the start."

Skinner on Hyman being a consummate leader in the locker room:

"Zach is a great human being. Anybody you ask will say that he's for the team. He's selfless. He's just a good guy outside of the rink and he's a hard worker. Every single day he comes to work, he does his job and he goes back home and he takes care of his family and he's a wonderful man, a very good leader and somebody that we rely on and he relies on all of us."