PREVIEW: Oilers at Kraken

The Edmonton Oilers head to Seattle to begin back-to-back games on the West Coast when they visit Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday for a meeting with the Kraken.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 8:00 p.m. MDT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 880 CHED.

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Kraken

SEATTLE, WA – What a wild ride Thursday night was at Rogers Place.

Now, we’re back on the road for back-to-back games on the West Coast.

The Edmonton Oilers, fresh off their crazy 6-5 victory over the Montreal Canadiens in a one-off homestand, will travel to Seattle and Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday for the first of two games in 48 hours against Pacific Division opposition in the Kraken and Canucks.

The Kraken have started the season strong with a 4-2-2 record, having just shut out the powerhouse Winnipeg Jets 3-0 to hand them their first loss in six games in the final game of a long six-game road trip. Goaltender Joey Daccord made 32 saves for the shutout, while forward Jaden Schwartz had two goals and three assists and leads Seattle in points this season with eight points (4G, 4A) in eight games.

On Thursday, Vasily Podkolzin scored with a terrific backhand finish top shelf on goaltender Sam Montembault with 1:09 remaining in regulation, finishing off a streak of three straight goals from the Oilers in the final 10 minutes of the third period after the Canadiens erased a 3-1 lead with three straight goals of their own in the middle frame.

The Oilers scored twice on the power play from Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 58 seconds apart for their fifth goals of the season, tying things up before Podkolzin capped off the huge win and a multi-point performance with his first goal since the tragic passing of his father earlier this month.

After Podkolzin’s winner and David Tomasek’s first NHL goal during the first period, the Oilers have had five players score their first goals of the campaign in their last two games, which have both been victories (Podkolzin, Tomasek, McDavid, Howard and Walman).

The Oilers are aware of their need to improve their execution – both offensively and defensively – after winning their second straight game despite giving up the lead in the third period to the Canadiens and struggling at times to put together tape-to-tape passes.

Thursday’s heroic turnaround against the Canadiens isn’t changing the fact that the Oilers know their game isn’t where it needs to be right now, and that every individual has to be better for the team to improve.

"It was as ugly a win as it gets," Darnell Nurse said. "We got the two points. I think our team game obviously gets better when each of us gets better individually, so we've got some work to do."

"It's apparent there are a lot of guys who have been around for a while, played in some important situations and important games, and you're not going to fool yourself that there's a process to winning in this league. Like I said, I think our process hasn't been where it needs to be."

Head Coach Kris Knoblauch altered his lines in the third period, looking to spark his group and reward players like Isaac Howard with more opportunities to impact the game – a move that was successful after the 21-year-old rookie got on the ice in the final two minutes alongside Connor McDavid and Andrew Mangiapane.

Howard scored his first NHL goal in Tuesday’s 3-2 win over the Senators and is growing more and more at this level with each chance he’s given, and he’s expected to be given an opportunity to stay in a top-line role with McDavid when the Oilers visit the Kraken.

“It's awesome,” Howard said. “It's great to get that opportunity. As a young player in the league, opportunity is all you can ask for, so just to get that and get some time out there, it was great. I thought we made a lot of good plays, and I'm excited for the next game.”

Coach Knoblauch wants to start Saturday's game in Seattle the same way they finished in Edmonton on Thursday by splitting McDavid and Draisaitl as centres on their own lines, with Howard holding down a spot on the top line with McDavid and Mangiapane during Friday's practice at Rogers Place.

"It's a special thing to play with him," Howard said. "We had some shifts last game together. He's obviously so skilled. I can just get open and he'll be able to find me and stuff. He plays with pace, which I like a lot, so I'm excited."

Knoblauch has seen Howard look more up to speed in recent games at the NHL level after taking time to adjust early on in the season and serving as a healthy scratch on Oct. 18 against the Devils, but he looks poised to be rewarded for his growth when the puck drops against the Kraken on Saturday.

"I think the most important thing is just the way he's skating right now, giving us some speed in his game," the bench boss said. "Early on in preseason and maybe the first couple of games, I didn't see him have that speed, but he's skating a lot better right now and anticipating plays that we're going to try him out there.

"Will he be there for the next 74 games? Probably not. There'll probably be some challenges, but right now with the way he's playing, he deserves that, and hopefully there can be some chemistry developed."