The Edmonton Oilers only played one game last week, prior to their Saturday afternoon game against the Seattle Kraken. The less said about how that game went, the better. It was at least their second-worst outing of the season. In contrast to the arguable worst game, the Oilers at least had three days to stew about this one.

In between games, several things happened, and several things that could have happened, did not. What did happen was a team autograph session that, despite the rancid Tuesday night outing, still drew thousands of folks out to West Edmonton Mall. We also had questions being asked that we never thought we would hear. One came from veteran scribe Jim Matheson, the other came from Edmonton Sports Talk’s social media. It’s debatable whether either question needed to be asked, even following an 8–3 shellacking. Fortunately, respondents Stuart Skinner and Leon Draisaitl respectively, shrugged them off.

On the front of things that didn’t happen, nobody got traded despite clamours for something to be done. There was also no bag-skate by the sounds of it, though there were some good old-fashioned whiteboard sessions. Maybe whiteboard sessions, and the opportunity to see eager Oilers fans, were the right medicine to cure this team’s ails, as they took it to the Kraken early, often, and all afternoon. Getting Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Curtis Lazar back also helped this team get back to its winning ways.

Oilers win 4–0. May it be an equally good Saturday night, especially for folks such as this observer who will be heading to Rogers Place for the Papa Roach concert. (Postscript: It was.) Here’s the game story.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins returns, resumes tormenting the Kraken

The Nuge is one of the four all-time leading scorers against Seattle- all four, of course, belong to the Oilers. This was pointed out by play-by-play guy Jack Michaels during the game. No matter how often Michaels says it, it is still a wild stat to consider.

The four all-time leading scorers against Seattle wear an Edmonton uniform. And all four have a goal and an assist today.

— Jack Michaels (@EdmontonJack) November 29, 2025

Memorably, Nugent-Hopkins had a hat trick in a home game against the Kraken late in the previous regularseason. With both Draisaitl, and Connor McDavid, out of the lineup, Nugent-Hopkins made sure the Oilers would continue their Kraken dominance. And here today, in his first game back from injury, he continued said dominance with a power play goal.

McDavid, Draisaitl, and Zach Hyman are the other three names of those four that have had Seattle’s number. As mentioned in the earlier tweet, all chipped in a goal and an assist apiece in this game. The McDavid and Draisaitl strikes came at even-strength, with Draisaitl’s giving the Oilers a bit of breathing room and McDavid’s essentially icing the game.

Really good performance from all four forwards. But especially good for Nuge, coming back from injury and being the first on the scoreboard. The team may have missed him in more ways than one, as evidenced by the following section.

An outing as special for the special teams as the first snowfall

If you got to West Ed for that autograph session before 5:00 PM, congrats. You not only had an easier time getting the autograph of your choice, but you also got there when grass was still visible on the ground, albeit frosted over. Exiting the Mall at 8:00 PM, though, session-goers were greeted by a thick blanket of snow. Not the first snow of the year, but the first one that won’t melt right away, and with less than a month to go until Christmas, it truly felt like the start of the holiday season. That feeling is a special one, that no other snowfall can replicate.

The power play and penalty-kill units took inspiration from the magic of that night’s snowfall, seemingly. All eight man-advantage or shorthanded situations were handled superbly, with the penalty kill being especially dynamite in 12(!) minutes of required work. Multiple penalties were killed off without the Kraken managing even one shot on goal.

Not to be outdone, the power play went two-for-two on the afternoon, like a clutch pinch-hitter in a ball game at nearby T-Mobile Park. The Nugent-Hopkins tally was the first of those two goals they would get. Zach Hyman finally managed his first of the season to convert the other power play. One would suspect he envisioned getting goal number one in a much prettier way than this. But as the saying goes, “they don’t ask how; they ask how many”.

After dismal outings on Tuesday night for both corps, this was a major bounce-back effort. It’s pretty clear these units have missed some of the recently-returning personnel dearly. With players getting back to full health, the hope is to see games like this far more often than not for special-teams.

A motivated Stu is hotter than the freshest brewed coffee

Skinner suffered the fate of being pulled after four goals against for the second time this season, against Dallas. You guessed it, the Colorado 9–1 whipping was the other one. Versus the Stars, he didn’t make a massive save to try to stem the tide like he did against the Avs, but not one shot he faced was a low-quality chance. Still, the calls to trade him reached a fever pitch. And while this observer doesn’t take stances on things, it bears noting that reporters and sportswriters worth their salt need to thoroughly think through what they’re about to ask a player.

Skinner, on this afternoon, was much better, stopping all 26 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season. The team in front of him, having also received the wake-up call, played better as well. But Skinner was still called upon to make a few key saves, including this breakaway save on Kraken forward Berkly Catton.

From trade rumours, to seeing a lineup for his and Calvin Pickard’s table on Thursday that, if you arrived in it at 4:30 PM, you’d barely make it to the front to get his autograph before the event ended, a lot is motivating Skinner currently. Coming back home for a few games, it’ll be crucial for him to keep his play up. He can save his Oilers job, and force a different trade, with more games like these.

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This team played with some snarl that has been lacking all year

One of the voids left in the Oilers’ game that hadn’t been filled this season was playing with some bite and anger. Numerous occasions have seen the Oilers look meek and passive, lacking energy and the ability to drag the team into the fight. It’s why young Connor Clattenburg not only survived, but thrived in his call-up to the NHL.

Clattenburg is making his presence felt at least once every game so far. Against the Panthers, it was getting A.J. Greer to melt down. Against Dallas, it was scoring his first NHL goal by being a robust net-front presence. And on this afternoon, he finally got into his anticipated first NHL fight, as he had to answer the bell for roughing up Kraken rookie Ryker Evans.

The major story, however, was a massive, blindside hit laid out on Darnell Nurse, by none other than nemesis Mason Marchment. Unlike last games, however, in this one the Oilers unanimously declared Marchment their Public Enemy No. 1, as first Adam Henrique, then the whole team, then Leon Draisaitl all took turns having their grievances with him.

Here’s the root of the disagreement. Mason Marchment leveled Darnell Nurse from behind. Adam Henrique challenged him, but he wouldn’t accept a fight.

Marchment was also right in the middle of the extended conversation between the teams at the end of the 1st period. #SeaKraken https://t.co/yF1TXjNIdg pic.twitter.com/ts41eRxWv6

— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) November 29, 2025

Eventually he got into it again with Nurse towards the end of the third period, at which point the two referees performed their version of annoyed parents sending the argumentative siblings to bed early. Ten-minute misconducts for both; go to the dressing rooms.

This kind of pushback needs to be shown far more often. It’s fair to wonder if Clattenburg is inspiring a sea change of sorts. Perhaps it’s motivating his new teammates to stick up for each other more often. If so, Clattenburg ought to never see the Bakersfield Condors’ rink ever again.

Player perspective

“Staying within our system, trusting it, keeping things to the outside for sure… and then, like you guys said, gotta rely on (Skinner) back there sometimes, he did a great job.”

– Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the 6/6 performance from the penalty kill units

Home is where the heart is, and where the Oilers will be for a while

A five-game homestand, in this economy?! Hard to believe, but after playing only nine of their first 26 games at home, the Oilers come back to Edmonton for more than half of that total over just the next two weeks. And not having to decamp from a long road trip, these outings may be much improved from the no-shows against the Stars and Avalanche.

First up, however, will be another lethal Central Division opponent. The Minnesota Wild come into Edmonton on a tear right now, winners of seven straight prior to yesterday. To make this sting Oilers fans even more, goaltender Jesper Wallstedt, who the Oilers could have had if not for Ken Holland and Tyler Wright, is bursting into the NHL scene.

Jesper Wallstedt is 6-0-0 in November with a 1.14 GAA and .967 save percentage. In the last 3 weeks, he leads all goalies in goals saved above expected.
Wild have won 7 straight and are 5 points up on Utah for 3rd in the Central. pic.twitter.com/99bceOGkGu

— Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyNHL) November 29, 2025

Should be an interesting one on Tuesday, that’s for sure. Face-off at the usual seven PM local start time for home games.

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