Oilers shut out Kraken, 4-0

SEATTLE — The Edmonton Oilers dominated Saturday's chippy matinee at Climate Pledge Arena, exiting with a 4-0 victory.

Kraken winger Mason Marchment had an eventful afternoon. He certainly had help from Edmonton as he crashed into Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner (26 saves), but nonetheless was seated in the box serving a goaltender interference penalty when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored the opening goal for Edmonton.

Marchment also hit Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse hard enough that his helmet popped off. Nurse had just passed off the puck and had his back turned to Marchment when the contact happened.

Nurse headed for the bench, as the NHL rulebook requires, and the helmet spun eerily on the ice. Oilers forward Adam Henrique headed straight across the ice and pinned Marchment to the boards, seemingly trying to goad him into a fight. Nothing materialized while play continued on the other side of the ice.

"That's part of his game. Part of who he is is getting under people's skin a little bit," Kraken coach Lane Lambert said. "From that standpoint, I thought he made an impact on the game."

Marchment was a marked man after that. Star center Leon Draisaitl and Andrew Mangiapane sandwiched him along the boards and Draisaitl was whistled for elbowing. The Kraken didn’t do anything with the ensuing power play, or any of their other five power plays, which included 5-on-3 time. The third-ranked Oilers man advantage scored on both of theirs.

"0 for 11 here in the last two home games — two losses — on the power play isn't a recipe for success," Lambert said.

To some degree that probably emboldened the Oilers, who kept pressing, delivering crunching hits — on other Kraken players, when Marchment wasn’t available — and making bold plays.

Marchment got the gate with three minutes left in the game. He and Nurse each picked up a ten-minute misconduct and headed down their respective tunnels.

The Kraken player who finally fought, briefly, wasn't Marchment, but Freddy Gaudreau. The veteran center recently returned from a month on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.

Seattle defenseman Ryker Evans was driven into the boards head-first by Connor Clattenburg late in the third period, and Gaudreau was nearby. Gaudreau, 32, went after Clattenburg, 20, who pulled the smaller Gaudreau around for a few seconds before officials broke it up.

Kraken fourth-liner Tye Kartye followed suit in the same spot along the boards, less than three minutes later. Kartye squared off with Oilers defenseman Alec Regula and landed several big swings. There were just under five minutes left in the game, so Kartye and Regula headed right off the ice early rather than sit for their five-for-fighting penalties.

Seattle downed Edmonton 3-2 in regulation on Oct. 25 at Climate Pledge Arena, but Saturday's game more closely resembled the teams' regular matchups. The Kraken entered the game 4-11-1 all time against the Oilers.

Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord (21 saves) stood tall on an early collaboration between the Oilers’ Saturday stars. Draisaitl was waiting at the back door and Mangiapane was lurking, waiting for the rebound. Daccord was just in time to deny him, without allowing a second chance.

During the Oilers’ first power play, Nugent-Hopkins was open and waiting for the pass to come to him. Daccord had little chance on that one.

However, Daccord might want the 2-0 goal back. Seattle defensemen Ryan Lindgren and Brandon Montour were back on a 3-on-2, with familiar names Draisaitl and Mangiapane bearing down. Draisaitl flicked a shot into the bottom corner.

With 1:09 left in the second period, the Oilers erased any doubt. Draisaitl fired a shot right at teammate Zach Hyman's feet and Hyman angled it past Daccord to make it 3-0.

Connor McDavid, the league’s third-leading scorer (34 points) heading into the game, added a goal and an assist to his haul. Off the rush, McDavid peeled off and went wide. He fired a bad-angle shot into the top of the net to make it 4-0.

Oilers goal-scorer Nugent-Hopkins was activated from injured reserve just before the game after missing nine games with an undisclosed injury. The Kraken called in reinforcements Saturday morning as well.

Winger Kaapo Kakko returned from his second stint on injured reserve and played 16:38 against Edmonton. He missed six games this time around with a lower-body injury. He’s appeared in eight, total, through 24 Kraken games this season and scored his lone goal before getting hurt against the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 13.

There was something in the water this holiday weekend as Seattle's new professional women's team, the Torrent, were shut out in their first-ever game at Climate Pledge Arena 24 hours earlier.

This is the Kraken's second time being shut out in three games. Seattle dropped three straight games for the first time this season and fell to 11-7-6.

"A team that’s behind us, team that’s close, but same division," Montour said. "We let one get away.

Edmonton and Seattle will see each other again Thursday in Edmonton.