Hopefuls get long looks as Kraken beat Oilers in penalty-filled exhibition

Seattle Kraken forward Jordan Eberle, centre, skates against Edmonton Oilers forwards Josh Samanski, left, and Matt Savoie during the second period of an NHL preseason hockey game, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Seattle.

Ryan Winterton scored twice, including a short-handed goal, and the Seattle Kraken defeated the visiting Edmonton Oilers 4-2 on Wednesday night.

Joshua Mahura and Eeli Tolvanen also scored for Seattle (3-2-1), which jumped out to a 3-0 lead by the 15-minute mark of the opening period. Joey Daccord made 32 saves.

Darnell Nurse and Matt Savoie replied for Edmonton (4-2-1), which turned it into a 3-2 game entering the final frame. Calvin Pickard made 13 saves on 17 shots.

The Kraken went two-for-six with the man advantage, while Nurse scored the Oilers’ lone goal on five power-play opportunities.

Power plays aplenty

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game he felt his team’s effort with the man advantage was “pretty good.”

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“We were saying it’d been nice to have our full team so we could get the power play reps because in a lot of our exhibition games, there hasn’t been many power play opportunities, but tonight, there certainly was,” he told media.

“We had our second unit together, and I thought they did a pretty good job.”

Savoie, who paced the Oilers with six of the team’s 34 shots on Wednesday and led all forwards in ice time at 19:50, said he felt the power play “moved the puck around pretty well.”

“A couple of mishaps, but that’s just getting together as a unit and getting more comfortable together, so I think that’ll come with time,” said the rookie winger, who Knoblauch said has “made a strong impression” at training camp “right from Day 1.”

“He’s been working hard. His details have been good,” the coach said. “He’s been labelled as an offensive player – when he was drafted and throughout junior and even in the American League – but he’s worked on the details, and he’s very responsible defensively, so it looks like he’s ready.”

Regula ‘making most’ of camp

Another hopeful singled out by Knoblauch after the Seattle game was Alec Regula, the defenceman acquired last season from the Boston Bruins who missed the entire campaign recovering from injury.

The six-foot-four, 212 lb. right-shot blueliner, who was third among Oilers defencemen Wednesday with 19:23 of ice time against the Kraken, signed a two-year, two-way contract extension in the spring.

“For him to come to the camp after that much time off and play as well as he had, a lot of respect for him,” Knoblauch said. “I saw all the training and the rehab he was doing throughout the summer and last year during the season. Now he has this opportunity, and I believe he’s making the most out of it.”

The Oilers wrap up their preseason game schedule Friday in Vancouver against the Canucks and open the regular season at home on Wednesday against the Calgary Flames.