Oilers Dominate Kraken 3-0: Key Takeaways from Their Winning Streak

In a game held at Rogers Place on Tuesday (March 31), the Edmonton Oilers triumphed over the Seattle Kraken with goals from Max Jones, Kasperi Kapanen, and Connor McDavid. Oilers' netminder Connor Ingram made 27 saves to earn a shutout, while Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer stopped 23 of 25 shots. With the victory, Edmonton improves its record to 38-28-9, with seven games remaining in their 2025-26 regular season schedule.

This winning streak marks a turning point for the team, which had not achieved a four-game winning sequence throughout the season.

After five and a half months, the Oilers finally have a winning streak of at least four games this season. Before Tuesday, Edmonton and the Philadelphia Flyers were the only two teams in the NHL to have not won four games in a row since the season began in October. The win streak coincides with Edmonton playing its most fundamentally sound and defensively responsible hockey of 2025-26, with the entire lineup locked in from the opening faceoff to the final horn. Tuesday’s victory might be the best example yet of why Edmonton is suddenly succeeding. Jones scored just 5:28 into the game, and from that point on, the home team was in command, consistently pressuring Seattle and limiting their space.

On the rare occasion that Seattle did get an opportunity to score, Ingram was there to shut the door. During a humorous interview on Sportsnet after the game, the good-natured goaltender gave all the credit to Edmonton’s defensive play. “Did I really do anything?” Ingram said in response to a question about his role in preserving the lead and ensuring Seattle didn’t score. When it was then pointed out that Ingram had stopped Seattle’s shots, the goalie just smiled and shrugged: “I don’t know, I saw ‘em. I mean, they (Edmonton’s defence) made my job pretty easy tonight, so I’ll take it.” Despite his modesty, Ingram has been as responsible for Edmonton’s improved play as any Oilers player. For the month of March, he went 7-2-1 with a 2.60 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage. Ingram also just happened to turn 29 Tuesday. He became the first Oilers netminder to post a shutout on his birthday, a feat that had only happened 16 other times, by 15 different goalies, in NHL history.

The most fascinating aspect of the recent turnaround in Edmonton is that the Oilers have done it without the services of superstar centre Leon Draisaitl, who is expected to be sidelined for the rest of the regular season while recovering from a lower-body injury. Tuesday was the seventh game that Draisaitl has missed since being injured against the Nashville Predators on March 15, and the Oilers have a record of 5-2-0 in those contests. Even more incredibly, Edmonton is now 7-3-0 without Draisaitl in 2025-26, and 11-4-0 in the last 15 games he hasn’t played, dating back to April 2025. While the Oilers have managed to produce offensively at the same rate (3.50 goals per game without Draisaitl compared to 3.48 goals per game with him this season), they’re allowing much fewer goals (3.54 when Draisaitl plays compared to 2.10 when he isn’t in the lineup this season). No one in their right mind would suggest that the Oilers are a better team without one of the greatest offensive players of his generation. But the numbers might suggest that Draisaitl’s absence forces his teammates to shore up their play, which is exactly what they’ve done these last handful of games.

With their victory against Seattle, the Oilers now have 85 points, just two less than the Pacific Division-leading Anaheim Ducks. Anaheim still has eight games – one more than Edmonton – left to play, but the Oilers currently hold the tiebreaker over the Ducks. Suddenly, it’s not so far-fetched that Edmonton could finish atop its division standings for the first time in nearly four decades. The race continues over the next couple nights, with Anaheim visiting the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday (April 1) and Edmonton hosting the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday (April 2).