3 most impressive Edmonton Oilers players from 5-4 win over Seattle Kraken feat. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

The Edmonton Oilers came into Saturday's game against the Seattle Kraken having slipped into third place in the Pacific Division. Oilers hoped to pick up points to better cement their position in the standings with the Stanley Cup Playoffs on deck.

On paper, the Kraken represented the perfect matchup for the Oilers due to the fact that they are nowhere near a playoff spot.

The Oilers picked up valuable points thanks to a hat trick from Ryan-Nugent Hopkins, winning by a 5-4 final score and improving to 41-24-5, while Seattle fell to 30-36-5.

The scoring was started by Oilers veteran Adam Henrique, a power-play tally at 14:30 of the opening period to give Edmonton the 1-0 lead. But Seattle's response was swift as Kaapo Kakko knotted the game at 1-1 with his 12th of the season.

Early in the middle frame, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his 18th goal of the season; once again, Seattle came back with a tying goal from Kakko, his second of the night.

Edmonton then re-took the lead thanks to Jeff Skinner's 14th goal of the season; that lead was further supplemented by the second goal of the game from Nugent-Hopkins, extending the lead to 4-2.

The Kraken would not go away quietly, as they cut Edmonton's lead to one after Andre Burakovsky scored for the seventh time this season.

Nugent-Hopkins then picked up the hat trick with his 20th goal of the season, a shorthanded tally into the vacated net with goaltender Joey Daccord on the bench.

Despite a late goal from Jaden Schwartz just 14 seconds later, the Kraken could pull no further.

3 most impressive Edmonton Oilers players from 5-4 win over Seattle Kraken

#1. Ryan-Nugent Hopkins

Hats off to Nugent-Hopkins, who picked up the hat trick and powered Edmonton's offense as part of their win over the Kraken. It was the kind of performance that the Oilers needed from him, especially with stars Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid unavailable due to injury.

He also became the 11th Oilers player in franchise history to score a hat trick with an even strength, power-play, and shorthanded goal.

#2. Darnell Nurse

Edmonton's top defenseman factored into the Oilers' win on Saturday night thanks to his pair of assists; he also finished with a +1 rating while also blocking four Kraken shots.

#3. Mattias Ekholm

Another Oilers blue liner that chipped in offensively, Ekholm picked up a pair of assists as part of the win over the Kraken while also blocking a Seattle shot.