NHL Update Oct 4, 2026: Oilers Edge Kraken; Flames Visit Seattle
Good evening, Alberta! The Oilers are rolling after a late Leon Draisaitl winner, the Flames are chasing their first win of the year on the road in Seattle, and Sunday's NHL slate is packed. Here's your Alberta Radio daily NHL update.
League Roundup
Saturday night was busy across the league. Buffalo erased a Chicago lead for a 4-3 win; Ottawa beat Toronto 3-2; Tampa Bay handled Washington 3-1; Carolina edged Philadelphia 3-2 in overtime on Shayne Gostisbehere's winner; Pittsburgh survived Montreal 6-5 in OT; Utah blanked Columbus 4-1; the Islanders hammered New Jersey 6-0; Nashville edged Dallas 2-1; Minnesota beat Boston 4-1; Colorado crushed St. Louis 6-1; and San Jose beat Los Angeles 5-4 in overtime.
Sunday so far: Winnipeg knocked off Detroit 3-2 in the afternoon matinee — Cole Perfetti and Kyle Connor (two goals) led the Jets. Utah and the Rangers were tied late in the third at Madison Square Garden as this update went live. Still to come tonight: Florida at Anaheim (6 p.m. MT) and Vegas at Vancouver (7 p.m. MT), plus Calgary's visit to Seattle.
Edmonton Oilers
Rogers Place got the ending it wanted on Saturday. Oilers 3, Kraken 1 — Edmonton improved to 2-0-1 and handed Seattle its first loss of the season.
Rookie Owen Michaels opened the scoring at 2:51 of the first, ripping a wrist shot near-side past Philipp Grubauer off a short pass from Alex Formenton. It was Michaels' second goal in as many games after his NHL debut marker in Thursday's 9-7 win in Vancouver. Seattle tied it on the power play at 9:06 of the second when Bobby McMann lifted Jordan Eberle's feed past Devon Levi's blocker.
The game stayed 1-1 deep into the third until Leon Draisaitl broke the deadlock with 2:27 left. Ryan Shea threw the puck along the boards; it bounced off Connor McDavid's knee into the slot, and Draisaitl chipped it past a lunging Grubauer. McDavid sealed it with an empty-netter at 18:55 — a goal and an assist on the night — and Levi finished with 19 saves. Grubauer stopped 22 for Seattle.
Head coach Mike Babcock praised the netminding after a week of chaos: "We got good goaltending tonight," he said, pointing to Levi's confidence in his first home start with a new organization. Michaels, still riding the wave, kept it simple: "I'm just taking it one day at a time."
Injury and trade picture: Zach Hyman remains out roughly two weeks with an upper-body injury. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is on injured reserve with a lower-body issue, and Jason Dickinson, Mattias Janmark and Matt Savoie (LTIR) are also sidelined. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported Saturday that Edmonton has explored a lateral defence-for-forward trade to add depth — not a panic move, since the absences aren't expected to be long-term, but the Oilers will look if the right swap is there. Josh Samanski and Max Jones have been filling in up front.
Next up: Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 8 p.m. MT in Anaheim against the Ducks — a California start to a short road swing that also includes San Jose on Saturday afternoon.
Calgary Flames
The Flames are still searching for win No. 1 after a tough start to the road trip.
Saturday in Vancouver: Canucks 4, Flames 1. Matt Coronato gave Calgary a 1-0 lead on the power play at 14:51 of the first, but the Canucks scored four unanswered in the third. Liam Ohgren tied it at 1:28 (a review confirmed the puck crossed the line through Devin Cooley's glove), Elias Pettersson (the defenceman) made it 2-1, Drew O'Connor finished a 2-on-1, and Aatu Raty added an empty-netter. Cooley stopped 22 in his first start of the season; Leevi Merilainen made 23 saves for Vancouver. Calgary coach Ryan Huska said his team was "a much different team" than in Thursday's 6-1 home loss to Seattle and saw plenty to build on.
Tonight in Seattle (6 p.m. MT): The Flames (0-2-0) visit the Kraken (1-1-0) at Climate Pledge Arena — a rematch of Thursday's opener, this time on Seattle ice. Neither club held a morning skate after Saturday games. Daily Faceoff lists Dustin Wolf confirmed to start for Calgary (source: Eric Francis) and Joey Daccord confirmed for Seattle. Wolf is looking for a bounce-back after allowing six goals on 32 shots in the opener; Daccord made 24 saves in that win.
NHL.com projected Flames lineup: Gridin–Frost–Coronato; Honzek–Backlund–Farabee; Othmann–Strome–Sharangovich; Tsyplakov–Pospisil–Klapka. Defence: Hanley–Nemec, Bahl–Whitecloud, Middleton–Parekh. Scratches include Connor Zary and Yan Kuznetsov. Jonathan Huberdeau (hip) remains out. For Seattle, look for McCann–Beniers–Kakko up top, with McMann–Stephenson–Eberle on the second line and Jacob Melanson (upper body) still injured.
What's Next
Tonight, 6 p.m. MT: Calgary Flames at Seattle Kraken (Climate Pledge Arena; SNW / Prime Video)
Tonight, 6 p.m. MT: Florida Panthers at Anaheim Ducks
Tonight, 7 p.m. MT: Vegas Golden Knights at Vancouver Canucks
Wed. Oct. 7, 8 p.m. MT: Edmonton Oilers at Anaheim Ducks
Thu. Oct. 8, 7 p.m. MT: Colorado Avalanche at Calgary Flames (home)
Stick with Alberta Radio for tonight's final from Seattle and the rest of the Sunday slate. Go Oilers, go Flames!
Sources: NHL.com scoreboard and recaps (Oilers–Kraken Oct. 3; Flames–Canucks Oct. 3; Flames–Kraken projected lineups Oct. 4), Daily Faceoff starting goalies, Sportsnet (Elliotte Friedman, Eric Francis), ESPN. Flames@Seattle had not started as of ~6:05 p.m. MT.
