Ryan Nugent-Hopkins gets 4th career hat trick as Oilers hold on to beat Kraken 5-4

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored three goals for his fourth career hat trick, and the Edmonton Oilers held on to beat the Seattle Kraken 5-4 on Saturday night.

Adam Henrique and Jeff Skinner also scored, and Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse each had two assists for the Oilers, who moved to 4-0-1 in their last five games despite playing without star forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Stuart Skinner finished with 27 saves.

Kaapo Kakko had two goals, and Jaden Schwartz and Andre Burakovsky also scored for the Kraken, who have lost two straight. Jared McCann and Jani Nyman each had two assists, and Joey Daccord finished with 24 saves.

Nugent-Hopkins scored at even strength, on the power play, and short-handed.

Henrique and Kakko had power-play goals 1:19 apart in the first period for a 1-1 tie after 20 minutes.

After Nugent-Hopkins and Kakko exchanged goals early in the second, Jeff Skinner put the Oilers ahead with 7 1/2 minutes left in the period, and Nugent-Hopkins scored with the man-advantage to make it 4-2.

Burakovsky pulled the Kraken within one at 5:57 of the third, but Nugent-Hopkins scored short-handed with 2:17 left to restore the Oilers' two-goal lead. Schwartz's power-play goal 14 seconds later capped the scoring.

Kraken: Kakko moved one point shy of his career high of 40 points, achieved with the New York Rangers in the 2022-2023. Nyman, elevated to the first line in just the 20-year-old's sixth NHL game, picked up his first two NHL assists.

Oilers: It was the first time since McDavid was drafted by the Oilers that both he and Draisaitl were out of the lineup with injuries.

Trailing by one, Seattle pulled its goalie while on a power play for a two-man advantage, but Nugent-Hopkins sent the puck the length of the ice into the empty net to complete the hat trick and push the Oilers' lead to 5-3.

Edmonton has won nine straight against the Kraken while outscoring them 38-21.

Kraken visit Calgary on Tuesday, and Oilers host Dallas on Wednesday.

AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

Seattle Kraken's Michael Eyssimont (21) skates past as Edmonton Oilers' Jeff Skinner (53) celebrates a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Seattle Kraken's Matty Beniers (10) skates past as Edmonton Oilers' Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) celebrates a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Seattle Kraken's Kaapo Kakko (84) celebrates a goal against the Edmonton Oilers during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers players celebrate a goal against the Seattle Kraken during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Seattle Kraken's Adam Larsson (6) and Matty Beniers (10) battle for the puck with Edmonton Oilers' Viktor Arvidsson (33) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Seattle Kraken's Andre Burakovsky (95) celebrates a goal against the Edmonton Oilers during third period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner (74) makes the save as Jake Walman (96) tries for the rebound against the Seattle Kraken during third period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers' Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) celebrates his hat trick goal against the Seattle Kraken during third period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Over two dozen families from one of the few remaining Palestinian Bedouin villages in the central West Bank have packed up and fled their homes in recent days, saying harassment by Jewish settlers living in unauthorized outposts nearby has grown unbearable.

The village, Ras Ein el-Auja, was originally home to some 700 people from more than 100 families that have lived there for decades.

Twenty-six families already left on Thursday, scattering across the territory in search of safer ground, say rights groups. Several other families were packing up and leaving on Sunday.

“We have been suffering greatly from the settlers. Every day, they come on foot, or on tractors, or on horseback with their sheep into our homes. They enter people’s homes daily,” said Nayef Zayed, a resident, as neighbors took down sheep pens and tin structures.

Israel's military and the local settler governing body in the area did not respond to requests for comment.

Other residents pledged to stay put for the time being. That makes them some of the last Palestinians left in the area, said Sarit Michaeli, international director at B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group helping the residents.

She said that mounting settler violence has already emptied neighboring Palestinian hamlets in the dusty corridor of land stretching from Ramallah in the West to Jericho, along the Jordanian border, in the east.

The area is part of the 60% of the West Bank that has remained under full Israeli control under interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October 2023, over 2,000 Palestinians — at least 44 entire communities — have been expelled by settler violence in the area, B'Tselem says.

The turning point for the village came in December, when settlers put up an outpost about 50 meters (yards) from Palestinian homes on the northwestern flank of the village, said Michaeli and Sam Stein, an activist who has been living in the village for a month.

Settlers strolled easily through the village at night. Sheep and laundry went missing. International activists had to begin escorting children to school to keep them safe.

“The settlers attack us day and night, they have displaced us, they harass us in every way” said Eyad Isaac, another resident. “They intimidate the children and women.”

Michaeli said she’s witnessed settlers walk around the village at night, going into homes to film women and children and tampering with the village’s electricity.

The residents said they call the police frequently to ask for help — but it seldom arrives. Settlement expansion has been promoted by successive Israeli governments over nearly six decades. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which has placed settler leaders in senior positions, has made it a top priority.

That growth has been accompanied by a spike in settler violence, much of it carried out by residents of unauthorized outposts. These outposts often begin with small farms or shepherding that are used to seize land, say Palestinians and anti-settlement activists. United Nations officials warn the trend is changing the map of the West Bank, entrenching Israeli presence in the area.

Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Their presence is viewed by most of the international community as illegal and a major obstacle to peace. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state.

For now, displaced families of the village have dispersed between other villages near the city of Jericho and near Hebron further south, said residents. Some sold their sheep and are trying to move into the cities.

Others are just dismantling their structures without knowing where to go.

"Where will we go? There’s nowhere. We’re scattered,” said Zayed, the resident, “People’s situation is bad. Very bad.”

An Israeli settler herds his flock near his outpost beside the Palestinian village of Ras Ein al-Auja in the West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A Palestinian resident of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank burns trash, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian children play in the West Bank village of Ras Ein al-Auja, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)