This almost-full-dress-rehearsal for next week’s opening day Kraken lineup wound up morphing into a coming out party of sorts for Shane Wright to put an exclamation point on his strong preseason.

Wright, as a professional in the AHL and a handful of Kraken games the past two seasons, has earned the reputation of a solid, hardworking centerman gradually learning the art of positioning himself to put pucks in the net. But it was Wright’s dazzling second period goal in Wednesday night’s 6-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers that reminded folks why he was long projected as a consensus No. 1 overall pick who fell somewhat luckily to the Kraken at No. 4 just two-plus years ago.

With Oliver Bjorkstrand racing hard for a puck in the right corner, Wright positioned himself net front, took the ensuing pass and pulled a spin move to his backhand before depositing the puck past Oilers goalie Olivier Rodrigue. The Climate Pledge Arena crowd, witnessing a close battle between the home side and the defending Stanley Cup finalists, erupted at that initial goal and then kept gasping outwardly with each scoreboard replay shown.

After the Oilers rallied from two down to tie it that period, free agent pickup Brandon Montour would score his second Kraken goal late in the period on a booming slapper from the right circle that was partially stopped by Rodrigue before trickling on by him into the net. Then, just 35 seconds later, it would be Wright cruising into the top of that same circle and putting a pinpoint 41-foot wrist shot past Rodrigue over his blocker for his second goal of the night.

That goal also capped a bizarre period in which the Kraken were badly outshot 15-5 but wound up scoring on all but one of their attempts. Jaden Schwartz and Will Borgen added third period markers to help the Kraken finish the preseason 2-3-1, beating an Oilers club boasting stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl along with most of their high-scoring regular season crew.

The Kraken, meanwhile, entered the night with a full complement of their own minus an injured Tye Kartye and then Jared McCann as well after he was a late scratch with a lower-body injury said not to be too serious. But they rallied when needed and got strong goaltending from Philipp Grubauer with the team’s regular defensive pairings in front of him, enabling the netminder to find puck angles and clear views of shooting lanes somewhat more easily.

One of those Kraken defenders, Ryker Evans, had his shot from the left point deflected home by Brandon Tanev to open the game’s scoring at the 5:52 mark of the middle frame. Wright’s dazzling first goal would come just under two minutes later, lifting the crowd from its seats.

For Wright, his two-goal outing gave him three in his past two games along with some strong performances in two prior contests. The Kraken had Wright centering a third line with Eeli Tolvanen and Bjorkstrand, and a third trio of some sort is where Wright is also expected to begin the season next Tuesday against St. Louis, with center Yanni Gourde dropping down to the fourth.

Kraken head coach Dan Bylsma said earlier in the day that the lines used in this contest wouldn’t necessarily be identical to his season opening forward groups. That possibility of changes seemed to increase midway through the third period when Tanev hobbled off the ice and to the dressing room after blocking a shot while helping kill a penalty.

But Tanev was soon back on the ice, assisting on Borgen’s closing goal by circling behind the net and making a solid pass out front that the defender buried.

As for Wright, the thought of him becoming the team’s third center behind some combo of Matty Beniers and Chandler Stephenson is rooted in him needing to see more minutes to help unleash the gifted offensive skills he’d displayed so often in major junior hockey. He’d been working toward it the past two years since the 2022 NHL Draft by bulking up his body training in the summertime with Kraken consultant Gary Roberts and spending his hockey winters learning to find more time and space with the puck.

The creativity shown on Tuesday’s initial backhand goal is exactly what the Kraken hoped to see once Wright found ways to not only get to pucks but have the confidence to hold them a tad longer and do something special with them.