Playing in his 1,000th career game, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored the winning goal as the Edmonton Oilers posted their second straight shutout victory, defeating the St. Louis Blues by a score of 5-0 at Rogers Place on Sunday (Jan. 18) night.
Edmonton forward Zach Hyman added a pair of goals, while Andrew Mangiapane and Vasily Podkolzin also scored for the home team.
One night after goaltender Tristan Jarry earned a clean sheet in Edmonton’s 6-0 win over the host Vancouver Canucks on Saturday (Jan. 17), Connor Ingram made 27 saves to record his first shutout as a member of the Oilers. St. Louis goalie Jordan Binngton stopped 23 of the 28 shots he faced.
With the victory, Edmonton improves its record to 25-17-8 for a total of 58 points, two back of the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights.
Big Night for Nugent-Hopkins
Right from the start, Sunday at Rogers Place was all about Nugent-Hopkins, as he became the first individual to play the first 1,000 NHL regular season games of his career all with the Oilers.
Edmonton’s players all came out for warm-up wearing matching Nugent-Hopkins jerseys and mimicked his pre-game routine, while Oilers coaches and trainers wore special shirts paying tribute to the Man of the Hour.
Before the faceoff, a ceremony was held honouring Nugent-Hopkins, which included a tribute video and gift presentations to the forward and his family. Edmonton’s jerseys featured a special one-game only commemorative patch on the shoulder, recognizing Nugent-Hopkins’ milestone.
Related: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ Top 5 Games With the Edmonton Oilers
So after all that, it was only fitting that the 32-year-old opened the scoring when he fired a shot past Binnington during an Oilers power-play only 5:55 into the game. In doing so, Nugent-Hopkins became just the 10th player in NHL history with a goal in both his first and 1,000th career games (he scored for the Oilers in his regular season debut against the Pittsburgh Penguins way back on Oct. 9, 2011).
As it turned out, that one goal would be all the scoring that Edmonton needed. The Oilers added two more goals in the first period, built their lead to 4-0 after 40 minutes, and were comfortably ahead 5-0 for much of the third period, while Oilers fans serenaded Nugent-Hopkins with multiple chants.
Ingram Blanks the Blues
A big reason that everyone in Rogers Place was pretty much able to relax and enjoy the moments was the stellar play of Ingram, who wasn’t about to concede the goal that would give St. Louis any momentum. Even as Edmonton’s lead grew, he stayed locked in, making eight saves in the third period to preserve the shutout.
What only a week ago was seen as a competition between Ingram and Calvin Pickard for the role of Edmonton’s backup goalie now seems to have been put to rest, after Ingram allowed just two goals in three starts over the last seven days. He is now 5-3-1 with a 2.22 goals-against average and .917 save percentage in nine games with the Oilers since being recalled from the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League (AHL) on Dec. 19.
Edmonton had until Sunday to send Ingram back to the AHL without requiring the netminder to clear waivers. The Oilers have elected to carry three goaltenders for the time being, but the fact that Ingram is still with the club and continuing to start regularly, while Pickard has played just once since Jan. 3, speaks volumes.
Oilers Get Secondary Scoring
Continuing an encouraging trend that began in their defeat of the Canucks on Saturday, the Oilers got offensive contributions from their bottom six again back home against St. Louis.
In Vancouver, it was third-line centre Jack Roslovic who scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner. On Sunday, Edmonton’s fourth line chipped in, with beleaguered winger Mangiapane tallying for only the second time since Nov. 3, when he put Edmonton ahead 2-0 by burying a rebound at 11:52 of the opening period.
Edmonton now has more goals from players outside the star quartet of Evan Bouchard, Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Hyman in the last two games (8) than in the prior 11 games combined (7).
Notably, this weekend’s eruption in secondary scoring has coincided with Draisaitl taking a leave of absence from the team to attend to a family illness. Draisaitl’s absence has necessitated line shuffling that has resulted in the normally top-heavy Oilers getting more balanced contributions from Lines 1 through 4.
It is not yet known when Draisaitl will return, but there’s a good chance it won’t be in time for Edmonton’s next game, which comes at home against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday (Jan. 20). The Oilers will be looking for a franchise record third straight shutout.
