The Edmonton Oilers defeated the host Winnipeg Jets by a score of 3-1 at Canada Life Centre on Monday (Dec. 29) evening.
Forwards Zach Hyman, Max Jones, and Jack Rasolovic each scored for the Oilers. Winnipeg got its lone goal from captain Adam Lowry.
Related: Pickard Stands Tall as Oilers Down Jets 3-1
Edmonton netminder Calvin Pickard made 41 saves, while Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck stopped 18 of the 20 shots he faced.
With the victory, Edmonton (46 points from 20-14-6) leapfrogs the Vegas Golden Knights (45 points from a record of 17-9-11) into first place in the Pacific Division standings.
Depth Scoring Propels Oilers to Win
While Edmonton has been on a tremendous run this month, going 9-3-1 in the last 13 games, the Oilers’ recent success can be attributed to the prolific performance of their top players.
Over Edmonton’s previous 12 games before Monday, Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl, Hyman, Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had all recorded at least 14 points. But beyond that quintet of skaters, no other Oilers skater had more than six points over the same 12-game span.
As impressive as this month has been for the McDavid (who now has a whopping 33 points in December) and co., top-heavy production is not a recipe for sustained success. Sooner or later, the Oilers were going to need somebody else to step up. And Monday was that night.
Jones, who might not have even suited up against the Jets were it not for Oilers forward Adam Mangiapane being made a healthy scratch amid trade speculation, gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead at 8:00 of the second period by potting his first goal of the season. Then the Oilers’ underused second power-play unit put Edmonton up 2-0 at 12:49 of the middle frame, when Roslovic scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal.
After Lowry tallied in the third period to cut Edmonton’s lead to 2-1, Hyman put the game away by scoring into an empty net with just 83 seconds remaining in the game. McDavid assisted on it, extending his point streak to 13 games, but Monday’s victory was thanks to depth production.
Nugent-Hopkins Drops the Gloves
Nugent-Hopkins might not have picked up any points on Monday, but he did add to his fight record when he dropped the gloves with Jets defenceman Neal Pionk in the first period. It was only the fifth scrap in the NHL for Nugent-Hopkins, who was playing in career regular season game No. 990.
Considering that Edmonton has faced criticism for a lack of toughness, seeing Nugent-Hopkins, who is much more pacifist than pugilist, drop the gloves could be looked at in a couple different ways. Is it a credit to Nugent-Hopkins for trying to set a tone by stepping outside his comfort zone? Or does it say more about the lack of aggression from the likes of Trent Frederic, who is supposed to be filling the role of team heavyweight?
For what it’s worth, Nugent-Hopkins more than held his own against Pionk, who was fighting for the sixth time in 569 career NHL regular season games. While he doesn’t throw punches often, Nugent-Hopkins is quite capable with his fists.
Pickard’s Best Performance of Season
At the end of the night on Monday, the No. 1 star was far and away Pickard, who played his best game of the season to backstop Edmonton to victory.
The veteran netminder faced 42 shots, which is the most rubber he’s seen in the regular season since joining the Oilers in 2023, and was able to stop all but one of them. Crucially, he kept Winnipeg off the board for more than two periods, and kept the game tied until his teammates could finally solve Hellebuyck nearly halfway through the game.
This could be considered something of a statement performance by the 33-year-old Pickard, who hasn’t had the strongest season so far in 2025-26, and was starting to face speculation that he might lose his backup role in Edmonton to Connor Ingram.
Ingram, who was recalled from the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League (AHL) earlier this month, has looked solid in his three starts for the Oilers so far, posting a 2.35 goals-against average (GAA) and .915 save percentage (SV%). Before Monday, Ingram had started Edmonton’s prior three games, winning the first two before taking a loss against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday (Dec. 27).
It will be interesting to see now if Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch rides the hot hand, as he did with Ingram, and gives Pickard a second straight start between the pipes when Edmonton is next in action, against the Boston Bruins at Rogers Place on Wednesday (Dec. 31). After their New Year’s Eve game, the Oilers don’t play again until Jan. 3.
