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Best Oilers Fights of 2025-26: Nurse defends McDavid after Carlo hit

Photo credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images

By Ryley Delaney

Jul 15, 2026, 09:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 15, 2026, 00:24 EDT

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Despite having a handful of flaws, one thing Darnell Nurse never shied away from was protecting his teammates.

On July 1, Darnell Nurse’s 12-year tenure with the Edmonton Oilers came to an end, as they shipped him off to the San Jose Sharks for Shakir Mukhamadullin and prospect Zack Sharp. Over those 12 years, Nurse was involved in 30 fisticuffs between regular and postseason play.

The final fight of his Oilers career ranks as Hockey Fights’ fifth-best-rated Oiler fight of the season, coming in the penultimate Oilers game before the Olympic break.

Heading into Feb. 3’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Oilers were 8-6-2 in their last 16 games but were coming off an embarrassing 7-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild.

Neither team scored through the first 24 minutes or so. Trent Frederic broke the puck out of the defensive zone, and threw a pass over to Connor McDavid in quadruple coverage. It went as expected, as McDavid was laid out by Brandon Carlo. To his credit, Frederic attempted to fight a Leaf, albeit the wrong one, as he chased Jake McCabe, who declined the fight. It took about a minute before Carlo had to answer for the hit, as Nurse, who wasn’t even on the ice at the time of the hit, found Carlo in the offensive zone and dropped the mitts.

Nurse landed the first two punches, and just narrowly missed landing a devastating uppercut. The left-shot defenceman eventually landed two uppercuts, managed to keep balance while wrestling Carlo, and ended the fight on top of the Leafs’ defenceman.

All told, it was a pretty tame fight. Hockey Fights voters gave it to Nurse, with 70 per cent of voters giving it to Nurse, with the fight itself getting a 5.38 rating. It ultimately didn’t help the Oilers either, as they fell 5-2, the second of four consecutive losses in what was a disappointing season.

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on X at @Ryley__Delaney.

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