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From McDavid magic to Savoie snipes: Oilers honourable-mention goals of the 2025-26 season
Edmonton Oilers Connor McDavid
Photo credit: Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Jul 28, 2026, 18:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 28, 2026, 17:57 EDT
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This summer, Oilersnation will recap the top five Edmonton Oilers goals, the top five fights, and the top five overall moments from the up-and-down 2025-26 season.  
Overall, the Edmonton Oilers scored 282 regular-season goals and 21 postseason goals. Only five made it to the list, but there were just so many nice goals that it’s worth it to do an honourable mention section. So much so we’ll need to cover them in two articles.
Of course, more than half of these will be thanks to Connor McDavid being the best player of all time, but a few other players scored some highlight-reel goals in 2025-26. Let’s take a look at the honourable mentions.

Which Connor McDavid plays headline the honourable-mention goals?

Coming into this season, Connor McDavid’s most recent hat trick came on Oct. 27, 2022, I wasn’t even writing at Oilersnation yet. He broke the skid on Dec. 4, 2025, thanks to three goals in a 9-4 blowout victory over the Seattle Kraken. He also scored three goals and five points in a late-season game against the San Jose Sharks, which we covered in a top moments article.
Sandwiched between those two hat tricks was another one, as McDavid scored three goals in a 6-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Jan. 6, 2026. His first deserves a mention, as he sat outside the neutral zone, gained speed, and received a pass near the point. McDavid froze Ryan O’Reilly, one of the best defensive centres of our generation, then deked out Juuse Saros for the game’s opener.
McDavid also went on to score on a penalty shot in the second period, then completed the hat trick with under a minute to go in the game. Two days later, McDavid scored another nice goal against a Central Division opponent.
Down 3-1 late in the second period, the Oilers broke into the Winnipeg Jets zone. Getting the zone, Leon Draisaitl used his patented backhand pass to get the puck over to McDavid on the weak side, but it took a deflection and bounced. 
But again, McDavid is the best player of all time, so he was able to kick the puck with the outside of his foot on to his stick for the breakaway opportunity. A quick fake on his forehand got Connor Hellebuyck to bite, then he pulled it back, and shot the opposite way to get the Oilers back into the game.
McDavid’s 48 goals were the second-most he’s ever scored in his 11-season career, as he’s always been a pass-first player. So to no surprise, he also had some highlight reel assists this past season as well. Take his assist late in the second period of December 11th’s game against the Detroit Red Wings as an example.
Receiving a pass down low, McDavid turned his back to the defender, then passed it between his and the defender’s leg to Zach Hyman, who was wide open in front of the net for his second of the game. Hyman went on to score a hat trick in this game.
Later that month, the Oilers were hosting the Boston Bruins on New Year’s Eve, and McDavid did McDavid things. Receiving the puck at the point, McDavid faked as if he was going to go down the boards, but made a quick cut to his left to shake loose the defender and give him the centre of the ice.
A lunging human masquerading as a Bruin lunged to poke the puck off McDavid’s stick, but McDavid quickly toe dragged away. That led McDavid right to the net, where he was surrounded by all six Bruins on the ice. Charlie McAvoy tried to cut him off, but that also left Hyman wide open. McDavid obviously knew that, and Hyman scored an easy tap-in.
The last McDavid assist of note came on Jan. 18, 2026, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ 1,000th career game. We covered that game in the latest moment, but McDavid’s assist early in the third period also deserves a mention. 
Breaking into the zone, he was knocked off balance, but was somehow able to corral the puck on his knees. Facing the boards, McDavid got up, spun around, and quickly fired a cross-ice pass to Vasily Podkolzin, who snuck in on the weakside.
It’s not often discussed much when the topic of top Oilers goals come up, I didn’t see it anywhere on “top Oilers goals of 2025-26,” but this is a player very few players can make.

Which other Oilers scored notable honourable-mention goals in 2025-26?

McDavid wasn’t the only player who generated some highlight reel goals this past season. In fact, Podkolzin accounted for another notable goal on March 8th, 2026. 
The Oilers visited Las Vegas in the midst of a division race with the Vegas Golden Knights. Early in the second, Podkolzin sprung free off a defensive zone faceoff, earning himself a breakaway.
Despite being the boat to Rasmus Andersson’s water skiing adventure, Podkolzin was able to fake a backhand shot, then quickly pulled it to his forehand, and shot it across from the Golden Knights’ netminder. The only thing stopping this from actually ranking is how slowly the puck went in.
Podkolzin breaking out was huge for the Oilers, as was Matthew Savoie’s breakout. The rookie had a slow start to his season, scoring just three goals and seven points in his first 27 games of the season. But on Dec. 4, in the aforementioned 9-4 victory over the Kraken, he scored a beauty.
With the game still close early in the second, the Oilers were on the penalty kill. After a faceoff win, Matthew Savoie departed the zone early, and was found with a terrific pass by Evan Bouchard.
On the ensuing breakaway, Savoie did the leg-kick move, which got the Kraken netminder to bite. He then went to his backhand and roofed it for the first of two goals that evening. I’ve always been a big fan of the leg kick, so it gets a spot here.
Going back to Podkolzin, he and Kasperi Kapanen were the two best Oilers’ forwards in their ill-fated playoff run (walk?). Kapanen’s late goal against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 1 ranked third in this list, but he scored another beauty in the regular season.
The Oilers had some zone time and were cycling the puck well. Podkolzin laid the puck off for Kapanen at the blue line, and the speedy Finn caught a Toronto Maple Leaf lunging. A quick move to his left gave him a chance in the slot, and Kapanen fired it past former Oiler Anthony Stolarz.
Kapanen and Podkolzin were the Oilers’ best forwards in their six playoff games, while Jake Walman was their best defenceman. Walman found twine in that same game against the Leafs, but his first goal came in his season debut on Oct. 21.
Late on a power play in overtime, the Oilers won the offensive zone faceoff and got the puck back to Walman. The defenceman tickled the rafters and ripped a slapshot right by Linus Ullmark’s ear to score a bar-down overtime winner in his first game of the season.
Originally, I was going to write about five more goals scored in the final minute, but that will be in its own separate honourable mentions article.
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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