Drafted first overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2011 draft, Nugent-Hopkins is set to play in his 1,000th NHL game on Sunday. He’ll be the first player in franchise history to play all 1,000 games with the team, and sits second in games played in the franchise’s Guide and Record Books to Kevin Lowe’s 1,037.

But in his first NHL game, he was making his mark.

First NHL game, first NHL goal

Nugent-Hopkins made his NHL debut on home ice on October 9th, 2011, when the Pittsburgh Penguins rolled into Rexall Place. Kris Letang got the Penguins on the board with a power play goal 3:13 into the game, and the score remained that way until late in the third period.

Playing on a line with Ales Hemsky and Taylor Hall, the Oilers were in the offensive zone with five minutes left in the third period, trying to find a game-tying goal. Nugent-Hopkins cycled the puck down low to Hall, who fired a between-the-legs pass to the front of the net that hit Hemsky, stalling out.

That’s when Nugent-Hopkins pounced, firing a shot on goal while drawing a penalty, only to smack a rebound off his backhand through the wickets of Penguins netminder Brent Johnson. The Oilers would go on to win in the shootout.

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First hat trick

If you thought kicking off your career with a game-tying goal enroute to a win, how about scoring a hat trick in your third game? The Oilers took a trip to Minnesota for a shootout loss between the Penguins game and Edmonton hosting the Vancouver Canucks for Nugent-Hopkins’ first Hockey Night in Canada game.

The Canucks struck first, as Sami Salo opened the scoring 8:49 into the game, but the Oilers — and Nugent-Hopkins — would respond. With Daniel Sedin in the box for hooking, the Oilers were on a power play, Hall waltzed down from the point to send a pass to Jordan Eberle, who was positioned to the left of Roberto Luongo, opening up space on the back door for Nugent-Hopkins to take a quick pass, and hammer the puck home on a third whack with the puck in the air.

With 30 seconds left in the first period, Nugent-Hopkins struck again. Eberle cycled the puck up to the point to Tom Gilbert, who fired a shot heading wide for the net, but right into a spot where Nugent-Hopkins was able to get his stick on it, deflecting it past Luongo.

The hat trick goal came with three and a half minutes left in the second. Hall took the puck from below the goal line slamming in on net, where Nugent-Hopkins snuck in to knock the loose puck home. There was some confusion, however, as nobody really seemed to know who scored, so only a few hats would hit the ice.

First fight

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is a player I would call sneaky tough. He drew brutally tough matchups early on in his career, going up against some of the best players the league had to offer on a nightly basis.

But he’s also sneaky tough because of his willingness to drop the gloves. He’s only done it five times in his career, once nearly every three years, and his first scrap game on October 11th, 2014, with Canucks defenceman Dan Hamhuis. Nugent-Hopkins had brought the puck into Vancouver’s zone to kill off the final seconds of a penalty, and when he started to backtrack, stopping at the half-wall, Hamhuis blew him up with a big hit.

Nugent-Hopkins popped right back up, and immediately got in Hamhuis’ grill. The two jawed back-and-forth before shedding the mitts, and Nugent-Hopkins quickly landed a few rights on Hamhuis, before he responded with a few of his own. Hamhuis got 60 percent of the votes on who won the fight, according to HockeyFights viewers, but Nugent-Hopkins would go on to win all four of his other fights: February 11th, 2017 with Chicago Blackhawks forward Vinnie Hinostroza, January 19th, 2020 with Calgary Flames centre Sean Monahan, March 1st, 2023 with Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Justin Holl, and on December 29th, 2025 with Winnipeg Jets defenceman Neal Pionk.

Other milestones…

First playoff game: April 12th, 2017 against the San Jose Sharks
First playoff point + assist: April 26th, 2017 assisting on a Mark Letestu goal
First playoff goal: August 1st, 2020 assisted by Oscar Klefbom and Leon Draisaitl
100th point: December 10th, 2013 assisting on a Jordan Eberle goal
200th point: November 8th, 2015 assisting on a Jordan Eberle goal
300th point: March 10th, 2018 assisting on a Connor McDavid goal
400th point: December 12th, 2019 assisting on a James Neal goal
500th point: December 3rd, 2021 assisting on a Evan Bouchard goal
600th point: February 23rd, 2023 assisting on a Connor McDavid goal
700th point: October 12th, 2024 assisting on a Leon Draisiatl goal
100th goal: November 1st, 2017 assisted by Pat Maroon and Connor McDavid
200th goal: October 26th, 2022 assisted by Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman
100th assist: November 25th, 2014 assisting on a Taylor Hall goal
200th assist: October 23rd, 2018 assisting on a Leon Draisaitl goal
300th assist: October 22nd, 2021 assisting on a Leon Draisaitl goal
400th assist: October 14th, 2023 assisting on Connor McDavid goal
500th assist: January 6th, 2026 assisting on a Connor McDavid goal

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