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Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scores winner in 1,000th game: Best Oilers moments of 2025-26

Photo credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images

By Ryley Delaney

Jul 27, 2026, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 27, 2026, 16:21 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.

Entering the 2025-26 season, no player in franchise history had ever played his 1,000th game dressed in blue and orange, much less all 1,000 of those games with the Oilers. That changed in the first month of the season, when Adam Henrique played the milestone game in late October.

Two and a half months later, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins became the first player in franchise history to play all of his 1,000 games with the Oilers. He also did it in style. In this article, we’ll look at Nugent-Hopkins’ 1,000th game.

How did Ryan Nugent-Hopkins perform in his 1,000th NHL game?

The date was January 18th, 2026. One night before, Tristan Jarry picked up his first career Oilers’ shutout, stopping all 31 shots he faced against the Vancouver Canucks. The following day, the Oilers hosted the St. Louis Blues.

Before the game, Nugent-Hopkins’ 1,000th game was honoured in a touching tribute, and it didn’t take long for the longest-tenured Oiler to get on the board. The Oilers earned a power play just over five minutes into the game, and a minute later, Nugent-Hopkins opened the scoring.

This goal was solid: Jake Walman spun away from a Blues’ defender and found Evan Bouchard at the faceoff dot. The Blues over-committed, allowing Nugent-Hopkins to walk down main street and rip it over Jordan Binnington’s blocker.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUhO7tJm9gM

Just like the game the night before, the Oilers ended up shutting out their opposition, defeating the Blues by a score of 5-0. Connor Ingram stopped all 27 shots he faced, and it finally looked like the Oilers had a real tandem.

When will Ryan Nugent-Hopkins pass Kevin Lowe for the Oilers’ games-played record?

Barring any trade, Nugent-Hopkins is set to break the most games played as an Oiler, as he trails Kevin Lowe by just six games. If all goes according to plan, he’ll match the record on October 13th against the Kings, then break it on October 15th against the Utah Mammoth. Mattias Ekholm may also end up reaching 1,000 games next season, as he currently sits with 966.

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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