After beating the wheels off the Canucks on Saturday night, the Edmonton Oilers were back at Rogers Place Sunday to take on the St. Louis Blues in an attempt to finally sweep a back-to-back set. They did exactly that, blanking the Blues 5-0 in a game that never really felt close once things got going. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins opened the scoring with the game-winner on his 1,000th career game, which somehow made an already dominant night feel even better. Great night at Rogers Place.

I was lucky enough to be in attendance for last night’s game, and it was pretty damned to sit and watch Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ 1000th game ceremony and the respect he gets from the people in the seats. I found myself eavesdropping on conversations around me, and the consistent message was how amazing it is that RNH is still here after the hell of his first handful of seasons in Edmonton. Whether it was a quick memory about No. 93 or simply being blown away that he looks exactly the same as the day the Oilers drafted him, you could tell how much love this city has for the guy. The NUUUUUUUGE chants were loud and constant, the video tributes were unreal, and the whole night was a nice moment for everyone in the building to give the guy the love he deserves.

Being the first player in franchise history to play 1000 games in an Oilers uniform is an accomplishment that we shouldn’t take lightly. This team has had so many fantastic players come through over the years, but not once has a guy locked into our city to the level that Nugent-Hopkins has. Through thick and thin, RNH has stuck with the Oilers and has done so without so much as a peep of complaining, and the result is that he’ll go down as one of the most loved players in franchise history. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that on the night when he was honoured for a major milestone that he opened the scoring with ended up being the game-winning goal. Classic Nuge wrister to the blocker side? Check. Becoming only the 10th player in NHL history to score in his first NHL game and also his 1000th NHL game? Priceless. Here’s to 15 more years, buddy.

Listen, I’ve admitted to you all that I’ve slowly started to fall in love with Connor Ingram, but Sunday’s shutout might have been the tipping point. Even though it was only his ninth start as an Oiler, the guy has looked so calm and composed in the crease that it’s been a breath of fresh air almost every time he plays. Outside of maybe the one tough start against Boston, Ingram has been everything that we could have hoped he’d be and probably more. He’s been solid, he’s been steady, he’s made huge saves on a nightly basis, and he’s doing it all with consistency. That’s such a blessing to have in the crease. And this guy is supposed to be the backup? I think I might cry.

Maybe it’s just because we’ve gotten used to chaos between the pipes over the last few years that Ingram’s poise is making me feel this way, but it really has been wonderful to watch him come in and likely wrestle a job away. And only a day after Tristan Jarry picked up his first shutout as an Oiler, Connor Ingram thought it looked so much fun that he wanted to try it himself. Back-to-back shutouts? In this economy? Crazy. According to our own Jason Gregor, this was only the third time in franchise history that the Oilers have had consecutive shutouts by two different goaltenders. Obviously, Jarry and Ingram handled that this weekend, but before them, you have to go back to Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell in the spring of 2023, and Jussi Markanen and Tommy Salo way back in December of 2002. There have been a lot of goalie tandems between 2002 and this weekend. I don’t want to get too ahead of myself, but this is the most excited I’ve been about the Oilers’ goaltending in a while.

Zach Hyman was an absolute menace again on Sunday night, and at this point, it’s honestly getting hard to come up with new ways to describe the goal heater he’s on. In 17:59 of TOI, Hyman put together a casual three-point night (2G, 1A), put four shots on goal, blocked a shot, had a takeaway for good measure, and finished with a +3 rating. The crazy part is that the two goals give Hyman 17 goals in his last 20 games, which is the kind of sentence that felt fake as I was typing it out. The man is on fire. He’s now up to 19 goals in 31 games on the season, and it truly makes me laugh that he was somehow able to miss six months with that wrist injury only to come back as if nothing had ever happened. Somehow, the puck just keeps finding his stick like it’s magnetized or something.

And honestly, the fact that this guy didn’t get the nod for Team Canada at the Olympics is blowing my mind more as the goals go in. I get that these heaters don’t last forever, and I’m not pretending he’s actually going to score 70 this year, but I genuinely don’t know if I’ve ever seen a run quite like this. This isn’t just lucky bounces or cookie time bonuses. These are hard goals, greasy goals, playoff-style goals, scored next to the best player on the planet because Hyman knows exactly where to be and when to be there. The chemistry is significant, the production is stupid, and every night we’re watching something special unfold in real time. If this is what being “left off the Canadian roster” mad gets us, then I kinda hope they keep pissing him off. I love this man.

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