BLOG: Comin' up Nuge

EDMONTON, AB - With a shorthanded game-winning goal and empty-net insurance marker in Edmonton's 5-3 victory over the Washington Capitals, suffice to say Ryan Nugent-Hopkins provided the Oilers with Nuge gains at Capital One Arena.
The Oilers centre had a major hand in Edmonton securing two points in the finale of a three-game Eastern Conference road trip and his fingerprints are all over the team's 4-0-1 mark in their last five games since returning from a lower-body injury with seven points over that span.
On Wednesday, the multi-faceted forward joined linemate Zach Hyman for a critical late-game 5-on-4 situation with the mission to preserve, at the very least, an overtime point. Instead, the power killers capitalized on the shorthanded opportunity by barrelling down the ice on a 2-on-2 rush opposite Washington's Evgeny Kuznetsov and Justin Schultz to score what would stand as the deciding goal.

What materialized was a back-door tap-in for the longest-tenured current Oiler as Nugent-Hopkins, the 691-game veteran, tallied his fifth marker of the year and 25th career game-winner.
He promptly got the shoulder tap to protect Edmonton's one-goal lead in the dying moments of the match, hitting the yawning cage for goal No. 6 to finish the evening with two tallies, a helper and a 57 percent average in the faceoff circle.
"From a coaching standpoint, when you look down the bench for somebody to get a certain job done, he usually fits the criteria no matter what you're looking for," Head Coach Dave Tippett said of Nugent-Hopkins' importance to the club.
"The trip we had, five out of six points, Nuge had three goals. He's back, he's coming around and he's really playing well."
Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman have connected to form a complementary pair upfront with their shared situational awareness, doggedness on the puck and finishing ability. Hyman articulated that synergy on the penalty kill post-game.

"We read off each other really well," said the winger. "If there's an opportunity to go, we go but it's defence first. With four minutes left in the game, you're not going out and trying to score a shorthanded goal. We were able to get one there."
The top PK unit, playing 47 minutes together at 5-on-4 this season, combined for over six minutes of shorthanded time on ice when the group went 3-for-3 versus the Caps -- an area in need of improvement for the Oilers recently.
"Our PK has struggled a little bit," Tippett added. "It's by no coincidence that those two were out for a while. They've come back and really settled things down for us and got a huge goal for us along with the kills."

The 28-year-old has come up Nuge lately but that's nothing new. Over 35 games in the 2021-22 campaign, Nugent-Hopkins has averaged a 0.94 scoring rate, which would establish a new career-high point total over an 82-game circuit. His significance to the organization is also reflected in the career numbers he holds as the 2011 first-overall pick ranks top-10 in franchise goals (191), points (511), even-strength goals (137), power-play goals (50), game-winning goals (25) and overtime goals (4).
"I'm having a blast playing with him," Hyman added. "He's just so solid in all aspects of the game. It was a big night for him on the scoreboard but even when he's not on the scoreboard, he's doing all the right things. It's great to see him get rewarded."