PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Devils

The Edmonton Oilers look to continue their winning ways against the New Jersey Devils at Rogers Place on Tuesday night.

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PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Devils

EDMONTON, AB – When it's your night, it's your night.

Not only was it a special night for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who scored the game-winner in his 1,000th NHL game, but the Oilers shared in the spoils of their longest-tenured player's celebration at Rogers Place to lock down their second straight shutout victory on Sunday in a 5-0 blanking of the Blues.

The Oilers will look to keep those good times rolling when they continue their eight-game homestand against the New Jersey Devils, who'll be in Edmonton on the second of a back-to-back on Tuesday after beginning their four-game Western road trip the night before in Calgary.

New Jersey is in need of wins to climb closer to the Eastern Conference playoff picture, where they currently find themselves on the outside looking in with a 24-22-2 record to sit seventh in the Metropolitan Division and seven points out of the final Wild Card spot (at the time of publication on Monday afternoon).

Edmonton is 5-2-2 in January and has allowed only one goal over its last three games, with the lone goal coming in a 1-0 loss to the Islanders last week before responding with back-to-back shutouts over the Canucks and Blues with a combined 11 unanswered goals that've come from different sources.

It marked the seventh time since the 2000-01 season that the Oilers recorded at least 10 unanswered goals, and the first time in franchise history with back-to-back shutouts by a five-goal margin thanks to Tristan Jarry and Connor Ingram's combined 31 and 27-save performances against the Canucks and Blues.

Ingram recorded his first shutout as an Oiler with his 27 saves and has gone 3-1-1 over his last five games, allowing just seven goals on 131 shots for a 1.40 GAA and .947 save percentage over that span, owning a record of 5-3-1 on the season with a 2.22 GAA and .917 save percentage.

"It feels good right now," Ingram said about his game. "My life's just hockey. There are a couple of days a week when I don't even make it outside. I just walk through the pedway over here, and I just sleep and play hockey right now, so it's an easy life."

Over Edmonton's last five starts, Jarry & Ingram have been terrific with a combined record of 3-1-1 with 1.20 GAA, .955 save percentage and two shutouts.

But the night was about Nugent-Hopkins, and it was all about the fans & his teammates celebrating No. 93 in his milestone 1,000th NHL game – all played consecutively with the Oilers as a former first-overall pick at the 2011 NHL Draft who's embodied everything it is to be an Oiler over parts of 15 seasons.

"I think it went as well as a night like tonight can go," Ingram said. "It's a big day for Nuge. It's a big day for the organization, and everything seems to be clicking. Playing your 1,000th game and you score the game-winner, it doesn't get much better than that.

"It's something I'll talk about for a long time, and it was just an honour to be a part of it."

After being honoured in a pre-game ceremony, Nugent-Hopkins scored on the power play 5:55 into the first period with a lethal wrist shot inside the post to beat Jordan Binnington for his 12th goal of the season and first in 11 games, ultimately proving to be the decisive goal in a clinical Oilers performance.

"Classic Nuge," Zach Hyman said. "Just a great wrister. A quick snapshot that beat him clean, and pretty special when you're able to score. I think I saw a stat that he's like the 10th player to score in his first and 1,000th game, which is pretty cool. Pretty amazing."

Hyman scored twice after Andrew Mangiapane made it 2-0 for the Oilers in the first period, with Hyman notching his 18th and 19th goals of the season along with an assist to give himself 17 goals over his last 20 games since Dec. 11 and seven goals and nine points over his last seven games.

"Going to good spots and playing with a pretty good player," Hyman said. "I think goalscoring is very much a confidence thing. It's a feel thing. I've scored a lot of goals with this team, and I think it starts with Connor. He's such a dynamic player. Just try to get open, try to get him the puck in space, let him do his thing, and then try to complement him and find ways to get into scoring positions. He's pretty good at finding me."

With Leon Draisaitl away from the team, Hyman and McDavid were joined on the top line by Vasily Podkolzin, who recorded a multi-point game with a goal and an assist and now has goals in back-to-back games, and seven points (3G, 4A) over his last eight games.

Connor McDavid and Mattias Ekholm each had two assists.