Raffaele Papaianni
Mar 31, 2026
What a night at Rogers Place. Ingo showed up on his birthday and put on a show. Connor Ingram stopped all 27 shots he faced and became the first goaltender in Oilers history to record a shutout on his birthday. The Oilers beat the Seattle Kraken 3 to 0 and picked up their first four game winning streak of the season. Happy birthday indeed.
And look, this win was not pretty. No power play goals. No contribution from the top defensive pairing. Draisaitl was still not in the lineup. But you know what? It did not matter. The guys who were out there just got it done. Depth players stepping up, the defence keeping things clean, and Ingram barely breaking a sweat all night.
"A lot of pucks don't even get to me anymore. And when they do, there's bodies and guys around helping out. I'm not an X's and O's guy, but for me it seems like it's going well." — Connor Ingram
The first goal was one of those ones where you just laugh. Max Jones, in his 300th career NHL game, got a Jake Walman point shot right off the visor and it went over Grubauer. Jones had no idea what happened and honestly neither did anyone else. But it counted and that is all that matters.
"I think it hit my elbow and then my face. They don't ask how." — Max Jones
Then Kasperi Kapanen made it 2 to 0 with a really smart play. He read the pass from Adam Larsson at the Edmonton blue line, picked it off, and went in two on one before putting it past Grubauer with a wrist shot. Clean and simple. That is the kind of hockey that wins games.
"When you have a goalie like Ingo, who is playing extremely well right now, that's what it looks like. It was a good effort." — Kasperi Kapanen
McDavid put it away with an empty net goal late in the third. That extended his goal streak to five straight games, his seventh career streak of at least five games, tying Glenn Anderson for fourth most in franchise history. Oh and he is also just one point back of Dale Hawerchuk for third most points before age 30 in NHL history. Only Gretzky and Lemieux are ahead of him. Just a normal Tuesday for 97.
Coach Knoblauch said it best after the game.
"Our game isn't sexy right now. It's not fancy. It's just a lot of little things, and that's usually the difference between winning and losing. We have six D and 12 forwards each night who are doing it." — Kris Knoblauch
Edmonton moves to 38 wins, 28 losses and 9 overtime losses. They are two points back of the Anaheim Ducks in the Pacific with games in hand. They are 28 and 5 and 5 when scoring first this season. And at Rogers Place against Seattle? Seven straight wins. No team in the league has beaten the Kraken more all time than the Oilers.
Seattle has now lost six of their last seven and are sitting two points out of a wild card spot. Tough stretch for them.
Up next the Oilers are home Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks. Let's keep it going.
