It’s a different gig, playing goal for the Edmonton Oilers.
There are no 18-shot shutouts, like Martin Brodeur used to collect in New Jersey back in the day. It’s never going to be the 2014 Los Angeles Kings playing in front of you, like Jonathan Quick enjoyed over a decade ago.
The Oilers, when they’re playing well, have the puck a lot. But they take chances — that’s just who they are.
So even when they don’t give up a lot of shots, like in Chicago on Monday when they surrendered just five shots in Period 1 and 17 in the first 40 minutes, that doesn’t make for a lazy night for the ‘tendy.
“We were able to come out of there with the win,” Kris Knoblauch said after a deceiving 4-1 win at Chicago, in which the Oilers scored twice in the 60th minute. “I’m not sure we locked it down completely. We gave up a few more chances than I would like.”
Cue Connor Ingram, the wayward goaltending project that Oilers GM Stan Bowman scooped up for “future considerations” from Utah, with the Mammoth retaining $800,000 of his $1.95 million deal.
Acquired when Stu Skinner was still the organization’s No. 1, Ingram was coming out of the NHL/NHLPA’s player assistance program. He was starting from ground zero, and nobody knew if Ingram would regain his form as an NHL-calibre goaltender or if he would simply be a project that didn’t work out.
Well, it took Ingram a few starts to get his feet under him, understandably. But in his last three starts with the Oilers, his numbers are very close to the guy who put up a .907 save percentage behind a leaky Arizona Coyotes outfit in consecutive seasons.
Ingram has started seven games as an Oiler and has a solid .904 save percentage over that span. But in his last three games, he has gone 2-0-1 with a 1.95 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage.
It’s beginning to look like he might just be the guy who carried those mangy old Coyotes not long ago. And maybe, just maybe, it becomes a battle with Tristan Jarry for that first playoff start come April in Edmonton.
“I feel good,” Ingram said after allowing just one goal on 30 shots in Chicago. “It’s starting to feel more normal every time I get out there. Luckily for me, I’ve been able to play a lot, so you can find a rhythm and just try and stick into it and hold on as long as you can.”
In a game where Natural Stat Trick charted the high danger chances at 20-11 for Edmonton, the eye test showed several point-blank, all alone chances for Chicago that Edmonton never seemed to get. Ingram watched his team pepper the Blackhawks and possess the puck almost at will, and then suddenly he was faced with a one-on-one chance — three of which he stopped in the opening 40 minutes.
Then, after Chicago finally scored on a rebound to make it 2-1 with 5:00 to play, Ingram handled the ensuing pressure like a veteran.
“They got a good push,” Knoblauch said. “They’ve got good players, and you knew that was going to happen. We couldn’t control the whole game. You need your goaltender to make some big saves, and he certainly made his share in the third.”
Edmonton is 10-1 in their last 11 games against Chicago and dominated this one throughout. They get full marks for the 4-1 win, even if it took an Evan Bouchard empty-netter at 19:07 of the third period, then a Leon Draisaitl goal eight seconds later to beef up the scoreboard.
The Oilers have now won eight of their last 11 road games, a sign of a good team that long ago learned what works for them and how to employ it — no matter what city the puck gets dropped in.
“That’s what good teams do,” Ingram said. “You take a look at the track record over the last couple of years, this team knows how to win hockey games. Those are games you’ve got to hold on to and find a way to get it done.”
Bouchard’s game has grown quiet — when it comes to defensive miscues — and all he’s doing now is providing offence at an alarming rate. He had two goals and three points in Chicago, and now has 46 points in 46 games this season.
He started the season slowly like so many of his teammates, but in the last 30 games, Bouchard has been money, with 31 points in 27 games since Nov. 15 — and a tidy plus-12 to go with it.
Meanwhile, Connor McDavid had two assists to extend his career-high 19-game points streak.
He has 80 points in 46 games, his tenth straight 80-point season, passing Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri for the most in Oilers history.
