{"id":13379,"date":"2026-04-21T17:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/13379\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T17:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:12:17","slug":"oilers-notebook-connor-ingram-plays-silent-hero-in-game-1-win-over-ducks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/13379\/","title":{"rendered":"Oilers notebook: Connor Ingram plays silent hero in Game 1 win over Ducks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Anaheim Ducks stepped on Superman\u2019s cape on the opening night of their playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers<\/a>, refusing to allow Connor McDavid<\/a> to weave his magic but the other Connor, goalie Ingram, beat them with his net presence.<\/p>\n

They always say, it\u2019s not how many saves a goalie makes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s when he makes them, and Ingram refused to break against the Ducks in the Oilers 4-3 rally Monday.<\/p>\n

Cue up the point-blank stop on Anaheim rookie Beckett Sennecke midway through the third, just before Jason Dickinson banged in Mattias Ekholm\u2019s rebound to tie it 3-3.<\/p>\n

Fire up that save on the fantastic 21-year-old centre Leo Carlsson, one of his nine shots, with five minutes left, setting the table for Kasperi Kapanen\u2019s game-winning goal.<\/p>\n

Yes, Leon Draisaitl took up the offensive mantle, playing his first game in five weeks after a suspected knee ligament tear, setting up two goals. But, quietly, Ingram saved the Oilers when the heat was at its hottest in the third period.<\/p>\n

Yes, Ingram gave up three goals, two to Troy Terry, one to Carlsson.<\/p>\n

But, in Ingram\u2019s fourth-ever playoff game\u2014his first since playing three for Nashville in round 1 against Colorado in 2022, in one game making 49 stops, the year the Avs won the Cup\u2014the moment here was none too big for Mr. Chill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was awesome. The bulk of my career I played out of (5,000-seat) Mullett Arena (Arizona State campus), so to walk out of the tunnel today, this was a different animal,\u201d said Ingram, who faced 27 shots (16 by Sennecke and Carlsson).<\/p>\n

\u201cLoud, fun. After the anthem, I usually smile and take it all in. But this one today, it was like \u2018this is cool,’\u201d said Ingram.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

The Edmonton Oilers\u2019 goalie Connor Ingram (39) stops a shot from the Anaheim Ducks\u2019 Mason McTavish (23) during second period NHL playoff action at Rogers Place, in Edmonton Monday April 20, 2026.<\/p>\n

Being thrown into the deep end with the Predators against the juggernaut Avs four years ago was sink or swim. He had barely gotten his feet wet as an NHL goalie before the playoffs, and he was sensational in his 49-save 2-1 OT loss in Game 2\u00a0\u00a0with Juuse Saros hurt.<\/p>\n

This time around, he\u2019s the acknowledged Oiler starter.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a while (playoff action). I don\u2019t think nervous is the right answer\u2026to be honest, I was just anxious to get it going. It\u2019s a late game; we\u2019re here early. You\u2019re kind of sitting around and it\u2019s like, \u2018let\u2019s hurry up and do this.\u2019 I definitely wanted to get into it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll in all, it\u2019s been a wild year. I hit 100 (NHL games), 50 wins, small little accomplishments along the way,\u201d said Ingram, who broke his stick over the crossbar in Game 81 of the regular season after the Avs scored three shootout goals on him, then offered Oiler equipment man Jeff Lang a handsome sum for a new stick, to pay for his anger.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I do something (special), Jamie (PR man Cartmell) makes me a little plaque, which is nice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Back in 2022, the playoffs were all a blur to Ingram, but he\u2019s never forgotten. Maybe muscle memory for this one?<\/p>\n

\u201cI played 15 minutes in Game 1 (relief) that playoff year, and then in my first start I let in the first shot (Nate MacKinnon) and then the last one. I ripped off 48 straight (saves),\u201d said Ingram, who was almost having an out-of-body night. \u201cI was na\u00efve back then, I\u2019d only played three (NHL) games before that. I wasn\u2019t even thinking. Looking back, it seems kind of crazy that they would throw me in there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s his net, and he\u2019s running with the chance to shine.<\/p>\n

Ingram shrugged off the big Sennecke save, a little water off a, um, Ducks\u2019 back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just turned and fired it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Whatever, the timing was great.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they score there, it\u2019s a two-goal game and it\u2019s very unlikely you come back,\u201d said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch.<\/p>\n

The save on Carlsson was just as timely, but more dangerous, maybe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat two-on-one that Carlsson had. Without that save, who knows what the result in the game could be. You ask your goalie to make a big save at the big moment, and he stepped up,\u201d said Dickinson.<\/p>\n

Then in the last few seconds, Mikael Granlund almost sent it to OT, but an off-balance Ingram came dashing back into the crease and threw down a pad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went flying over there thinking Terry was going to hit it, and he did, he got the puck back into it (melee) and I think Bouch actually bailed me out. Game-saver,\u201d said Ingram, rolling the play through his mind.<\/p>\n

And so the Oilers escaped on this night. Draisaitl was back and downplaying his two assists, saying he was just OK in his 22 minutes, while the Oilers team, with the exception of Kapanen, Dickinson, Vasily Podkolzin, Jake Walman on the back-end, and Ingram, has lots of room for improvement.<\/p>\n

Truth is, the Oilers played about 35 minutes out of 60 and won.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just wasn\u2019t our game, too many turnovers,\u201d said Draisaitl.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

The Edmonton Oilers\u2019 Leon Draisaitl (29) battles the Anaheim Ducks during first period NHL playoff action at Rogers Place, in Edmonton Monday April 20, 2026.<\/p>\n

Frankly, the Cardiac Quacks let this one get away. The Ducks, who had 26 comeback wins in the regular season, overcame a 2-0 hole in this one but couldn\u2019t close the deal in the third. The Oilers\u2019 top line of McDavid, Zach Hyman and Matt Savoie didn\u2019t get a single point, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins didn\u2019t get a shot. Evan Bouchard had a rough second period, and their PP fired blanks.<\/p>\n

Ingram was one stop better than Lukas Dostal in the other cage.<\/p>\n

What did Ingram see from his perch in the Oiler net? Same assessment as Draisaitl\u2019s<\/p>\n

Ingram\u2019s a goalie, not a teacher, grading people\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just stay within the blue paint. Ask somebody else those questions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Henrique on the limp<\/p>\n

Adam Henrique, in his first playoff game against his former Ducks\u2019 game, only played six shifts and 2:56 in the opening period and was hurt. He collided with Kapanen as they tried to corral a high puck, and Henrique got up and immediately skated slowly to the bench. It could be a leg issue or maybe a core muscle problem.<\/p>\n

If he\u2019s out for Game 2\u2014a distinct possibility\u2013 their healthy Game 1 scratch Josh Samanski will likely centre the fourth line with Colton Dach and Trent Frederic as he did down the stretch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll find out tomorrow exactly how long (he\u2019ll be out),\u201d\u00a0said Knoblauch, who looked like he wanted to put a time frame on it at his post-game presser, but backed off. Playoff secrecy and all.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, not having Rico leaves a hole. He\u2019s been so good on our special teams (PK),\u201d said the coach.<\/p>\n

Bit of a scare for Dickinson<\/p>\n

In the second period, Dickinson appeared hurt, too, and on the bench he talked to Oilers athletic therapist TD Forss, who relayed the message to Knoblauch. He missed some time, but maybe it was just a tweak on his ankle problem, which had him out for about two weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe felt something, took a bit of time off. There were several minutes he didn\u2019t play, but after a TV timeout, he said he felt good and went back out,\u201d said Knoblauch.<\/p>\n

This \u2018n that<\/p>\n

Jake Walman was terrific on the Oiler back-end, not just the pass to Dickinson for his first goal. He had two assists and was plus-2 in 15 minutes. \u201cHe was moving his feet, he was able to break some pressure,\u201d said Knoblauch. \u201cIt all starts with moving your feet, from the time you\u2019re young, dads and mums are telling you that. Tonight, he had another gear. Might have been his best game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oilers cut back to five defencemen in the third, only playing Ty Emberson for two minutes.<\/p>\n

Zach Hyman took a wallop on a reverse hit by Jackson LaCombe in the third period and was shaken up (maybe a shoulder to his jaw), but he returned. McDavid, Hyman and Savoie only had five shots in the game.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don\u2019t miss the news you need to know \u2014 add EdmontonJournal.com<\/a> and EdmontonSun.com<\/a> to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.<\/a><\/p>\n

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal<\/a> | The Edmonton Sun.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Anaheim Ducks stepped on Superman\u2019s cape on the opening night of their playoff series against the Edmonton…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1929,6014,1135,944,461,3618,52,263,464,7248,1480,6013,949,648,1129,7249,655,1378,6011,467,6012,943,6015,6016,643,271,471,650,946,6031,950,658,462],"class_list":{"0":"post-13379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-anaheim-ducks","9":"tag-beckett-sennecke","10":"tag-colorado","11":"tag-colton-dach","12":"tag-connor-mcdavid","13":"tag-ducks","14":"tag-edmonton","15":"tag-edmonton-oilers","16":"tag-evan-bouchard","17":"tag-henrique","18":"tag-ingram","19":"tag-jackson-lacombe","20":"tag-jake-walman","21":"tag-jason-dickinson","22":"tag-josh-samanski","23":"tag-juuse-saros","24":"tag-kasperi-kapanen","25":"tag-kris-knoblauch","26":"tag-leo-carlsson","27":"tag-leon-draisaitl","28":"tag-lukas-dostal","29":"tag-matt-savoie","30":"tag-mattias-ekholm","31":"tag-mikael-granlund","32":"tag-nashville","33":"tag-nhl","34":"tag-ryan-nugent-hopkins","35":"tag-the-oilers","36":"tag-trent-frederic","37":"tag-troy-terry","38":"tag-ty-emberson","39":"tag-vasily-podkolzin","40":"tag-zach-hyman"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}