Ingram enjoys ‘good day’ in Oilers debut, leading team to 4-3 win over Golden Knights

Connor Ingram made 26 saves helping with the Oilers' 4-3 victory over the Golden Knights on Sunday. CTV News Edmonton's Nicole Lampa has the story.

There were times that Connor Ingram wondered if he would ever make it back to the NHL, let alone win a game.

Ingram made 26 saves in his impressive debut with the Oilers and first NHL game this season as Edmonton held on for a 4-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two goals and an assist and Connor McDavid had a goal and two helpers for the Oilers (18-13-6) who have won three of their last four games and have gone 7-2-1 in their last 10. Zach Hyman also scored and had an assist and Leon Draisaitl had two helpers for Edmonton.

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Ingram, who last suited up in an NHL contest on Feb. 22 against the Los Angeles Kings while playing for Utah, entered the NHL/NHLPA Players Assistance Program in March of 2025 following his mother’s death from breast cancer. He had first entered the program in 2021 after dealing with depression and an undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder, a journey that later led to him winning the Bill Masterton Trophy in 2023-24 for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

However after last season’s 9-8-4 record with a 3.27 GAA and .882 save percentage in 22 games, Utah opted to move on from Ingram before the start of the season and he was traded for future considerations on Oct. 1 to Edmonton, which was looking for organizational depth.

Getting back to the NHL and collecting a win in the process is not something that Ingram takes for granted.

“There’s a lot of days I didn’t think it would ever happen again,” he said. “It’s just the truth of it in this world. It’s a competitive game. There are 64 spots in the world to do this, so you don’t take it for granted, any day that you’re up here. It’s a huge honour.”

Even though Ingram’s time with Edmonton’s AHL affiliate in Bakersfield has resulted in an underwhelming 4-5-2 record with a 4.04 GAA and .856 save percentage, the 28-year-old was called up this week after an injury to Oilers recently-acquired new starter Tristan Jarry to serve as backup to suddenly elevated Calvin Pickard.

“(Ingram) hasn’t played an NHL game for almost a year and he started in Bakersfield and maybe the stats aren’t ideal but he was under a lot of difficult circumstances there,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, who hails from the same small hometown of Imperial, Sask., as Ingram.

“But we knew he was a quality goaltender. He’s played a lot of NHL games. One year in Arizona he played 50 games and had over a. 900 save percentage. His game is really calming. Square to the puck, minimal movement. I thought tonight he played really well.

“For the most part our team defended well, but Vegas had a good push in the second half of the game where we needed some saves and he had a really strong game.”

Hyman said it was a feel-good moment.

“It’s awesome to see a guy like that get rewarded,” he said. “I thought he played great. We gave up a lot of chances in the third, we bent but we didn’t break, and he was a huge part of that.”

Ingram said he is going to savour every minute of this opportunity with the Oilers.

“This is what you dream of your whole life, you don’t dream of playing in the American League, you dream of playing in the NHL,” he said. “You don’t take any day for granted and every day here is a good day.”

Ingram feels he is in a better head space these days.

“I’ve been through enough to know that the sun is coming up tomorrow,” he said. “No matter what happens in this life, I have a wife and a family that loves me and that’s all that really matters at the end of the day. You want to win hockey games, but there’s a lot more to life than just hockey.”

Meanwhile, Edmonton’s dynamic duo is on fire at the moment as the two top point-getters in the league in December. McDavid extended his points streak to 10 games with 26 points (12G, 14A) during that span. Draisaitl has points in nine of his last 10 games, scoring an uncharacteristically low two goals, but with 19 assists for 21 points during the recent run.

Edmonton is now 15-1-3 when scoring first this season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 22, 2025.

Shane Jones, The Canadian Press