EDMONTON – It could have been his birthday, but goaltender Connor Ingram was the one handing the Edmonton Oilers a gift on Tuesday.
Celebrating his twenty ninth birthday, Ingram made 27 saves for his second shutout of the season and ninth of his profession because the Oilers prolonged their winning streak to 4 games, getting past the Seattle Kraken 3-0.
“He played rather well,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “We speak about our defensive zone coverage and the way we’re playing rather well, eliminating turnovers and all that, but when he doesn’t make those saves we’re probably talking about our turnovers and our defensive lapses.
“We did have turnovers, we did have mistakes in our coverage, but when your goaltender makes all of the saves and plays in addition to he did tonight we form of ignore that stuff.”
Ingram became the primary goalie in Oilers history to post a shutout on his birthday and the sixth in franchise history to record multiple shutouts in his first season with the club. The Saskatchewan native was picked up from Utah for future considerations on Oct. 1 as some insurance more likely to remain on the farm, but has ended up becoming Edmonton’s starter, now sporting a 14-8-2 record.
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“The more you play the better it will get,” Ingram said. “I assumed everybody in front of me did an amazing job today. I didn’t really need to do much back there, possibly that bad bounce on the PK that kicks out to the slot. Aside from that, I assumed everybody in front of me made my job very easy.”
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Ingram has battled obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression, earning the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy in 2024 in recognition of his mental health struggles.
Max Jones, Kasperi Kapanen and Connor McDavid scored for the Oilers (38-28-9) who’ve won six of their last eight and have become the second last team within the NHL to place together a four-game winning streak, with only Philadelphia unable to have a stretch that long this season.
“Our game isn’t sexy without delay. It’s not fancy,” Knoblauch said. “It’s just plenty of little things, and that’s normally the difference between winning and losing. We’ve six D and 12 forwards each night who’re doing it.”
Edmonton moved two points back of Pacific Division-leading Anaheim and three points up on third place Vegas.
“I feel like ever since we had the conversation about everyone stepping up a bit, it looks like everyone’s form of just doing somewhat bit extra on the market,” Jones said.
The Oilers have been playing stronger defence of late, especially since learning star forward Leon Draisaitl was lost for the remaining of the regular season with a lower-body injury,
“I believe we’re just attempting to simplify the sport somewhat without delay, trying to not do an excessive amount of,” Kapanen said. “Obviously we still have amazing players that may play with the puck and make plays, but I believe the final idea is to simplify. We’re obviously missing Leo on the market, so it appears to be working without delay and so we’d like to maintain doing that.
“The foremost thing is that we’re playing the proper way without delay and that counts, so we just need to keep constructing.”
McDavid prolonged his goal streak to 5 games. He leads the NHL in goals since Dec. 1 with 32. The Oilers captain in now one point back of Dale Hawerchuk for the third-most points by a player before age 30. Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux are first and second on that list.
The Kraken (32-30-11) have lost six of their last seven and remain two points out of a wild-card playoff berth.
“We all know where we’re,” said Kraken forward Matty Beniers. “Obviously tonight was very essential and we didn’t get it done, but there is absolutely no reason to dwell on it now, it’s learn from it after which win the following one. Then it’s win the following one, and that’s the mentality that we’ve in here.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2026.
© 2026 The Canadian Press