Game Of The Night; Nugent-Hopkins Chips In Early

  When Edmonton Oilers head coach Tom Renney announced that 18 year-old 1st overall draft pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would start the season with the team, the youngster was beside himself.

  As the baby-faced Oilers took to the ice for the season opener in Rexall Place in Edmonton last night, the crowd came alive with the greeting of their new future forward. He would line up alongside last year’s first overall pick, Taylor Hall, and play lights out from start to finish.

  The opponent was the 2008-2009 Stanley Cup winning team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, who by their own right are years ahead of the Oilers organization both in terms of player development and current status in the league. The Penguins came into Rexall place last night having beaten the Oilers in the two teams’ last four meetings. The young Oilers were not fazed by the immense power the Penguins bring to the ice, as they didn’t disappoint their home crowd by giving the fans a win at home in the first 2011-2012 game of the year. As the Winnipeg Jets failed to deliver an opening night victory not far from Oil Country in Western Canada, the Oilers came through with the game of the night in a 2-1 shootout victory.

  As the Oilers entered the third period they needed only one goal to tie the game. With just 4:55 remaining in the game, Nugent-Hopkins put the stamp of approval on his draft status in the books of Oilers’ die-hards and the NHL alike as he backhanded his first NHL goal into the net in his first ever game. The crowd went absolutely wild, the weights on his shoulders and the worries on his face turned into joy as he nearly floated off of the ground with excitement. The deed was done, just one game into his National Hockey League career. He has made it, and he has succeeded early. Linemates Ales Hemsky and Taylor Hall assisted the goal.

"It felt pretty good," Nugent-Hopkins said. "As the game went on, I started feeling more comfortable out there. "Hallsie (Taylor Hall) just kind of threw the puck out front and I got it and just kind of took the shot and it went off something and I got it on my backhand and slid it along the ice. It was really exciting, but I'm definitely more happy with a big win."

"Going into the game I was really nervous, but I tried to use that to my advantage," he added.

  Veteran sniper Ales Hemsky sealed the deal in the shootout for the Oilers, putting a cherry on top for the Oilers fans, players, and staff. Though head coach Tom Renney was delighted with the win, he was quick with his assertions of his team’s shortcomings.

"It was hormone hockey," Renney said, who moves to a perfect 8-0 in career season openers.

"I guess you have to expect that.” He continued, “Our team hadn't played in a while and we had some guys playing their first ever NHL regular-season game. They were almost over-excited. We turned the puck over a number of times in the first two periods. But we started to play a little better and started to share the puck better."

  The lone goal of the Penguins came from the stick of Penguins defenseman Kris Letang. His Penguins club played vigorously through the entire game, not giving the young Oilers squad much to work with in terms of offensive options. Letang played solid for his shorthanded team, and has been a benefactor in all three of Pittsburgh’s regular season games thus far. The Penguins are now 2-0-1, and have scored points in all three games during their Western Canada road-trip, having bested the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames prior to arriving in Edmonton.

"We got five out of six points," said Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma. "I like that. We got some wins in tough places. We've played a lot of hockey already and I think that showed in this game. A lot of guys got taxed. But we're happy with our start."

  The goaltenders played excellent in last night’s exciting, but low scoring game. Oilers netminder Devan Dubnyk stopped 33 shots for the win, while Pittsburgh’s Brent Johnson made 34 saves in his first start of the year.

"He looked big, he looked solid, he was square," Oilers coach Tom Renney said of Dubnyk. "He didn't see too many second chances, which is a testimony to the defense. I thought he really collected pucks well. Good first game."

  Dubnyk was only beaten by Letang in regulation on a powerplay bomb of a shot, and once by James Neal in the shootout.

  At the other end Johnson made plenty of slick stops himself, most notably on the penalty kill where he stopped Nugent-Hopkins best non-effective chance at a goal on a backhanded shot from Hemsky’s pass.

"We definitely don't want to lose like that, but five out of six points … it's definitely a good trip," said Johnson. "The guys played great in front of me. Basically, I saw every shot. When the guys play like that in front of you, they make it easier on the goalie to make saves. I congratulate our forwards and our 'D' for a job well done."

  The big news for the Penguins wasn’t actually in the form of losing their first game of the early season, but rather the loss they sustained prior to the games’ start. The team was without Evgeni Malkin, as Malkin skated in the warm-up before the game, but did not play due to what the team is calling a lower body injury. Head coach Tom Renney stressed that it is not the same knee injury that kept the superstar out for half of the year last season, and had surgically repaired in the off-season. That would be a terrible set of circumstances for the Penguins as they are still missing their best player and captain Sidney Crosby with post concussion symptoms. There has yet to be any determination on Malkin’s expected return date.

  The Penguins have their season opener on Tuesday against the Florida Panthers, while the Oilers don’t take to the ice until Thursday against the Minnesota Wild.

- Kendall Grubbs