EDMONTON, AB – Randy Gregg & Craig MacTavish will be enshrined in the Oilers Hall of Fame as winners on Friday night.

Shutout winners, to be exact.

Winger Viktor Arvidsson recorded his first three points as an Oiler, tallying three assists, while goaltender Stuart Skinner was perfect on Friday night after making all 27 saves for his fifth career shutout in a 4-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Hall of Fame Night at Rogers Place.

Vasily Podkolzin also tallied his first point with the Blue & Orange, garnering a secondary helper on Evan Bouchard’s second-period marker that made it 2-0 for the Oilers, and Zach Hyman notched his 400th career point with an assist on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ first goal of the season that arrived just 16 seconds into the final frame.

Mattias Ekholm added a power-play goal in the third period, cementing the Oilers a 4-0 victory that improves their overall record to 3-4-1 as they head out on the road for a three-game road trip beginning Sunday against the Detroit Red Wings.

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers fired 19 shots the way of Penguins’ goalie Joel Blomqvist in the opening frame and did everything but find the back of the net with their efforts.

Connor McDavid tried to find Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for an early tap-in on Edmonton’s first shift that was shut down in the blue paint by the Finnish netminder, who’s garnered five appearances this season for Pittsburgh with former Edmonton Oil Kings shot-stopper and Penguins’ starter Tristan Jarry struggling early in the 2024-25 campaign.

Darnell Nurse had an attempt of his own on a two-on-one before the five-minute mark go high off Blomqvist’s chest protector and out of play, while Mattias Ekholm was able to thwart an odd-man rush for Pittsburgh soon after, breaking up what would’ve been a dangerous one-timer from Lars Eller against the run of play as Stuart Skinner lunged across the crease.

Viktor Arvidsson had two of Edmonton’s 19 first-period shots, with his best look at breaking his pointless streak as an Oiler coming after Leon Draisaitl found him in the slot alone two-and-a-half minutes earlier for a wide-open opportunity that Blomqvist parried away.

Near the eight-minute mark of the opening frame, the Swede found a loose puck in traffic for a clean look on goal, but couldn’t beat Pittsburgh’s netminder, who looked sharp after stopping all 19 shots he faced in the opening frame.

The Oilers were tracking to defeat the Penguins for the seventh straight time, outshooting them 19-6 in the opening 20 minutes after last losing to Pittsburgh on Dec. 20, 2019, when Crosby secured a 4-3 victory for the visitors in overtime.

SECOND PERIOD

Inevitably, the Blue & Orange started to pick their spots on the pesky Pittsburgh puck-stopper, giving themselves a deserved lead, while Viktor Arvidsson and Vsily Podkolzin found the scoresheet for their first points as Oilers.

Zach Hyman had two amazing chances to record his first goal of the season (and point No. 400 of his career) in the middle frame’s early-going before Leon Draisaitl had a break-away attempt stopped by Blomqvist, leading to the puck sitting in the crease before it was cleared into the middle for a follow-up shot from Arvidsson that careened off Podkolzin’s leg but not into the back of the net.

It was looking like a familiar story for the Oilers, recording 21 straight shots but having no goals to show for it, including on a three-on-one for Edmonton’s second line of Arvidsson, Draisaitl and Podkolzin that was fumbled before the puck was funnelled in front for Podkolzin to direct a tip towards goal.

But then came Draisaitl, who lifted the lid off Rogers Place in celebration of the 10th anniversary of his first NHL goal (Oct. 24 vs. Carolina) by giving the Oilers their deserved advantage on their 37th shot through exactly 33 minutes of action on Friday night.

Blomqvist was given no chance on a perfectly-placed snap shot from the German, who fired home his fourth goal of the season from the right circle after chipping it over a Penguins defenceman’s twig to open up lanes of space for himself through the neutral zone.

Arvidsson made a sneaky play along the board near Pittsburgh’s bench to get it onto Draisaitl’s tape, ultimately giving himself his first point in an Oilers uniform and first of three contributions on Friday with the primary helper.

Just 4:35 later, Arvidsson helped build the Oilers a multi-goal lead by feeding Evan Bouchard a pass opposite him in the offensive zone, leading to No. 2 beating Blomqvist inside the far post on a snap shot that gave Arvidsson his second assist, while Podkolzin recorded his first point as an Oiler with the secondary helper.

Despite a lengthy coach’s challenge for offside, the goal would stand to provide the Oilers breathing room at the second intermission with a 2-0 lead and a 37-17 shot advantage.

THIRD PERIOD

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins stole the puck off the stick of defenceman Kris Letang early in the third period, firing his first goal of the campaign over Blomqvist’s right shoulder to increase the Oilers lead to 3-0 only 16 seconds into the final stanza.

With the slightest of touches on the puck along the wall, Zach Hyman would break the schneid with his first point of the season, along with reaching the impressive career milestone of 400 points with a chippy assist that will hopefully open the floodgates for last season’s 50-goal scorer who’d been pointless through Edmonton’s first seven games.

Despite facing ‘only’ 27 shots on Friday while Blomqvist was under siege all night in between the Pittsburgh pipes, the Oilers netminder made some high-quality saves to preserve his shutout over the final 20 minutes, standing up a wide-open chance for Erik Karlsson in the danger area with a right pad stop.

On an Oilers power play over five minutes into the third, Skinner brought the ‘Stuuuuuus!‘ out in Rogers Place with the right pad again – this time to deny Noel Acciari on a short-handed odd-man rush for the Penguins that was critical to keeping the momentum firmly in Edmonton’s favour during the final frame.

The power play leveraged their netminder’s stellar saves on their next man advantage later in the period when the first unit couldn’t convert before the second unit jumped out on the ice for an offensive-zone face-off.

Arvidsson won the draw right to his countryman Mattias Ekholm, who walked the line and wristed one top shelf through traffic for the 4-0 lead with 13 minutes left in the third period, capping off the scoring and Edmonton’s third victory of the season on Hall of Fame Night.