The Edmonton Oilers finished a five-game-in-seven-day trek in style with back-to-back shutouts over Vancouver and St. Louis. The Oilers won 6-0 in Vancouver on Saturday and 5-0 at home last night. It was only the third time in franchise history that they posted consecutive shutouts by different goalies.

Tristan Jarry stopped all 31 shots in Vancouver while Connor Ingram didn’t allow a goal on 27 shots last night. The two previous times this happened was in 2002, when Jussi Markanen won 4-0 in Florida on December 7th, and the next night Tommy Salo defeated Atlanta 3-0. And in 2023, Stuart Skinner blanked Los Angeles 2-0 on March 30th and two days later, Jack Campbell beat Anaheim 6-0.

The Oilers are playing much better defensively, and their goalies are making timely saves. Connor Ingram has made nine starts, and eight of them were classified as quality starts. In those eight starts, he’s allowed 14 goals on 213 shots (.934 Sv%) and a 1.73 GAA. He had one off game v. Boston where he allowed six goals on 29 shots, and overall in nine games he has a .917 Sv% and 2.22 GAA.

Those are still excellent numbers, and since making his Oilers debut on December 21st, Ingram’s nine starts are tied for the eighth most among goalies. Among the 38 goalies who have made at least six starts in that time, he ranks eighth in save percentage and sixth in goals against average. Funny enough, Stuart Skinner has the lowest GAA in that time at 1.85, and he’s second in save percentage at .927. Skinner has made six starts in that time for Pittsburgh, and after a rough first game against his former team, Skinner has played well. He’s rotated evenly with Arturs Silovs, and less seems to be more for him. The Tristan Jarry for Stuart Skinner trade has worked for both teams, but because Jarry got injured, it opened the door for Ingram to be recalled, and one could argue the trade helped the Oilers more in that it gave Ingram an opportunity he might not have had.

Jarry has made five starts with the Oilers and is 4-0-1 with a .907 save percentage and 2.58 goals against average. He’s been solid, but Ingram’s play should allow Kris Knoblauch to rotate evenly between Ingram and Jarry leading up to the Olympic break. The Oilers have eight games before the break, and it would make sense to split them evenly between Ingram and Jarry. Jarry is coming off his second injury of the season, so there is no reason to play him in consecutive games, especially with how well Ingram is playing.

HYMAN AND RNH MAKING BIG........

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