If Ryan Nugent-Hopkins only has nine games to make an impression on Edmonton Oilers' management, then consider his first game a success.
Nugent-Hopkins got the Oilers' only regulation time goal late in the third period against the Pittsburgh Penguins to tie the score at one before the Oilers won in a shootout.
The Burnaby Winter Club product went strong to the net and took a between-the-legs pass from Ales Hemsky and shovelled it past Brent Johnson at 15:05 of the third period.
Nugent-Hopkins certainty didn't play like a rookie, centring a line with Taylor Hall and Hemsky and playing 19 shifts for 17:04 of playing time. Nugent-Hopkins finished +1 for the night, but must improve on his faceoff skills, as he won only two of 15 draws for a .133 winning percentage.
Edmonton is idle until this Friday, when it goes on the road in Minnesota.
``The last couple of years have been building up to this day,'' Nugent-Hopkins told the Edmonton Journal. "Going into the game I was really nervous, but I tried to use that to my advantage
"It felt pretty good. ... it was really exciting. But, I'm more excited about the win."
The Oilers can assess Nugent-Hopkins' progress for the first nine games before deciding if they want to keep him in Edmonton and start the clock rolling on his entry-level contract. If they decide not to keep him, they would send him back to the Red Deer Rebels and his contract, for free agency and arbitration rights, would not kick in this season.
- with files from Postmedia Network Inc.
