- Kevin Lowe sent Ryan Nugent-Hopkins a video message after he passed him on the Oilers’ games played list
- Nugent-Hopkins scored a power-play goal and added an assist in game No. 1,038 with Edmonton
- Read below for what Lowe said and how the record night went
Kevin Lowe gave up his franchise record with a smile.
The Hall of Famer sent Ryan Nugent-Hopkins a video message after the Oilers forward played his 1,038th game in Edmonton, one more than Lowe’s 1,037 and the most in team history.
Lowe was asked to mark the moment and kept it short and warm. Here’s the message:
“That record has stood around for 28 years and I’ve been extremely proud of it,” Lowe said. “But as we all know, records are meant to be broken. So, if someone is going to take it away from me, I couldn’t think of a more popular Oiler to do it.”
Lowe played 15 of his 19 NHL seasons in Edmonton and won six Stanley Cups, five of them with the Oilers.
Nugent-Hopkins made sure the night had a highlight of its own. He scored a power-play goal in the second period of Tuesday’s game against the Devils, and he picked up an assist on Evan Bouchard’s first-period goal.
Watch the power-play goal:
The Oilers made it official on the ice with his first shift:
Edmonton lost the game to Connor Hellebuyck and New Jersey in a shootout and left with one point. Nugent-Hopkins now has 295 goals and 518 assists in 1,038 games with the team that took him first overall in 2011.
The Oilers surprised him earlier in the day with custom shirts and a locker room video, which we covered in our look at the pregame tribute. He called the morning “special” and said he could feel the love from the group.
