It didn’t take long for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to make some noise in the National Hockey League.

Drafted first overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2011 draft, Nugent-Hopkins is set to play in his 1,000th NHL game on Sunday. He’ll be the first player in franchise history to play all 1,000 games with the team, and sits second in games played in the franchise’s Guide and Record Books to Kevin Lowe’s 1,037.

But in his first NHL game, he was making his mark.

First NHL game, first NHL goal

Nugent-Hopkins made his NHL debut on home ice on October 9th, 2011, when the Pittsburgh Penguins rolled into Rexall Place. Kris Letang got the Penguins on the board with a power play goal 3:13 into the game, and the score remained that way until late in the third period.

with Ales Hemsky and Taylor Hall, the Oilers were in the offensive zone with five minutes left in the third period, trying to find a game-tying goal. Nugent-Hopkins cycled the puck down low to Hall, who fired a between-the-legs pass to the front of the net that hit Hemsky, stalling out.

That’s when Nugent-Hopkins pounced, firing a shot on goal while drawing a penalty, only to smack a rebound off his backhand through the wickets of Penguins netminder Brent Johnson. The Oilers would go on to win in the shootout.

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