\u201cIt was loud in there. After the anthem, one thing I always do is just kind of smile and take it all in\u2026.that was cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
A subtle, quick wit from the Oilers\u2019 starting goaltender, who hadn\u2019t played in the postseason since the 2021-22 season with the Nashville Predators. Despite starting three of those games, Ingram had a bagel in the win column, despite a .913 save percentage in his playoff career before Monday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cTook me four tries, but I\u2019ll take it. It means a lot,\u201d he joked.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s been a while. I was kind of anxious to get it going\u2026It\u2019s a late game. We\u2019re here early. You just kind of sit around waiting for it to start. It\u2019s kind of like \u2018let\u2019s hurry up and do this.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jason Dickinson\u2019s wait for another playoff chance was even longer. As a Dallas Star in the Edmonton COVID Bubble in 2020, Dickinson went to the Stanley Cup Final, but without any fans in the building.<\/p>\n
After playoff-less stops in Vancouver and Chicago, seven seasons later, Dickinson felt the energy. He scored two crucial goals<\/a>, doubling his offensive output in one playoff game, as opposed to the 17 regular-season games before it.\u201cI kind of chuckled at it early on because I thought I would be back, and then five years went by, and I hadn\u2019t seen playoffs,\u201d he said about the gap<\/a> between playoff seasons.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to play in these moments, because it makes everything worth it\u2026All the bumps, the bruises, the training, the hours spent away from the family doing things that your friends aren\u2019t doing because you\u2019ve got something you\u2019re chasing, it\u2019s great to be a part of it. It\u2019s all about just going out there and competing with these guys and having fun doing it. That\u2019s really all it comes down to.\u201d<\/p>\n He had a major impact for a guy who we weren\u2019t sure would be playing in Game 1, fighting his way back from injury after missing almost two weeks with a lower-body injury.<\/p>\n Dickinson grimaced after falling awkwardly following a faceoff against Tim Washe in the second period. But he stayed on the bench. He was going to gut it out.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no way I was not playing, whatever I had to do I was going to be out there,\u201d Dickinson said. \u201cI got a taste of it (playoffs) years ago and man this is this fun. It\u2019s the best time of the year. You fight all year for this. I was told early on that you have to savor it because you never know if you\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He\u2019s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4.\u00a0<\/p>\n OIL UP: THE OILERSNATION PLAYOFF COLLECTION IS HERE![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776825310_492_image.png\"\/)
<\/a>Edmonton, the playoffs are calling\u2014and it\u2019s time to answer. We are so back, and Oilersnation is ready with the OIL UP playoff collection, available now. From tees and hoodies to hats built for every game-day fit, this drop has everything you need all postseason long. Whether you\u2019re heading to a watch party, the rink, or setting up camp in front of the TV, consider this your official playoff uniform. Don\u2019t wait\u2014gear up before puck drop. Shop the full collection now at nationgear.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oilers\u2019 new faces relish Rogers Place playoff atmosphere: \u2018I played at Mullett Arena\u2019 Some of the Edmonton Oilers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-620136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}