Noah Philp scores first career NHL goal against Canucks

Philp got his first goal during a play off the rush midway through the second period of Saturday’s game. After the Canucks turned the puck over to Vasily Podkolzin in the Oilers end, the winger quickly skated the puck out of the defensive zone before breaking out the play to Kasperi Kapanen. The Finn immediately chipped the puck to Philp, who passed it right back to Kapanen as they entered the offensive zone, only for Kapanen to return the puck to Philp one more time to give him a clean drive to the net. Philp made no mistake with the open space, and beat Thatcher Demko to get his first career NHL goal.

Philp’s goal opened the scoring for the Oilers in the game with 7:39 left in the second period. The Oilers would then add to that lead in the final minute of the second period courtesy of Andrew Mangiapane’s second goal of the season. Brock Boeser scored at the start of the third period, but the Oilers held the lead, winning 3-1 with an empty net goal.

Prior to the game, Philp had gone without a goal through 16 NHL games played in the past two seasons. He did managed two assists in the 15 games he played with the Oilers last season.

Philp’s journey to the NHL has been a long one after going undrafted earlier on in his career. After four seasons in the WHL, he had a brief stint in the AHL with the Calgary Flames‘ AHL affiliate, the Stockton Heat, before ultimately spending three seasons with the University of Alberta. He then earned an NHL deal with the Oilers in 2022, although he played exclusively with the Bakersfield Condors in the 2022-23 season. After taking a step away from hockey in the 2023-24 to focus on his life off the ice, Philp returned to the Oilers for the 2024-25 season, making his NHL debut later that season.