The Oilers’ win is a ‘great example’ of what a well-executed defense can do.

LAS VEGAS — We are the writers and Connor Ingram is the goalie.

But I don’t think I can put it better than he did after the Oilers played their best defensive game in a long time in a 4-2 win in Vegas.

“I think we’ve done everything we’ve been talking about.”

Edmonton gave up two goals. Darnell Nurse’s carom gave Ingram no chance, and a one-time giveaway on a late power play was easily corrected at worst. For the rest of the night, they took a relatively new defensive stance and used the old hockey tonic of honesty and hard work, limiting Vegas to just 26 shots.

If we can win against those golden knights in this building… Certainly, this can be a foundation.

“I think so,” said defender Matthias Ekholm. “I thought we played a really well-executed defensive game tonight. (Ingram) definitely had a good look at the net, but I think he saw most of the puck.”

“We’ll never be perfect, but if we can keep it to just one or two goals like we did tonight, I like our chances. One thing I know about this team: It doesn’t take a lot to get hot or turn things around. So that’s exciting.”

The Anaheim Ducks are in St. Louis. On the night of a 4-0 decision to St. Louis, the Oilers won in regulation to turn the screws on top of the Pacific. It was a near perfect night, defeating an old rival in his own barn.

“Our division may not be the best, but it’s so tight right now,” Ekholm said, with the Oilers sitting two points behind Vegas and three behind Anaheim with 18 games remaining. “There are too many teams that could underperform, some young teams that are eager to get in after a long time and some veteran teams that are expected to be there.

“So every game counts here. It’s a good start to this road trip.”

Perhaps another sign that things were starting to change for Edmonton was what turned out to be the game-winning goal. It was a series of good breaks for Edmonton and bad ones for Vegas that started when Rasmus Andersson took an easy outlet pass but lost the puck when his stick broke in two.

Evan Bouchard collected the puck, the Oilers ignored the opportunity, and Jack Eichel collected the puck with free ice and took it out of the zone. Well, that was the plan anyway.

Suddenly, Eichel lost the puck in the remains of Andersson’s broken tree branch. Connor McDavid collected the loose puck and quickly fed it to Leon Draisaitl, who deftly scored his 34th point of the season for a 3-1 lead heading into the buzzer.

It was crazy. The work of the Hockey Gods left the Oilers feeling blessed, but the Golden Knights cursed.

“If you look back on the last 4-5 games, today there was only one goal (Nurse’s goal). How many goals did our players score?” Ingram asked the goalkeeper, who was as thoughtful as we’ve ever met him. “I was talking to (Tristan Jarry) after the last game and I said, ‘It’s going to break down eventually. This series of embarrassing bounces and bad luck is going to finally be broken.’ Maybe today was that day.”

Ingram made one mistake, a leaky goal on a bad-angled wrist shot that could have tied the game 1-1. But the Oilers were ruled offside and the bad goal was erased.

Here’s another nice break. That’s what fighting Ingram gets.

“We got one called back for offside, we got one called again (for a broken stick),” he said. “That’s how volatile this game is. That’s all it takes between a win and a loss – a shy bounce you can’t control.”

Edmonton has limped into this one with the worst record in the NHL over its last eight games (2-6), its worst goals-against (4.75) since Jan. 31 and the third-worst save percentage in the NHL (.875).

But with the score tied 1-1 after 40 minutes, you know there was talk in the locker room about winning the period and starting a comeback.

Vasily Podkolzin grabbed a loose puck on a faceoff with just over 2 minutes and 30 seconds to go in the frame and scored a breakaway goal down the ice, outpacing the Vegas D-pair of Andersson and Jeremy Lauzon.

The puck barely crossed the goal line, but who cares? Podkolzin’s career-best finish of 15th is all at even strength and the game is slowly, steadily moving uphill.

“I get lucky here sometimes.” He said shyly. “Okay, try to stay in a good spot for a while. Okay, good luck.”

That person is a Russian bear. I’m 24 years old. He skates really well, shoots well, plays responsibly, and beat Shea Theodore in the third period on Sunday. In the defensive play that Theodore uses against many NHL players, he was unable to handle Podkolzin’s size and strength and buckled under the pressure.

“He doesn’t say a word,” Ingram said of Podkolzin. “He just puts his head down and goes to work. It’s amazing. It’s amazing to see him (have this success).”

The same can’t be said for Ingram’s team, a group that has been looking for games like this since Christmas against top division foes like Vegas.

“I think this is a great example of what we can do,” Ingram said. “But at the end of the day, this trip is over. Let’s move on. There are three more left on this road trip. There’s a two-hour rule. Enjoy two hours and then turn the page back.

“But now it’s time to get to work,” he declared. “That’s what we did today. I think if we keep this effort going and keep this mindset, we’ll be fine.”