McDavid, Draisaitl each has five points, Oilers defeat Hurricanes in shootout

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each had two goals and three assists for the Edmonton Oilers in a 6-5 shootout win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Rogers Place on Thursday.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist in regulation and also scored the only goal in the shootout in his season debut for the Oilers (8-1-1), who have won three in a row and eight of their past nine games. Devon Levi made 22 saves.

“You have to have a little something in your head, but once you get down there, you have to make a read, for sure,” Nugent-Hopkins said of his shootout winner. “It kind of helps going third, too, because you can see the way he plays the first two, so I tried to use that. But (Brandon Bussi) is an unorthodox goalie, too, being a righty, so I had to think about that and I was lucky to squeak that by him.”

Seth Jarvis scored in his season debut, Sebastian Aho had a goal and an assist, and Shayne Gostisbehere and Jordan Martinook each had two assists for the Hurricanes (8-2-2), who are 2-1-1 on a five-game road trip that will conclude at the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. Bussi made 16 saves.

“If you take away the five penalties, that game was pretty good,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We did a pretty good job. The last one should never go in, everybody knows that. It was just a bad bounce and we probably should have had two points. That’s the way it goes.”

McDavid got the Oilers to within 4-3 just 26 seconds into the third period. He took a pass from Draisaitl inside the left circle and beat Bussi’s blocker with a one-timer.

Draisaitl tied it 4-4 on a power play at 2:51, one-timing a pass from Nugent-Hopkins in the low slot.

“You’ve got to win games like that, too,” Draisaitl said. “Obviously, way too eventful, for either team.”

Juuso Valimaki gave the Hurricanes the lead again with 2:40 remaining in regulation, scoring blocker side from the high slot to make it 5-4.

Zach Hyman appeared to tie it with 1:36 remaining when he knocked in a loose puck at the right post, but the goal was waived off because of a high stick.

However, McDavid did end up tying it 5-5 just eight seconds later. His saucer pass that was intended for Draisaitl deflected five-hole on Bussi off the skate of Hurricanes forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

“At the start of the third, we just have to come out better than that,” Valimaki said. “We gave them life there and we could have taken it all away. It’s just a couple of learning things.

“I think just the first couple of shifts, they were ready to push back and we weren’t ready for it. When you score a quick one, you get momentum and you start to feel good about yourself. They kind of kept rolling with that a little bit and we couldn’t get much zone time or generate that much. I think the very start of it we gave them all the momentum.”

Draisaitl put Edmonton ahead 1-0 three seconds into a power play at 8:07 of the first period. He won an offensive-zone face-off to McDavid, who passed over to Evan Bouchard for a wrist shot from the point that Draisaitl deflected up over Bussi’s glove.

Jackson Blake tied it 1-1 just six seconds into a power play at 10:30, snapping in the rebound of Gostisbehere's shot past a prone Levi.

Aho put Carolina ahead 30 seconds into the second period. He outraced Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm for a loose puck and slid a backhand through the legs of Levi on a breakaway to make it 2-1.

Nugent-Hopkins tied it 2-2 on a power play at 4:20, taking a cross-slot pass from McDavid and beating Bussi’s glove with a wrist shot.

Nugent-Hopkins missed the first nine games of the season because of a lower-body injury he sustained during practice on Sept. 28.

Jarvis put the Hurricanes back ahead 3-2 at 12:59. He spun around Bouchard in the right circle and deked Levi to his forehand before tucking the puck past the goalie's left pad at the right post.

Jarvis was making his season debut after recovering from offseason surgery he had to repair a torn labrum and rotator cuff in his right shoulder.

“We did a lot of good things, but you can’t take that many penalties against a team like that,” Jarvis said. “They have so many skilled players and such a good power play that it’s going to hurt you.

“Obviously, there were aspects of our game that we need to clean up, but I thought we fought well. We held in there and just made some mental mistakes that kind of cost us a little bit.”

Logan Stankoven pushed it to 4-2 at 17:53, scoring on a one-timer off backhand pass from Nikolaj Ehlers, who stole the puck from Oilers defenseman Jake Walman below the goal line.

“I thought this was the best opportunity for our team was to play them tonight,” Edmonton coach Mike Babcock said. “For me, it was like a gift. We’ve got a lot of lessons there today, and then I think you build off those lessons. And we have to learn to be way more resilient. When we bend, we can’t break like that. You’ve just got to hang in there.”

NOTES: McDavid has 31 points (eight goals, 23 assists) during a season-opening 10-game point streak. It was his 17th career five-point game, moving him past Marcel Dionne, Steve Yzerman and Jari Kurri for the fourth-most in NHL history. ... McDavid and Draisaitl each recorded five points in a game for the fourth time. ... Ekholm had to be helped off the ice in the opening minute of the third period after his head hit the ice following a check into the boards from Hurricanes forward William Carrier. “Obviously, it didn’t look very pretty, his head slammed on the ice,” Babcock said. “He’s a bit of a Viking anyway, so he’ll be OK in a couple of weeks or a week or 10 days or whatever. But someone else gets a chance.” ... Draisaitl has seven goals during a five-game goal streak. ... It was Valimaki's first goal since Dec. 10, 2024, with the Utah Mammoth (then the Utah Hockey Club).