GAME RECAP: Hurricanes 6, Oilers 3

EDMONTON, AB – Zach Hyman scored his 26th and 27th goals of the season, but the Edmonton Oilers were doubled up on shots and goals by the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night in a 6-3 defeat at Rogers Place.

The Hurricanes outshot the Oilers by a 32-16 margin and received a goal and an assist from Nikolaj Ehlers, a pair of tallies from Jackson Blake and three assists from K'Andre Miller in the victory, while goaltender Frederik Anderson needed to make 13 saves.

After Zach Hyman scored on a breakaway in the first period to open the scoring, the Hurricanes answered back right after with two goals in 46 seconds to take a 2-1 lead at the intermission, never looking back en route to their 40th victory of the campaign.

"It's a tough one," Hyman said. "Obviously, we were chasing it. After the first one, they responded with two pretty quickly after that. There were times in the game where we pushed and came back and played well. They're a good team."

Goalie Tristan Jarry allowed five goals on 31 shots, with Jordan Staal's empty-netter with 1:21 remaining in regulation nullifying Hyman's power-play in the final 10 minutes.

"You just have to keep working," Jarry said. "I think that at the end of the night, it's still five against, and that's the way that you have to look at it, and you have to be better. It's a challenging league, and it's a humbling league, and every night you can't take it for granted. I think just coming to work and being better every day, that'll get you out of a lot of things."

The Oilers now head out on a four-game road trip that begins Sunday night with a pivotal Pacific Division matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights.

"We need to find our game and put together wins," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "We've got 20 games left, and we're on the brink of not making the playoffs. We can't wait to find our game in the playoffs, because ultimately, we need to get there. We need to find another gear."

FIRST PERIOD

Zach Hyman opened the scoring on a breakaway 10:43 into the first period after being charged with the game's first penalty, but two quick tallies from Carolina in the minutes after he gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead had the Hurricanes ahead after 20 minutes of play.

It would've been a fast start from the visitors if an in-alone attempt for Nikolaj Ehlers wasn't gloved down by a great save from Tristan Jarry after Jordan Staal poked the puck to him inside the Oilers' blueline for an early scoring opportunity.

Two of Edmonton's new additions Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson got to work in their first period wearing Blue & Orange by helping the Oilers kill off their first penalty to Zach Hyman for interference before No. 18 rectified his infraction on his next shift.

After Mattias Ekholm helped break up a Hurricanes' odd-man rush, McDavid picked up the puck below the goal line before throwing a 100-foot pass to Zach Hyman in the neutral zone for a breakaway that he finished emphatically under the bar with a backhand beauty to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead just past the midway mark of the frame.

Hyman's tally was his 26th goal of the season and his 300th point as an Oiler (170 goals) while leading the NHL in goals since Dec. 11 with 24 in 33 games, having also posted six points (4G, 2A) over his last five games.

Before the Oilers could finish celebrating their go-ahead goal, the Hurricanes struck back from Shane Gostisbehere only 37 seconds later with a heavy blast into an open net that was made possible when Jake Walman got his skate tangled with Tristan Jarry.

Only 46 seconds after that, Nikolaj Ehlers managed to sift a long wrist past plenty of traffic to beat Jarry from distance after it appeared that the puck took a slight deflection off a body on the way through to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead at the intermission.

After a decent start from the Oilers, Carolina's two fast tallies marked a huge shift in the momentum of the game, with the Hurricanes piling up shots and chances after that.

"They kind of took over the game," Knoblauch said. "They pressure the puck really well. They've been playing really good hockey, and you can see why since Slavin's come back. They're hardly giving up anything."

"I think they were just quicker to pucks. I know they had almost twice as many shot attempts. A lot of that was shot attempt recoveries, and that's typically their game. They usually have many more shots than the opposition and to counter, you just need to recover those pucks."

SECOND PERIOD

Carolina outshot the Oilers 18-9 in the frame for a 26-12 shot advantage after two periods and extended their advantage to 3-1 on Jordan Martinook's early marker despite an unassisted tally from Vasily Podkolzin that kept the Oilers in striking distance.

The Oilers failed to break out of their own zone before the puck was rimmed down low K'Andre Miller and filtered in front by Nikolaj Ehlers, who found Martinook in front to shovel it past Jarry at the far post to make it 3-1 only 1:37 into the second period.

Jarry seemed to settle in after allowing the third goal, but the Oilers were once again forced to fight from behind, and that's a tough ask against the Hurricanes.

"I thought I was a little better tonight," Jarry said. "Obviously, I think there's room to improve still. I think I could still do a better job of giving the team a chance. Some unlucky bounces here or there, but I think I could still be better."

"Yeah, that's the toughest part. We want to be playing with the lead. I think with the personnel that we have in here, that's the best way to play. Obviously, it starts with me, and I think giving them a chance to be in that position starts with the goalie."

The Oilers were able to capitalize on some hard work from Kasperi Kapanen half a period later when he had the puck knocked off his stick on a hard rush to goal before separating the puck from Sean Walker with a hard check on the boards.

Podkolzin picked up the loose puck and drove through the left cricle before firing a terrific unassisted marker over the shoulder of Frederik Anderson from a tight angle, with Kapanen earning an honourary assist despite it not showing up on the scoresheet.

The goal was Podkolzin's 14th of the season and 28th point, matching a career-high in goals from his rookie year in 2022-23, while the points are also the most he's recorded.

Despite a heavy shot advantage for the Hurricanes, Hyman said he thought the Oilers "were right there" in terms of chances, and the data would back that up after they finished the contest with the advantage in scoring chances (19-17)  and high-danger chances (10-8), as per Natural Stat Trick.

Almost half a period later, Edmonton's third and final addition before the Trade Deadline in St. Albert product Colton Dach nearly had a signature debut moment in his hometown when his turnaround shot from the right circle caught the inside of the near post.

The offence was hard to come by for the Oilers through 40 minutes against the Eastern Conference leaders, but they managed to hang around despite only 12 shots.

THIRD PERIOD

It was late in regulation when the Hurricanes eventually pulled away, scoring twice in the final minute (once with the net empty) to nullify Hyman's look at equalizing with his second goal of the evening.

The Oilers tried to repel the Hurricanes at six-on-five on a delayed penalty over seven minutes into the third, but the pressure was too much, resulting Jackson Blake tucking a short-side one-timer past Jarry under his right arm to make it 4-2 with the extra man.

Almost four minutes later, Edmonton got another one back on the power play after Connor McDavid was clipped at the hip by K'Andre Miller, which led to Hyman hammering home a one-timer from the slot that was set up by Leon Draisaitl from below the goal line for his second goal of the night.

Despite Hyman's best efforts giving the Oilers the lead early and an avenue back into it, down 4-3 with 8:17 left in regulation to find an equalizer like they did against Ottawa on Tuesday, it would't result in any late heroics this time.

Edmonton pulled their goalie with over a minute remaining, but it didn't result in any extra offence as the Hurricanes were eventually able to secure the win with an empty-netter from Jordan Staal with 1:17 remaining in regulation.

With time winding down into the last 30 seconds, Jackson Blake added his second with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle to make it 6-3 late for Carolina.