GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Hurricanes 4

EDMONTON, AB -It was a wild night at Rogers Place, but the Oilers weathered the storm against the Hurricanes to pick up a 6-4 victory on the evening.
The Oilers offence came out to play, potting six goals on a team that had only given up three all season to that point. Third-period goals from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl, and Connor McDavid were enough to overcome a hat trick by Andrei Svechnikov and a three-assist night from Sebastien Aho to give the Oilers their second win of the season.
Nugent-Hopkins took full advantage of his promotion to the Oilers second line by picking up a goal and three assists -- a feat also matched by McDavid to pace Edmonton's offence on the evening.
Jack Campbell was steady in between the pipes, turning aside 36-of-40 Carolina shots on the night, including a massive second-period glove save on Jesperi Kotkaniemi in which the goaltender had to sprawl across his crease for the stop. Campbell would come up huge again for the Oilers with 1:09 left in the game. After a giveaway sent Aho in all alone, Campbell calmly kicked aside the breakaway chance to save the win for the homeside.
The Oilers will look to build off the victory on Saturday afternoon when they take on the St. Louis Blues at 2:00pm MT at Rogers Place.

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FIRST BLOOD

The Oilers struck first courtesy of their dynamic powerplay and the strong stick of Tyson Barrie. With Paul Statsny in the box for holding, the Canes attempted to dump the puck out of their own end, but Barrie managed to hold the blueline. The Oilers defenceman then workedc a quick exchange with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins before blasting a shot towards Frederik Andersen that was deftly tipped by Zach Hyman out in front for the game's opening goal.
The marker was the first of the season for the forward who is coming off a campaign in '21-22 where he set a new career high with 27 goals.
The tally was the Oilers fifth power-play goal in the season's first four games and came as the Blue & Orange were pouring the pressure on the visitors, outshooting them 9-4 midway through the opening frame.

SNIPER SVECHNIKOV

Carolina silenced the crowd early in the second period, with Russian sniper Andrei Svechnikov doing the damage from distance.
With Edmonton leading 1-0, the winger came across the Oilers blueline and ripped a shot from the left faceoff circle which managed to elude the glove of Campbell for the goal. Hurricanes stalwarts Aho and Jaccob Slavin would pick up the assists on the tying goal.
With the Oilers up 3-1, it would be another filthy shot by Svechnikov that would drag the Canes back into the game. Off a turnover, the 22-year-old would collect the puck and fire a shot off the post and in past Campbell for his team leading fifth goal of the year.
His goal scoring ways wouldn't end there. With the Hurricanes on the powerplay early in the third period, Svechnikov found a loose puck and within a split second the shot was in the back of the Oilers net for the winger's hat-trick goal.
The former second-overall pick is already playing in his fifth NHL season and is coming off a campaign where he set career highs in goals (30), assists (39), and points (69). Svechnikov looks primed to best those numbers after a scorching start to the year, picking up eight points (6G, 2A) in his first four games.

CLOUD IN A STORM

With the Hurricanes pressing after Leon Draisaitl was sent to the box for slashing, a perfectly timed counterattack would once again give Edmonton the advantage.
The play started with a fantastic outlet feed by Evan Bouchard to a streaking Ryan McLeod. The Oilers centre dished it off to Nugent-Hopkins before receiving the return feed which that was slid between the wickets of Andersen for the shorthanded goal. The marker was McLeod's second of the season as the Oilers centre used his strong skating to be a factor for the Oilers offence throughout the night -- picking up a goal and a pair of shots in his 15:09 of ice time.

HURRI-KANE EVANDER

The Oilers quick strike offence would continue to show how potent they can be, with last year's mid-season signee Evander Kane getting in on the action. Following an errant point shot by Brent Burns, McDavid picked up the puck and turned on the jets down the right wing. The Captain showed his timing and patience to find Kane alone in the slot for the quick backhand goal.

The marker was Kane's first of the season after he unselfishly passed up the empty-net opportunity on opening night to give McDavid the hat trick goal against the Canucks. The 30-year-old was asked after that game whether he thought McDavid would be returning the favour with a few assists of his own throughout the season.
"The type of player is, probably not," Kane joked at the time.
The winger is coming off a tremendous, albeit abbreviated season in Edmonton last year, scoring 37 goals in 58 regular and post-season games that netted Kane a new four-year contract with the Oilers.

TOP PERFORMER

It was the Captain who simply would not be denied on the evening.
McDavid picked up his fair share of points, notching a goal and three assists against the Hurricanes, but it was a stick check that saved a goal late in the second period that was a real difference maker by the time the buzzer rang. McDavid had struggled in comparison to his lofty standards against Carolina in his career, only scoring a single goal and seven assists in eight games prior to Thursday's affair.
It would be impossible to not mention the play of Nugent-Hopkins as well, whose four-point effort earned him kudos as the game's first star.

PARTING WORDS

Jay Woodcroft on the excitement of the game:
"Well, the fans certainly got their money worth on the goals tonight. We're in the month of October. There's some scrambliness I think to most teams, but the most important thing is we found a way to win against a very good hockey club team that hadn't lost yet this year."
Woodcroft on scoring first and if it helps the team get into the game:
"Yeah, I think it's too simple to just say, 'okay, if we score first, then you're into the game'. We've had games, only four games on this young year. What I would put the focus on is that we played a pretty good first period. We liked a lot of the things that we did, and we found ourselves up on a really nice goal. So what did it do for us? it allowed us to settle in and play the game, but we didn't score the first goal last game. I thought we had a really good first period."

Woodcroft on the style of game the Hurricanes play:
"Yeah, they have a unique style. I think they're a really well-coached team. I think Rod Brind'Amour is one of the best coaches in the NHL. Obviously, his team plays with the work ethic that he used to play with. So it's a compliment to him and his staff of how hard that team plays. I think the way they play is also built around their personnel. They're built a certain way, and the way they play suits those people that they have in the lineup on a consistent basis."
Woodcroft on the play of Jack Campbell:
"I thought he should feel good about his game tonight. He was clutch when the moment called for it. He made big saves, and in the end, the one thing that he cares about is putting the W on the board. That's what he did for us tonight. He should feel good."
Woodcroft on starting the season with six-straight home games:
"I think the schedule is what the schedule is and it's a little different to do that. One of the things we did in the preseason was we took a trip, which you don't normally do in the preseason, but we want our players to have the feeling of being on the road together. I would say we're playing some pretty good teams here too. And as I said, even though it wasn't maybe the prettiest game, we found a way to win against a really good hockey team. So I'm proud of our fellows."
Connor McDavid on how the night went:
"I thought it was a big win for our group; obviously, a great test. That's a really good Carolina team and they gave us everything that we could handle. I thought Soup made some big saves and our powerplay did its thing. It was a big win. A bit ugly, but we'll take it."

McDavid on what was a highly-entertaining game:
"It feels a little bit like that. Obviously when you're the team up by two or up by one, you don't want it to be that way. But give them credit, their powerplay did a great job in the third period and I thought we did a good job of responding with one. Like I said, Soup makes some big saves, especially there on Aho at the end, and obviously, we're still playing if that goes in. Credit to him."

McDavid on being 2-2-0 in the standings instead of 1-3-0 or 1-2-1:
"Certainly. Obviously 2-2-0 is nothing to write home about, but we'll take it. It's October hockey, it's scrambly, we don't want it to be as scrambly as it's been, but that's hockey in October. Things happen and there are mistakes made, but you've got to find ways to win games. They count just the same now as they do at the end of the season."

McDavid on the direction of the team:
"I thought we did good things in that Buffalo game. If it's not for a really good goalie, I think we're winning that one. Tonight, I liked a lot about our game. Again, there's still things to improve. I keep saying that it's October hockey and we want to be better, but it's going in the right direction."
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on how things are going for the Oilers:
"I think good teams need to rise to the challenge to play other good teams. We knew what to expect tonight. They're a good team, they play hard, they don't give up a whole lot, so we had that mentality going in keeping it simple just trying to outwork them every shift. So I'm pretty proud of the group in here to bounce back after a couple of games. Obviously there was no panic in here and we just have to keep going now."