POST-GAME: A victory to build on

EDMONTON, AB - It was as important of a win as they come only four games into the campaign.
The Edmonton Oilers had ridden the waves caused by early-season tremors coming into Thursday night's meeting with the red-hot Carolina Hurricanes, who'd won each of their opening three games while outscoring opponents by an 11-3 goal margin.
You can consider goals against for Carolina tripled, and one of the last undefeated teams in the NHL beaten courtesy of a character win by Blue & Orange against a strong opponent.
The Oilers weathered the storm and chased the Hurricanes out of Rogers Place with a 6-4 victory that represents a huge confidence booster for the dressing room in the fourth game of an important early six-game homestand.
"We know how important starts to the season are, and I think a big homestand like this is important to getting off and making this place a hard place to come into each night," Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who recorded four points in the win, said post-game.
"We're back on track a little bit here, but obviously, we have to keep pushing."

Much was made of the Oilers starts through their opening three games after giving up the first goal against Vancouver, Calgary and Buffalo, and the Oilers scored the opening tally on this occasion through Zach Hyman's first goal of the year that came on a net-front deflection.
"There's been lots made about the start," Captain Connor McDavid said. "We don't live under a rock, we obviously know that, and scoring the first one is big. I thought our whole first period was pretty good, which is obviously a good sign."
"What I would put the focus on is that we played a pretty good first period," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "We liked a lot of the things that we did, and we found ourselves up on a really nice goal."
Edmonton couldn't bear down on their chances against the Sabres despite 48 total shots in the game that included 23 in the final frame, but the Oilers scored six times on 33 shots against a solid Hurricanes that included two on the powerplay and a couple of first goals of the season for Hyman and Evander Kane -- the latter of which looked off an empty net in the opening game to supply his captain with his hat-trick goal.
Tonight, that earned karma might've just been paid back after McDavid was the man who fed him for the breakaway that led to his first tally of the campaign.

"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," McDavid, who had four points against Carolina, said. "Tonight, I liked a lot about our game. There are 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."
Goaltender Jack Campbell battled to make 36 saves on 40 shots sent his way by the Hurricanes, including a game-defining save on a breakaway from Sebastian Aho that could've potentially taken the game to overtime and make for a much-different feeling in the Oilers locker room after the game.
"He should feel good about his game tonight," Woodcroft said. "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 and he should feel good."
Most importantly, the entire team battled all over the ice to beat a well-coached and well-drilled Carolina team, which only bodes well for Edmonton's ability to build on this performance. In addition to his four-point night, McDavid contributed at the other end of the ice with a strong backcheck that led to him lifting the stick of a Canes forward that could've had a sure-fire goal.

"I thought there was just a little bit more second effort out of our group," McDavid said. "You're not so much one-and-done or just kind of swinging away. I thought we did a good job getting involved in battles. It's going to be a long night if you don't battle against a team like that, so I thought we did a better job. There's still a little bit of room to grow and we'll continue building."
It's only four games into an 82-game slate, but 2-2-0 in the standings with a win to get the ball rolling feels a lot better than 1-3-0 or 1-2-1 with a three-game losing skid, however you want to look at it.
"Obviously 2-2-0 is nothing to write home about, but we'll take it," McDavid, who posted a goal and three assists in the win, said. "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."
The takeaways in the Oilers dressing room are that all wins matter regardless of whatever point of the season you're in, and any victory or performance can be the one that points your team in the right direction.

"I think we all know in the locker room that we're a really good team and we have a lot of confidence in this group and what we want to accomplish, so it's nice to get a good win against another really good team," Hyman said. "You don't want to fall behind too badly at the start of the year. You want to make sure that you get off to a good start, so we're back to even here and now we've got a big game against St. Louis. It's been another good test for us."
From one test to the next, the St. Louis Blues come to Rogers Place for a matinee meeting on Saturday.
"I thought it was a big win for our group; obviously, a great test," McDavid said. "That's a really good Carolina team and they gave us everything that we could handle."