After a few days of rest, the Carolina Hurricanes returned to home ice and defeated the Edmonton Oilers 6-3. In an overall dominant team performance, he was one of only three Kane skaters to not record a point. Carolina won with four goals in the first period, including center Jack Drury’s first goal of the season.
The Hurricanes (11-7-0) are currently on a two-game winning streak, but the struggling Oilers (5-12-1) don’t seem to be able to do anything right to begin the 2023-2024 season. is another loss. . Surprisingly, each team used two of its own goaltenders, but for different reasons — Carolina’s pair performed better than their opponents.
The Hurricanes had a number of chances early in the first period. Left winger Teuvo Teravainen hit the post on an early power play, but the scoresheet remained 0-0. Not long after the Canes scored the first of six goals that night, the floodgates opened. Defenseman Jalen Chatfield’s shot was deflected and right wing Jesper Fast hit the back post for his first goal in more than a month. The line of Martin Touk, Staal and Fast dominated his first 40 minutes and was rewarded with a puck rack at the end.
“Yeah, it’s been a while,” Fast said. “Our line has done a lot of good things in the past, but we haven’t had a great year yet. But if we continue to work hard and continue to play like that, I’m sure we’ll do well.” ”
Defenseman Dmitry Orlov forced a turnover on a backcheck that bounced off Drury and left winger Michael Bunting, creating a 2-on-1 chance on the Oilers’ side. The two passed the puck back and forth, and 35 seconds later Drury’s shot crossed the goal line, doubling the Canes’ lead.
A few minutes later, Teravainen scored his 10th goal of the season off a backhand from center Sebastian Aho, the Canes’ first of the season. The goal was the 205th time the two have combined for a goal, marking the most combined goals by a duo in franchise history.
In a four-goal first period, Teravainen and Aho linemates capped off a great start for the Canes with their second consecutive game-winning goal. Center Seth Jarvis found space on a breakaway and fired a shot that went off the post and into the net for his fifth goal in the past two games.
Scoring four goals in five minutes wasn’t what the Oilers needed to get back on track, and as a result, Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner’s night ended much sooner than expected. Although they lost 4-0, the Oilers didn’t give up yet. Five seconds into the power play at the end of the first period, left winger Zach Hyman scored the puck past Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta.
Raanta’s night ended after the first period, as the team removed him from the game for “precautionary reasons.” This gave goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov the opportunity to shut out the rest of the game, making 13 of 15 saves as a reliever. Kochetkov showed composure all night, saving chances left and right.
“[Kochetkov] He came in for the third goal and made a good save,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour said.
At the start of the second period, the Canes picked up where they left off and added one more point to extend their lead to four points. Right wing Andrei Svechnikov found center Martin Necas from below the goal line, and Necas scored from his own rebound.
For much of the second period, the Hurricanes continued to shut down the Oilers’ top offensive playmakers. The team had just four shots in the entire period. When Kochetkov wouldn’t move, the Oilers began to get frustrated. However, a transition play from short-handed former Carolina Hurricane Warren Voegele led the rush, which ultimately led to the Oilers’ second goal courtesy of defenseman Mattias Ekholm. Hyman scored his second goal of the night just four minutes into the third on a whip-around pass from center Connor McDavid.
After cutting Carolina’s four-point lead to two, the Oilers, with multiple power-play opportunities, slowly but surely worked their way back into the game and tried to bring the game within one point.
“It’s a bit of a departure from what got us here,” Brind’Amour said. “They have nothing to lose, so they are on high alert.”
Edmonton outscored the Canes in the third period as Carolina often played outside of its own zone and tried to avoid creating more chances. The final period saw a number of puck battles on the boards, which delayed any offensive opportunities.
Defenseman Brent Burns ended the game with a short-handed empty-net goal in his 100th game in a Canes uniform. Defenseman Jakob Slavin recorded his second assist on this play, giving him 200 total assists in his career.
The Hurricanes will be closed for Thanksgiving, but will be back in action on Friday with a home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning (9-6-5) with puck drop at 8 p.m.