Cam Talbot Oilers Sabres

EDMONTON --Cam Talbot made 31 saves, and the Edmonton Oilers hung on for a 3-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Rogers Place on Tuesday.
Anton Slepyshev, Jordan Eberle and Tyler Pitlick scored for Edmonton, which has won three of its first four games.

Talbot made a glove save on Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner with four seconds remaining.
"We knew that they were just going to keep throwing pucks to the front of the net and crash and bang with some big boys who can put the puck away in front," Talbot said. "There was a mad scramble at the end there, and I just kind of threw my glove out there at the last second to get the save and the win."
After blowing a three-goal lead in each of their first two games, the Hurricanes nearly rallied to tie it after falling behind 3-0. Forward Lee Stempniak scored two goals 56 seconds apart early in the third period, and Carolina had its chances late.
"So for us, it's a matter of keep applying the pressure and try to find a way to get one and get back in the game," Stempniak said. "We had two and we were pushing right to the final buzzer."

The Hurricanes had a good opportunity to tie it with 3:45 remaining, but Talbot made a save against Victor Rask on a breakaway following a turnover by Oilers defenseman Adam Larsson.
Edmonton then killed a high-sticking penalty against Larsson at 16:24 of the third.
Slepyshev opened the scoring at 1:51 of the first period when his wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle beat goalie Cam Ward, who had 25 saves.
Eberle made it 2-0 at 9:22 of the first when he banked in a shot off Carolina defenseman Ron Hainsey, and Pitlick scored at 2:35 of the second to give Edmonton a 3-0 lead.
"When you go down early on the road, you want to show some composure," Skinner said. "We had a little miscommunication on some of the goals and we just shook those things out and sort of learned from them. On the road, it's tough to get down. We did a good job battling back and we put ourselves in a good situation with a power play with three minutes left. You'd like to capitalize and tie the game there."
Stempniak scored at 3:18 of the third period to cut the Oilers lead to 3-1, putting a rebound past Talbot. He scored again at 4:14 to pull the Hurricanes to within at goal.
Oilers coach Todd McLellan challenged the goal, claiming the Hurricanes were offside, but it was upheld by video review.
"It wasn't pretty, to get up three and give it back to them was not part of the game plan," McLellan said. "Neither was giving up a number of free looks at our net in the first seven minutes of the game, but we had a good bounce-back night from Cam. If he wasn't the First Star, he should have been. We're really happy for him."

Goal of the game

Oilers center Anton Lander cleanly won a faceoff back to Pitlick at 2:35 of the second period. Pitlick fanned on his first shot but got a second opportunity and shot the puck over Ward to give Edmonton a 3-0 lead.

Save of the game

Talbot made an outstanding glove save on Skinner at 9:57 of the second period. Skinner took a pass to the left of the net and cut across the crease looking to go around Talbot, who reached out to get a glove on the shot and keep the Oilers ahead 3-0.

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Unsung moment of the game

A fortunate bounce off the glass on a clearing attempt allowed Skinner to go in on a breakaway at 3:59 of the first period, but Larsson raced back and caught Skinner from behind, not allowing him to get a shot away.

Highlight of the game

Slepyshev scored his first NHL goal in his 13th game to open the scoring early in the first period. He took a pass from Leon Draisaitl and carried the puck into the Carolina zone down the left wing before shooting it past Ward on the far side.

They said it

"You're down three on the road in the third period, you want to make a good push. We came up short, but there's things we can take from the first two periods; we want to learn from them and keep getting better." -- Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner
"Lee Stempniak is an underrated guy. He knows how to play. He has a heavy stick, is strong on the puck. He's a very intelligent player."-- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters
"I needed a big bounce-back game after the game I had last time. And as a team, we've kind of let losses snowball in the past, and this time we came out hard. We talked about being a tough, resilient group, and that's what we were tonight." -- Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot on rebounding from their 6-2 loss against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday

Need to know

Stempniak has three goals and two assists in his first three games with Carolina. … Skinner had a game-high six shots, but Talbot made the save on all of them. … Talbot never has lost to the Hurricanes; he is 4-0-0 against them. … Oilers defenseman Mark Fayne left the game in the first period with an undisclosed injury. … Edmonton center Connor McDavid was held without a point for the second straight game after he had six (three goals, three assists) in the first two.

What's next

Hurricanes: At the Calgary Flames on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SNF, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Oilers: Home against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SNOL, FS-MW, NHL.TV)