Nugent-Hopkins, McDavid help Oilers hand Hurricanes first loss of season

EDMONTON --Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid each had a goal and three assists for the Edmonton Oilers in a 6-4 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Rogers Place on Thursday.

Zach Hyman and Leon Draisaitl each had a goal and assist, and Jack Campbell made 36 saves for the Oilers (2-2-0), who had lost their past two games.
"I thought it was a big win for our group," McDavid said. "It was a great test in a real good Carolina team, and they gave us everything we could handle. I thought 'Soup' made some big saves and our power play did its thing, and it was a big win. A bit ugly, but we'll take it."

Andrei Svechnikov scored his first career regular-season hat trick, Sebastian Aho had three assists, and Frederik Andersen made 27 saves for the Hurricanes (3-1-0).
"It's fun to score a hat trick, but it's tough when you're losing," Svechnikov said. "I think my teammates made nice plays for me, and my job is to be a shooter, and that's what I was doing today. I just shot it on the net and tried to score some goals, but it was tough to lose this one for sure."
Hyman gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead at 8:22 of the first period, tipping in a point shot from defenseman Tyson Barrie on a power play.
Svechnikov tied it 1-1 at 1:38 of the second period.
Ryan McLeod scored short-handed on a 2-on-1 to make it 2-1 at 8:20, and Evander Kane extended it to 3-1 at 10:21 with a backhand off a pass from McDavid.
"[Svechnikov] was pretty dominant. He was our one guy. That line was good, he was really good, but we didn't have much from anyone else," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I thought it wasn't enough. We gave them two goals, and you just can't hand teams goals, especially this team. That's the difference in the game for me.
"I think we got what we deserved in this game, but there were a couple of goals that we'd like to have back."

Svechnikov made it 3-2 at 12:35 from the right face-off circle, but Nugent-Hopkins restored the two-goal lead at 1:24 of the third period after Andersen was caught playing the puck behind his net.
"Today was a tough game. We didn't play bad, we just gave up some easy goals, which against teams like that can cost you," Hurricanes center Martin Necas said. "We scored four goals, and with four goals, we should win every night."
Svechnikov finished off the hat trick to cut it to 4-3 at 3:38, receiving a feed from Aho off a face-off, but Draisaitl made it 5-3 at 5:16 from all alone in front on the power play.
Necas again got Carolina to within one with a power-play goal at 8:55.
"I think good teams need to rise to the challenge when they're playing other good teams," Nugent-Hopkins said. "We knew what to expect tonight. We knew they were a good team and they play hard. They don't give up a whole lot. We had that mentality going in, keeping it simple and just trying to outwork them every shift. I'm pretty proud of the group to bounce back after a couple of tough games. There was no panic in here, we just have to keep going now."

Campbell stopped Aho on a breakaway with 1:09 left in the game, and McDavid scored an empty-net goal at 19:50 for the 6-4 final.
"We're in the month of October. I think there is some [scrambling] to both teams, but the most important thing is we found a way to win against a very good hockey club, a team that hadn't lost yet this year," Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. "That is a team [that] is in the perennial Presidents' Trophy hunt, so for us to find the two points tonight, that's the most important thing."
NOTES:Svechnikov scored a hat trick in a 4-1 win against the New York Rangers in Game 2 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers. … McDavid moved into sole possession of fifth place in assists in Oilers history (463), passing Paul Coffey (460). He also has 10 points (five goals, five assists) during a four-game point streak, and his 216 NHL multipoint games are tied with Bryan Trottier for fifth most at age 25 or younger, behind Wayne Gretzky (409), Mario Lemieux (255), Dale Hawerchuk (243) and Steve Yzerman (219). … Aho has seven points (two goals, five assists) during a three-game point streak.