GAME RECAP: Blackhawks 5, Oilers 2

EDMONTON, AB – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins registered his 700th career point for the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night in a 5-2 defeat to the Chicago Blackhawks at Rogers Place, dropping the Blue & Orange to 0-2-0 to begin the 2024-25 NHL regular season.

"We can be a lot better. We can be a little bit more crisp," Corey Perry said. "It just looks like we're slow with the puck right now and we're not moving up the ice quick enough. It's not our D or anything – it's everybody involved. We've got to figure that out."

Forward Jeff Skinner picked up his first point as an Oiler on Perry's tally in the middle frame that nullified Philipp Kurashev's go-ahead goal during an exciting first period, but the Blackhawks would score three straight through Seth Jones, Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen over the next 20:40 of play to build themselves a 4-1 advantage.

After Viktor Arvidsson had his first Oilers goal taken away for goaltender interference and Leon Draisaitl scored on the power play at 10:01 of the final stanza to give Edmonton a chance at a comeback, the German took a hooking penalty with the net empty late in the contest to give Teravainen his second goal via the power play in the final minute to seal the 5-2 victory for the visitors.

Teravainen finished with two goals and two assists, while Bedard contributed two helpers and scored against Oilers netminder Calvin Pickard, who stopped 15 of 20 shots in his first start of the season.

The Oilers will have a quick turnaround when they face the Calgary Flames in the Battle of Alberta on Sunday in the second of their weekend back-to-back.

FIRST PERIOD

An exciting first period in Oil Country ended with the hosts trailing by one despite showing considerable progression from their Opening Night defeat.

Zach Hyman had Edmonton's first big opportunity when he took a feed through a defenceman's legs from Connor McDavid before putting his backhand wide after Darnell Nurse started the play with a great stretch pass to his captain to begin the rush through the neutral zone.

Both Hyman & Nugent-Hopkins each needed one point to reach the respective 400 & 700-point marks of their careers, while Brett Kulak was celebrating playing in his 500th NHL game on Saturday night.

The Oilers were pressing in the opening 20 minutes, but they couldn't forget about the elite skill on the other side in Connor Bedard, who nearly orchestrated the opening goal for the Blackhawks minutes later.

After falling on a spin-o-rama attempt against Evan Bouchard, Bedard didn't quit on the play and followed it up with a no-look one-hand pass through the legs of Mattias Ekholm to Teuvo Teravainen. The Finnish forward put his shot off the crossbar to make the generational talent's efforts all for naught before he took a cross-ice feed from Bedard for a one-timer from the right circle during the same shift that Pickard took away with a confident glove stop.

Edmonton's fourth line was buzzing in the opening frame and created a chance for Perry that escaped the reach of the veteran forward after all of Podkolzin, Ryan and Perry touched the puck, but Perry couldn't collect it for a clear chance in front after he pushed it under the last Chicago defenceman.

With 4:11 on the clock, Philipp Kurashev ended up giving the Blackhawks the lead, whacking the puck into the top corner from the hashmarks after the puck was floated into the danger area by former Oilers 2010 first-overall pick Taylor Hall from the top of the zone.

The Oilers had a golden opportunity through Leon Draisaitl to equalize in the last minute when the German stole a puck and had his ensuing back-hand chance stopped in tight. On the second effort, his rebound went directly off the left post to keep it 1-0 for Chicago through 20 minutes.

Edmonton still awaited their first goal since 6:44 of the first period of Game 7 during last season's Stanley Cup Final.

SECOND PERIOD

They don't ask how they go in – just that they do.

The Oilers finally broke through offensively for the first time this season with a gift of a bounce for Perry, who struck a laid-out TJ Brodie in front of the crease off a goal-side centring pass before it crossed the line behind Petr Mrazek to make it 1-1 with 4:55 gone in the middle frame.

Also getting off the mark was forward Jeff Skinner, who picked up an assist on the play for his first point as a member of the Oilers.

Perry has been a prolific scorer against the Blackhawks over his career, with 19 goals and 18 assists in 53 contests against his former NHL team. He played 16 games for them during the 2023-24 season before joining the Oilers in late January.

"We had chances," Perry said. "It's about bearing down harder on our stick. Whatever you want to say, all the cliché words, but they're not going in the net, so you can put that out the window and it's all about hard work. That's what it's all about."

Perry's put-away was a lucky bounce for the Blue & Orange, but despite 38 shots on Saturday night, Nugent-Hopkins said his side still has to work through the process of finding the right lanes towards goal and creating second chances – something that he feels comes a lot more naturally later in the campaign.

"When I'm out there, it's like, 'Okay, I know my route', but right now it's a little more hesitant instead of just being ingrained," he said. "But I know it'll come. It's two games in and we've been around it getting chances, but we've got to find a way to put them in."

Edmonton's power play got an early chance in the third period, but Chicago restored their one-goal lead near the halfway mark of the frame on a sneaky shot from Seth Jones at the blueline that crept through Pickard's five-hole. The Oilers' penalty kill dropped to 1-for-4 through five periods this season following Jones' tally after they were beaten twice on three chances by Winnipeg back on Wednesday night in their season opener.

"Mostly just not having the right pressure points," Knoblauch said of the penalty kill. "I think we've been in position and they've made some nice plays as a four-man unit out there. Everyone's got to be in sync, knowing when to pressure and they have to know when somebody's going to push down. The other guy's got to strike because one guy's pushing and another guy's not striking. It's not putting them in a position; instead, it's getting us out of position.

"I think that's a little bit on everyone getting on the same page because they've not been mistakes, so to speak. The other teams made some nice plays, but we've just kind of allowed them to make those plays because everyone isn't working together."

Edmonton looked hesitant in the final 10 minutes of the third period after falling behind for a second time, including on a giveaway in the offensive zone that allowed the Blackhawks to come up the ice on the rush and score their third through Bedard, who waltzed over the blueline uncontested and used Brett Kulak as a screen to snipe his first of the season over Pickard's left shoulder.

"Keeping our game a little bit more simple I think is important," Knoblauch said. "Usually, when you keep it simpler, you dig in, you win more battles, you make fewer mistakes and you ultimately make the game harder on the opposition. Right now, I think we're thinking about how we need to play but just not making it hard enough on the other team."

The Blackhawks led 3-1 through 40 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD

Edmonton's power play was still searching for a breakthrough after Teravainen made it 4-1 past the final frame's quarter mark on a power play that came from a soft roughing call against McDavid in the offensive zone.

The Oilers had Viktor Arvidsson's first Oilers goal waved off for goaltender interference and couldn't convert their second power play of the night early in the period, but Leon Draisaitl found an answer on their next opportunity to give his side a chance with 9:59 left in regulation.

With Jones in the box for Chicago, Draisaitl tried to find Hyman at the back post from the left circle with a pass that was broken up in the slot, but after it fell kindly to McDavid in the opposite circle, the captain gave it right back to the German for a quick shot along the ice that beat Mrazek to make it 4-2 with just under half a period to play.

The Oilers pulled Pickard for the extra attacker and needed a chance for Nugent-Hopkins at the right post to go in to keep any hopes of completing the comeback alive, but after Mrazek blockered the longest-tenured Oiler's great opportunity away to pull within one, a late hooking call to Draisaitl would allow the Blackhawks to add another on a late power play for the 5-2 final score.

"I guess it's just a matter of battling, finding a way to put it in, getting those second and third opportunities and playing off that," Nugent-Hopkins added. "We've been around it, so it's nice we get to get back at it tomorrow."

Edmonton hosts Calgary in the Battle of Alberta at Rogers Place at 6:00 pm MT on Sunday.