GAME RECAP: Hurricanes 3, Oilers 2 (OT)

EDMONTON, AB – The Edmonton Oilers settled for a single point on Tuesday night despite receiving two goals from Connor McDavid and 30 saves from goaltender Stuart Skinner in a 3-2 overtime defeat to the Carolina Hurricanes at Rogers Place.

The Oilers captain scored twice to give the Blue & Orange a 2-0 lead through 40 minutes before the Hurricanes responded in the final frame with goals from Shayne Gostisbehere and Martin Necas, forcing overtime where Sebastian Aho earned the visitors the extra point with a one-timer over Skinner with seven seconds remaining.

Necas had a goal and two assists for the Hurricanes, including the primary assist on Aho's overtime winner, while goaltender Frederik Andersen went shot for shot with Skinner to finish with 33 saves on 35 shots in Carolina's come-from-behind victory.

"Any time you fall short when you're winning, it's frustrating," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "But it's the NHL. You need to have a short memory. You can't hold onto something for too long, whether it's a really good game or a really bad game. We've got to be able to put it behind us and be ready for the next one."

With the loss, Edmonton falls to 2-4-1 on the season and will now look ahead to Friday when the Pittsburgh Penguins come into Rogers Place on Hall of Fame Night.

FIRST PERIOD

One of the NHL's most dominant lines last season in Nugent-Hopkins, McDavid and Hyman were reunited on Tuesday and provided the Oilers with the early go-ahead goal on their second shift to set the tone for a strong opening period from the Blue & Orange.

The trio came up the ice following the opening faceoff and immediately got to work in the offensive zone, with McDavid cutting into the middle and letting go of a backhand that went wide to put the Hurricanes on high alert in the first 25 seconds of the opening frame.

Nugent-Hopkins then received the puck near the front of the visitor's net and forced Andersen into a chest save at the near post, but it wouldn't be long before the top line was back on the ice and opening the scoring on their next shift.

Before the five-minute mark, Nugent-Hopkins would start a quick breakout with a behind-the-back pass that caught McDavid at full speed, allowing the Oilers captain to skate through the neutral zone and take advantage of a falling Carolina defenceman before he picked his spot at the far post with a snipe that went off the bar and in for an early 1-0 lead.

McDavid extended his point streak to six games (2G, 5A) after picking up his second goal of the season, and with the way No. 97 was looking in the opening five minutes, it was unlikely that he'd be done there.

Edmonton's power play showed signs of turning a corner from their 1-for-15 start to the season during their first man advantage nearly six minutes into the contest, where the top unit looked dangerous with three total shots and a lot of good looks over nearly the full two-minute infraction. More on that later as well.

Despite a strong opening period from the Oilers, the Canes would've felt hard done by at the intermission not to have scored, notably on two excellent chances from Jack Drury and Jack Roslovic that the two forwards somehow scraped wide despite staring at wide-open nets on both occasions.

Nonetheless, Stuart Skinner was starting to put together a strong start between the pipes, making a massive lateral save against Sebastian Aho from the right circle on Carolina's first man advantage as one of his 13 first-period saves that helped keep Edmonton ahead by a goal through 40 minutes.

The Oilers held a two-goal lead, but there was a feeling of luck for the Oilers associated with their first-period performance.

"I thought in the first we got away with some mistakes and we were fortunate to be up," McDavid said. "I thought our second was better and then in the third, we just couldn't find a way to hold on."

SECOND PERIOD

A deserved break-through PPG for Edmonton's top unit doubled the Oilers lead only two-and-a-half minutes into the middle frame, and it was none other than McDavid putting the final push on the puck to get it over the goal line for his second tally of the contest.

Halfway through Edmonton's third man advantage, Draisaitl delivered a back-hand feed to his other half of the Dynamic Duo, who then barged towards goal and put another backhand on net that he buried on the second effort by pushing it through Andersen's right arm for the 2-0 advantage.

The Oilers went 1-for-4 on the power play on Tuesday and are now 2-for-19 on the season through seven games.

"I thought we generated chances and scored a goal," McDavid said of the power play. "We still have another level to get to, but I thought it was a step in the right direction."

With two goals on Tuesday, McDavid picks up his first multi-goal performance of the season and his first since Apr. 5, 2024 against the Colorado Avalanche. It's the 56th game of his career with two goals or more – 12 of those hat tricks – and the Oilers are 48-5-2 in games where the captain scores at least twice.

There was still a heavy workload needed from Skinner to keep the Oilers ahead, continuing just past the five-minute mark of the frame when the Edmonton-born shot-stopper scooped the puck out of mid-air in the crease to prevent Seth Jarvis from batting one in on the follow-up from Andrei Svechnikov's fanned shot on a Carolina odd-man rush.

Later in the period's second half on the power play, Andersen made a terrific left-pad stop on Jeff Skinner in front after Darnell Nurse's effort was kicked away by the Carolina goalie to open up a shooting chance for the winger.

The Oilers owned a 2-0 lead at the second intermission and needed to put together a composed final frame, but the Hurricanes were building wind for a third-period push.

"There are key moments in the game where you hope you'll get one," Mattias Janmark said. "That's kind of what's been lacking at the start here, so hopefully, we can get some more goals at key times."

THIRD PERIOD

What a save that was from Skinner.

The Oilers netminder did all he could to deny the Hurricanes getting on the board with an incredible windmill display on Necas in the first minute of the third, but the 'Stuuuuuuu!' was short-lived after Necas set up defenceman Shayne Gostisbehere just moments later to wire his fourth goal in the last four games past Skinner only 44 seconds into the final frame.

"I think he played unbelievable," Mattias Ekholm said. "And I told him after game that if he can play close to that, we're going to have a lot of wins coming our way. But I really enjoyed the way he played tonight. He looked calm and composed and he made the saves that we needed."

Hyman is still chasing his first point of the season and couldn't convert just over a minute later on a two-on-one with McDavid, where the winger went to his backhand but couldn't extend far enough past Andersen to break his early-season scoring slump.

After the halfway mark of the final frame, the Oilers second line of Viktor Arvidsson, Leon Draisaitl and Jeff Skinner failed to capitalize on two great chances for Skinner, who was set up for a scoring chance first by a Draisaitl drop pass coming into the zone before Arvidsson threw a backwards pass to the winger later in the shift for an attempt that Andersen somehow pushed away.

"That little flurry there, that's obviously a difference maker," Knoblauch said. "The outcome of the game probably could've been a little bit different there."

With 6:31 left in regulation, the Hurricanes scored off the rush with a back-door finish from Necas after the Czech skater got behind the last line of defence before opening up for a tap-in that was put onto his stick by Eric Robinson.

"A lot of little miscues on several players," Knoblauch said of the tying goal. "The timing for them on our change worked out really well, but there are things that we could've done differently right up ice and defending it at the blueline, so everyone could've been just a little bit better."

Through 60 minutes, the Oilers & Hurricanes were tied 2-2 and 30-30 in shots, needing overtime to settle the final point.

OVERTIME

The Oilers and Hurricanes traded chances in overtime until a momentary lapse from the Oilers with seconds remaining allowed Carolina to win it on the last shot of the game.

With just seven seconds left in extra time, Aho propelled Carolina to a comeback victory after the Finnish forward took advantage of the Oilers being out of position following a hard backcheck before he unleashed a one-timer that was lifted into the top echelon of Edmonton's net.

"The puck kind of comes around and I go, then Bouch goes and we get crossed up," McDavid said. "Then, they make a good play. Obviously, we had a few looks. They had a few looks as well and we'd like that one back."

The Oilers settled for a single point to drop their overall record to 2-4-1.