In Edmonton, the Oilers Zach Hyman and Leon Draisaitl had goal apiece and two points on Thursday night in a 6-4 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Jack Campbell made 36 saves in the Oilers win.
“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.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid potted a goal each and four points in the win.
“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 had a hat trick for the Hurricanes.
“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.”
Ryan McLeod picked up a shorthanded goal for the Oilers, and Evander Kane scored his first of the season for the Oilers.
“[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.”
Martin Necas added a single marker for Carolina.
“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.”
Frederik Andersen made 27 saves in the Canes loss.
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