The Edmonton Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes turned Thursday night at Rogers Place into a full-blown track meet, a measuring-stick game that lived up to the billing and then some. Edmonton came out of it with a 6-5 shootout win, a second straight victory on the homestand, but the path there was anything but neat.
It started fast, stayed chaotic, and kept swinging back and forth almost from the opening shift. Edmonton grabbed the first goal when Colton Dach’s forecheck forced Nicolas Deslauriers into a tripping penalty. Off the draw, Evan Bouchard fired a shot-pass that Leon Draisaitl redirected in just three seconds into the power play.
Carolina answered almost immediately with a man-advantage goal of its own. After Alex Formenton broke his stick on the faceoff and headed for the bench, Jackson Blake found space in the slot and buried the rebound six seconds into the power play to tie it.
The Hurricanes kept leaning on Edmonton in the second period. Thirty seconds in, Connor McDavid’s pass to Draisaitl was broken up, Mattias Ekholm was beat up ice, and Sebastian Aho turned that mistake into a breakaway goal, slipping a backhand through Devon Levi’s legs for a 2-1 Carolina lead.
Edmonton tied it right back on the power play. Jalen Chatfield caught Zach Hyman on a rush before his teammate could get off the ice, drawing a too many men call.
McDavid then twisted around the penalty killers and set up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for his first goal of the season, setting off “Nuge” chants around the building. Nugent-Hopkins had missed the first nine games after a lower-body injury in training camp, and he scored 11 power-play goals last season.
Carolina responded again in transition. Seth Jarvis, making his season debut, spun around Bouchard and tucked the puck around Levi to restore the lead. Before the period ended, Nikolaj Ehlers forced a turnover on Jake Walman and fed Logan Stankoven in the slot to make it 4-2.
The third period opened with a scare for Edmonton. On the first shift, William Carrier hit Ekholm hard, and Ekholm appeared to hit his head on the ice.
He got up unsteady and needed help getting back to the dressing room. He did not return.
The Oilers, though, surged right back. Draisaitl knocked down an outlet from Walman and fed McDavid to cut the deficit to 4-3.
Two minutes later, Nugent-Hopkins set up Draisaitl in the slot on another power play, tying the game with Edmonton’s third power-play goal of the night. McDavid picked up the secondary assist, giving him four points on the night and pushing his season total to 30 points in just 10 games.
Carolina wasn’t done. Late in the third, the Hurricanes pressed Levi with a barrage of dangerous chances, and then Juusö Valimäki stepped in from the point and ripped his first NHL goal since 2024-25 top shelf to put Carolina back in front.
Then the game went completely off the rails again. Ryan Shea knocked a puck down to Zach Hyman, who thought he had tied it, but the referee waved it off immediately because Shea had deflected it with a high stick. Seconds later, McDavid sent a puck toward the net from the halfwall, and it ricocheted off Kasperi Kotkaniemi’s skate and through the legs of Brandon Bussi to force overtime.
Three-on-three settled nothing over five minutes, and the shootout became the final stage. The first four attempts were stopped before Nugent-Hopkins stepped up again and beat Bussi with a quick release to finish it.
McDavid’s five-point night made him the first player in the salary cap era to record 31 points in a span of 10 consecutive games. The Oilers have now scored nine goals in their first two home games on this homestand, with six of them coming on the power play. Their power play is humming at 35.3 per cent, and Nugent-Hopkins’ return gave them another jolt after he missed the first nine games.
The comeback was real, but Carolina controlled a lot of the five-on-five play, especially in the second period, where its speed in transition and on the forecheck repeatedly put Edmonton on its heels. The Oilers are still winning, but they’re having to scrape and claw for it. They could use help from Matt Savoie sooner rather than later.
Ekholm’s injury loomed over the finish. If he’s concussed, Shakir Mukhamadullin may have to draw back in, and someone will get a huge opportunity to play with Bouchard.
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Oilers Get An Early Boost That Could Change Everything Up Front
The trade market around the league is already buzzing, with Connor Hellebuyck, Dylan Larkin and a handful of Pittsburgh veterans all surfacing in speculation, but Edmonton is getting a more immediate boost from within. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is on track to rejoin the lineup after opening the season on the shelf with a lower-body injury, and his return should give the Oilers a familiar center option back in the mix while also helping settle a top-heavy forward group.
For a team that leans so heavily on its best players, having Nugent-Hopkins available again matters in more ways than one. Edmonton has been waiting to see how the lineup and power play look with him back in the fold, and his presence could ease some of the pressure on the rest of the forwards as the Oilers try to find rhythm early. [Read more 🡒]
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Gives Oilers A Big Lineup Question
The Oilers are getting a familiar face back in the middle of the lineup, and it comes at a time when the team could use another layer of stability up front. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has been activated off injured reserve after missing the first nine games with a lower-body injury, giving Edmonton another seasoned option as it continues to sort through its forward usage early in the season.
What makes his return especially interesting is where he is slated to land. Nugent-Hopkins is expected to slide in as the clubs No. 2 center alongside Zach Hyman and Kasperi Kapanen, which immediately gives the Oilers a different look down the middle and adds another lineup wrinkle for the coaching staff to manage. Related roster moves have opened the door for the return, and now the focus shifts to how quickly the new combination settles in. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Just Got New Uncertainty Around A Possible Top-Six Upgrade
A possible top-six winger target for Edmonton has suddenly come with more uncertainty attached. Bryan Rust, one of the veteran players Pittsburgh could move as it tries to get younger, had been loosely connected to the Oilers as a potential upgrade, but his status took a turn when the Penguins put him on injured reserve because of a lower-body injury.
For Edmonton, the intrigue was always based more on fit than anything concrete, since there have been no confirmed trade talks between the two clubs. Now the picture is even murkier, with Rust expected to miss at least six weeks, leaving the Oilers to wait on whether a player who fit their need could even become part of a real market later on. [Read more 🡒]