October 21, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

It appears that whatever ailed the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday that prevented them from converting on many of their scoring chances is in the rear view mirror. The Carolina Hurricanes had only allowed three goals in their first three games prior to meeting the Oilers, but they fell 6-4 on Thursday night.

Call Outs:

The biggest mistake that the Oilers made tonight was giving Andrei Svechnikov too much space with the puck. What a player he is! The guy has a cannon for a wrister, and it was on full display tonight.

Ryan Murray and Darnell Nurse appeared to have a bit of a miscommunication on Svechnikov’s first goal. Murray gave Svechnikov a lot of space as he carried the puck through the neutral zone, and he failed to close the gap at the blue line. Svechnikov slowly drifted towards Nurse’s side. He was covering for Murray in case Svechnikov decided to hit the gas, but there was a winger on the wall on Nurse’s side. Murray saw Nurse there and chose not to challenge Svechnikov. The third year Russian unleashed a laser beam of a shot from just inside the blue line and beat Jack Campbell to tie the game at one.

Tyson Barrie flipped a puck out of the Oilers zone, and it bounced off Evander Kane’s skate. Jesperi Kotkaniemi (covered by Connor McDavid) and Brent Burns (covered by Kane) both swiped at the puck. Markus Niemelainen was plagued with indecision on this play, and he made the wrong decision. He jumped up the ice to try to pressure Burns, but he was too late. He missed the puck and he didn’t hit Burns. His man, Svechnikov, got the puck with space. Tyson Barrie had to slide over to cover for Niemelainen, Barrie was there, but Svechnikov had all the space he needed to rip his second goal of the night by Campbell.

I’m being hard on Niemelainen, but it was a little decision with a big consequence. I’m simply illustrating that the fact that he hits a lot doesn’t mean that he’s an excellent defender. I like the player and I have time for him, but he has some work to do on his decision making. I still feel that his camp wasn’t as good as Philip Broberg’s camp, and Broberg apparently has an upper body injury that has kept him out of the lineup in Bakersfield thus far. I had a strange feeling there was something going on with Broberg because he wasn’t skating quite the way we’ve seen him skate in the past during camp. Anyway, I digress.

Standouts:

Tack another four points to McDavid’s total. McDavid was quiet for the first half of the game, but he kicked it into high gear in the second period. He fed a pass to Evander Kane at the offensive blue line, and Kane snuck a backhander under Fredrik Andersen for the 3-1 goal. Andersen came out of his net to try to play the puck early in the third period, but Zach Hyman and McDavid met him in the corner. The puck eventually found Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’s stick and then the back of the net fractions of a second later to restore the two goal lead. The league’s second leading scorer had a pass attempt blocked on the powerplay, but the puck came right back to him and he found a wide open Leon Draisaitl waiting in the slot to make it 5-3. McDavid added an empty netter for his fifth goal of the young season.

Not to be outdone, Nugent-Hopkins also had a four point night! He got the secondary assist on Hyman’s first period powerplay goal. He feathered a pass to Ryan McLeod on a short-handed two-on-one, and McLeod slid the puck home. You’ve got to be lucky to be good, and Nugent-Hopkins got a little lucky on his open net goal after Andersen got caught wandering. He got another secondary assist on Draisaitl’s powerplay goal in the third period. It could’ve been a five point night for Nugent-Hopkins if not for the pesky post that he hit early in the game. It’s great to see Nugent-Hopkins get rewarded with a big night because he does so many things for the team.

Shout Outs:

Hyman got two points and played the hard game that we’ve become accustomed to seeing out of him. His goal was a tip-in on the powerplay, and his assist happened when he kicked the puck out of the corner to Nugent-Hopkins.

Jack Campbell surrendered a hat trick to Andrei Svechnikov which included a shot from just inside the blue line that went through him; but he made some big saves when called upon to keep the Oilers in front tonight. The best news was that he shut the door on a couple of good chances early in the game.

Evan Bouchard made a great play to carry the puck around his own net and then find McLeod on a stretch pass to initiate a short-handed scoring play. He also fed Derek Ryan for a good chance late in the game. However, he gave the puck away to Martin Necas at the Oilers blue line in the second period. That turnover turned into a glorious chance for Carolina, but Campbell bailed Bouchard out.

Kane got his first goal of the season, which had to feel good for him after being repeatedly denied on Tuesday. McLeod got a big short-handed goal. That’s two goals for him in four games. I don’t think he’ll get 40 goals this year, but I’m encouraged by him finding the back of the net early.

The Oilers stopped a couple of trends in this game. They scored the first goal of the game for the first time this season and they got two goals at five-on-five. Those are positive signs, but they still allowed four goals. They won’t score six goals every night. They will have to defend better on Saturday afternoon when they welcome the St. Louis Blues to Rogers Place.