Oilers vs. Hurricanes: McDavid and Draisaitl Post Five Points Each, Nugent-Hopkins Ends It in a Shootout

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins missed the first nine games of the season. In his first night back, with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl already stopped in the shootout, he skated in as Edmonton's third shooter, studied a right-handed goalie and slipped the only shootout goal of the night past him.

"I was lucky to squeak that by him," Nugent-Hopkins said, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 6-5 in a shootout on Thursday night at Rogers Place. McDavid and Draisaitl each finished with two goals and three assists, and Edmonton climbed out of a 4-2 hole in the third period, then tied it again with less than two minutes left in regulation.

Trading Power-Play Punches

Special teams set the tone. Three seconds into an Edmonton power play, Draisaitl won an offensive-zone faceoff back to McDavid, who moved it to Evan Bouchard. Bouchard's point shot hit Draisaitl's stick and went up and over Brandon Bussi's glove at 8:07 of the first.

Carolina answered in kind. Six seconds into its own man advantage, Jackson Blake swept in the rebound of a Shayne Gostisbehere shot past a sprawling Devon Levi at 10:30, with Sebastian Aho earning the second assist.

Then the Hurricanes took over the middle of the game. Aho beat Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm to a loose puck 30 seconds into the second and slid a breakaway backhand between Levi's pads. Nugent-Hopkins pulled Edmonton even on a power play at 4:20, ripping a McDavid cross-slot feed past Bussi's glove for his first goal of the season. But Seth Jarvis, playing his first game of the season after offseason shoulder surgery, spun around Bouchard in the right circle at 12:59, pulled Levi to his forehand and tucked it inside the right post. And at 17:53, Nikolaj Ehlers stole the puck from Jake Walman below the goal line and fed Logan Stankoven for a one-timer. Carolina led 4-2 after two periods.

The Third Period Loses Its Mind

It took McDavid 26 seconds to change the mood. Draisaitl found him inside the left circle and McDavid one-timed it past Bussi's blocker for a 4-3 game. Ekholm was helped off in the opening minute after his head hit the ice on a check into the boards from Carolina forward William Carrier.

At 2:51, with Sean Walker in the box for slashing, Nugent-Hopkins slid a pass into the low slot and Draisaitl one-timed the equalizer. That was Edmonton's third power-play goal; Carolina took five penalties to Edmonton's two.

The Hurricanes appeared to have stolen it anyway. Juuso Valimaki stepped into a shot from the high slot and beat Levi on the blocker side at 17:20, with Jordan Martinook and Gostisbehere assisting. NHL.com noted it was Valimaki's first goal since Dec. 10, 2024, when he was with Utah.

What followed was pure chaos. Zach Hyman knocked in a loose puck at the right post with 1:36 left, only to have it waved off for a high stick. Eight seconds later, McDavid tried to saucer a pass across to Draisaitl, the puck caught the skate of Hurricanes forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi and dribbled through Bussi's pads. Tie game, 5-5, at 18:32.

"The last one should never go in, everybody knows that," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "It was just a bad bounce and we probably should have had two points."

Overtime solved nothing. In the shootout, Bussi stopped McDavid and Draisaitl, Levi stopped Gostisbehere, and Andrei Svechnikov missed wide. Nugent-Hopkins scored in the third round, and Jarvis missed wide to end it.

McDavid and Draisaitl, Again

McDavid played 25:02 and finished with two goals and three assists, giving him 31 points (eight goals, 23 assists) during a 10-game point streak to open the season. NHL.com said it was his 17th career five-point game, which moved him past Marcel Dionne, Steve Yzerman and Jari Kurri for the fourth-most in league history.

Draisaitl matched him: two goals, three assists, 24:25 of ice time, and 10 faceoff wins against seven losses. He is up to 10 goals on the season, seven of them during a five-game goal streak. Per NHL.com, it was the fourth time the two of them each put up five points in a game. Bouchard, meanwhile, logged a hefty 29:59.

Nugent-Hopkins, who had a goal and an assist in regulation in his season debut, explained his shootout thinking. "It kind of helps going third, too, because you can see the way he plays the first two, so I tried to use that," he said.

For Carolina, Aho had a goal and an assist in 22:06 and won 12 faceoffs, Gostisbehere and Martinook each had two assists, and Stankoven scored his seventh. Neither goalie will want the tape: Levi stopped 22 of 27 shots for an .815 save percentage, and Bussi stopped 16 of 21 for .762.

Turning Point: The First 26 Seconds of the Third

Carolina carried a two-goal lead into the third and gave one back 26 seconds in. Draisaitl's power-play goal a couple of minutes later turned a comfortable night into a coin flip.

"At the start of the third, we just have to come out better than that," Valimaki said. "We gave them life there and we could have taken it all away."

Stats That Matter

• 3-for-5: Edmonton's power play, against Carolina's 1-for-2. The penalty count decided this game as much as anything.
• 27-21: Carolina's edge in shots. The Hurricanes also outhit Edmonton 30-17.
• 31: McDavid's points during his season-opening 10-game point streak.
• .762: Bussi's save percentage on 21 shots.

What It Means

Edmonton improves to 8-1-1 with 17 points and has won three in a row and eight of its past nine. The Oilers' only regulation loss so far was a 4-2 home defeat to Utah on Oct. 15. Toronto visits Rogers Place on Saturday.

Coach Mike Babcock still wants more from his group. "When we bend, we can't break like that," he said.

Carolina falls to 8-2-2 with 18 points, still 6-1-1 on the road, and 2-1-1 on a five-game trip that wraps up Saturday at St. Louis. Jarvis put his finger on the problem. "We did a lot of good things, but you can't take that many penalties against a team like that," he said.

Way Too Eventful

Draisaitl's review was perfect. "You've got to win games like that, too," he said. "Obviously, way too eventful, for either team."

Ten goals in regulation, a disallowed equalizer, a goal off a skate and a shootout decided by a guy playing his first game of the year. This one had more plot twists than a prestige TV finale. Brind'Amour had the right closing line for anyone in red: "That's the way it goes."

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details and postgame quotes as reported by NHL.com.