Time: 5 PM MT
Location: PNC Arena, Raleigh, NC
TV/Radio: SNW / 630 CHED
Please make me as excited as this kid to watch Oilers hockey again.
Draisaitl recalibrating das paddle targeting systems:
Hasn't been the same since some Dbag tried to chop his arms off last playoffs...
PREVIEW: Oilers at Panthers (Oilers.com)
RALEIGH, NC – The Edmonton Oilers continue their four-game road trip at PNC Arena against the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night having dropped back-to-back road games to the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers to open their Eastern Conference swing.The Oilers have allowed multi-goal comebacks in each of their last two games while having lost two of their last three contests in which they’ve scored the game’s opening goal.
Monday’s 5-3 defeat in Sunrise was one of those occasions.
“Confidence,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said post-game of the reason behind the Oilers being unable to protect the lead. “Just playing the right way and not cheating the game.
“I think here we were up 2-0. They needed to open up and they needed to change the way they were playing to get some opportunities, and we should be able to take advantage of that. But unfortunately, I think we were giving them the opportunities.”
Connor McDavid recorded his first multi-goal game of the season at Amerant Bank Arena against the Panthers, opening the matchup with a short-side shot from a tight angle before Evander Kane stretched Edmonton’s advantage to 2-0 midway through the first period.
Kane has five goals and two assists in his last five games and has scored in three of his last four games as one of the hottest Oilers offensively since the arrival of Kris Knoblauch behind the bench. He also leads the Blue & Orange with 38 penalty minutes.
Before the intermission, the Panthers would claw their way back with Carter Verhaeghe’s power-play goal and Niko Mikkola’s equalizer 3:01 later off an unfortunate attempted clearance from Mattias Ekholm that was kept in the Oilers zone after the puck hit the stick of Zach Hyman.
McDavid’s franchise record third converted penalty shot in the middle frame gave Edmonton the 3-2 advantage and another lead, but just 68 seconds later, an errant stick on the ice led to Philip Broberg falling Mikkola answering back on an odd-man rush that struck the stick of the sliding Darnell Nurse and sent the puck five-hole under netminder Calvin Pickard.
Pickard made his debut on Monday versus the Panthers and allowed four goals on 31 shots faced, stopping all nine high-danger shots faced at even strength.
After Kevin Stenlund made it 4-3 Florida before the second period was over, Edmonton’s power play had two vital opportunities in the final frame that their record-setting man advantage from last season (32.4 percent) couldn’t convert when they needed it to.
The Oilers power play ranks 12th in the NHL at 21.7 percent and is 0-for-11 in their last three games.
The curtain fell on an eventual 5-3 defeat to Florida that dropped Edmonton’s overall record to 5-11-1 heading into Wednesday’s meeting with the Hurricanes at PNC Arena, where Carolina ranks first in the NHL since the start of the 2020-21 season with an 82-22-12 record.
The Hurricanes are 5-1-0 at home this season, outscoring opponents 19-12, and are 29-8-2 in their last 39 home games, dating back to last season.
Edmonton is 2-7-0 on the road this season, getting outscored 41-27 and leads the League with 33.4 average shots per game. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes lead the NHL in shot attempts per game this season (72.29) as well as shot attempt differential (+393). The Oilers rank top three in both categories.
In their last meeting on Nov. 10, 2022, the Hurricanes won by a 7-2 scoreline where Russian forward Andrei Svechnikov scored his second hat trick in as many games against Edmonton. McDavid scored in the defeat and has scored in his last two trips to Raleigh.
BY THE NUMBERS
- The Hurricanes have six comeback wins this season, tied for sixth most in the NHL, and five wins when trailing first this season, which is tied for fourth in the League. They are one of five teams with a comeback win of 3+ goals this season.
- Carolina has a 92.3 penalty kill percentage over their last 10 games, ranking second in the NHL, and have scored four short-handed goals. They scored each of their four SHG in their first four games of the season (gone the last 13 games without a SHG).
- The Hurricanes have eight different players with 10+ points this season and 17 different players who've scored.
- The Oilers have 24 first-period goals this season, third most in the NHL. The Hurricanes are tied for the second-most goals against in the first period this season with 22.
- Zach Hyman has scored five of his eight goals this season in the first period. He is tied for the most individual high-danger scoring chances at five-on-five this season with 30.
- Leon Draisaitl has been involved in (either scored or assisted on) 44.0 percent of the Oilers goals this season.
- Evander Kane has 31 points (14G, 17A) in 34 career games vs. the Hurricanes.
- Connor McDavid has three goals in four games vs. Eastern Conference teams this season. Since the start of last season, he has a Western Conference-leading 28 goals vs. the East. He's recorded 112 points (46G, 66A) in 67 games vs. Eastern Conference teams since the start of 2021-22.
- Connor McDavid is 13 assists shy of tying Jari Kurri (569) for third most in franchise history.
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