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The Carolina Hurricanes dropped their first game of the season last night, falling 6-4 to the Edmonton Oilers.
Calvin de Haan re-entered the lineup in place of Dylan Coghlan, while Frederik Andersen got the start.
After generating some good early chances, the Oilers struck first on a power play when the Hurricanes failed to clear the zone, as Zach Hyman tipped in a point shot from Tyson Barrie. It was a relatively even opening frame, with Carolina trailing 13-12 in shots.
The Hurricanes drew even under two minutes into the second period, as Andrei Svechnikov just entered the zone and wristed a shot past Jack Campbell. The Oilers did take the lead back a little later in the frame though, as too many players got caught up ice on a power play, resulting in a 2-on-1 the other way, with Ryan McLeod taking a pass and going to the backhand to slide a puck through Andersen. Then only about two minutes later it was a similar situation, with too many players caught up ice resulting in an odd-man rush, and Evander Kane took a pass from Connor McDavid and also backhanding a shot right through Andersen, making it a 3-1 game. The Hurricanes were able to pull within one before the end of the frame though, as Svechnikov once again entered Edmonton’s end on a solo rush and managed to beat Campbell, picking a corner with a hard, low shot.
Carolina found themselves back down two goals early in the third period, after Andersen got caught behind the net and the puck popped out to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who buried it into the open net. Only a few minutes later though, a puck came out front in Edmonton's end and getting to it was none other than Svechnikov, who buried it to complete the hat trick and pull Carolina back to within a goal once again. Under two minutes after that though, Edmonton responded, with McDavid getting the puck out front to Leon Draisaitl, who once again extended the lead to two goals.
The back and forth continued though as only a few minutes after Draisaitl put Edmonton back ahead by two, Martin Necas converted on a pass from Sebastian Aho on a rush to pull Carolina back to within a goal. That’s as close as Carolina would come though and despite trying to press, McDavid iced the game with about 10 seconds to go, securing a 6-4 win for Edmonton.
It was a pretty wide open game and the Hurricanes certainly gave up more chances than we’re used to seeing. Edmonton’s speed proved to be a big issue, creating odd-man rush chances where Carolina’s defenders were caught up ice.
It marks Carolina’s first loss of the season, after putting together three strong performances to open the season. That said, they still generated a lot of opportunities for themselves, putting 40 shots on goal in the loss.
The Hurricanes are back in action tomorrow night, when they face the Calgary Flames.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER
Hurricanes sign Calvin de Haan
Hurricanes sign Grigorii Dronov
Hurricanes’ opening night roster announced
Hurricanes open season with 4-1 win over Blue Jackets
Hurricanes defeat Sharks to kick off Western road trip
Hurricanes beat Kraken for third straight win to open season 
Carolina Hurricanes Blogger • 
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