GAME RECAP: Hurricanes 6, Oilers 3

‘Cause Chaos’ is the motto of the Hurricanes this season and they certainly did in the first frame to chase Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner.

Carolina’s first goal in a four-goal opening period came off an unlucky bounce for Edmonton’s goalie when Jalen Chatfield’s point shot struck Jordan Staal and bounced to the back post and the waiting stick of Jesper Fast, who pushed the puck into the open net at 11:43 of the first period.

Just 35 seconds later, Jack Drury and Michael Bunting worked a give-and-go on an odd-man rush to double Carolina’s advantage after Edmonton coughed up the puck in the offensive zone when Mattias Ekholm, who led the rush, tried to drop the puck back to James Hamblin instead of delivering the puck on net.

Teuvo Travainen became Carolina’s first 10-goal scorer of the season in just 18 games when Sebastian Aho picked up a lose puck at the left post and slid it across the crease to his fellow Finnish countryman, who tapped in the Hurricanes’ third of the night.

When Connor McDavid was stripped of the puck by Chatfield behind Carolina’s net 3:25 later, a quick transition put the puck on Seth Jarvis’ stick for the 21-year-old to break down the right side and fire a shot under Skinner’s right arm to make it 4-0 with just over a quarter of a frustrating first period for the Oilers remaining.

That spelled the end of the night for Skinner, who way to Calvin Pickard after stopping nine of 13 shots.

The Blue & Orange would get a goal back before the break when Leon Draisaitl sauced a pass through the legs of defenceman Brady Skjei to set up Zach Hyman at the far post on the power play for his team-leading ninth goal of the season after collecting the rebound from his first shot that struck the post.

It was a much-needed goal that was their first in 12 attempts on this four-game road trip, but the Oilers still had plenty to overcome down 4-1 through 20 minutes.