The Edmonton Oilers return to Rogers Place tonight to face the Carolina Hurricanes. They’ll look to get back in the win column after losing 4-1 to the Dallas Stars on Saturday and also earn their second home win of the season.
1. The Hurricanes made many changes over the off-season, including adding a new general manager, Eric Tulsky, after Don Waddell left for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Tulsky has been with the Canes since he was hired as an analyst in 2014. After a few years, he became the Director of Analytics before becoming the Assistant General Manager in 2020. Many Oilers fans had clamoured that Tulsky would one day become the Oilers’ next general manager before he took the role in Carolina.
Tulsky wasn’t the only notable off-season move. Jake Guentzel signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning after the Canes acquired him from the Pittsburgh Penguins at the trade deadline. Brett Pesce (New Jersey Devils), Brady Skjei (Nashville Predators), and Teuvo Teravainen (Chicago Blackhawks) all moved on this summer as well. Carolina responded by adding from within with Jackson Blake, son of former NHLer Jason, now playing a role in the top six. Jack Roslovic and William Carrier were also signed. To replace the voids left by Pesce and Skjei on the blueline, Carolina signed Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Walker to multi-year deals.
2. Carolina beat the Oilers in their two meetings last season. The first came in November, right before Edmonton went on an eight-game win streak, when the Canes won 6-3 at Rogers Place after scoring four unanswered goals in the first period. Edmonton got their revenge a few weeks later, beating the Canes 6-1 in Carolina. A Zach Hyman hat trick led the way that night, along with three points each from Connor McDavid and Mattias Janmark.
3. Carolina’s two goaltenders are pretty much the complete opposite of each other. With two games played, Frederik Andersen has a 0.936SV% and a 1.53 GAA, while Pyotr Kochetkov holds a 0.867 SV% and a 3.05 GAA. Kochetkov played in the Hurricanes’ 4-3 loss to the St Louis Blues over the weekend, so it’s likely Carolina goes with Andersen. Over his career, Andersen has a 0.924 SV%, a 2.30 GAA and 17 wins in 22 games played.
4. While the Canes have only allowed 11 goals through four games this season, which is tied for the fourth-fewest in the NHL, they’ve only scored 12 goals. Gostisbehere leads the team with three and is followed up by Blake and Roslovic with two each.
5 Kris Knoblauch adjusted his lines at practice on Monday, splitting up Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. McDavid now centres the top line alongside Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman, while Draisaitl will play between Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson. Knoblauch also opted to reunite Adam Henrique, Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown on the third line. Vasily Podkolzin, Derek Ryan and Corey Perry round out the forward group.
The only change on the blueline was switching Troy Stecher out for Travis Dermont, who will play alongside Darnell Nurse. During their four games together, the Nurse and Stecher pairing was hit and miss. They had there moments against Philadelphia and Nashville but outshot 8-3 versus Dallas and on the ice for the Roope Hintz goal. Dermont has played six fewer minutes than Stecher with Nurse and has only been on the ice for one goal against. Neither are long-term solutions for this team.
6. Oilers newcomer Jeff Skinner spent the first eight years of his career with the Hurricanes, playing in 579 games, scoring 204 goals and 379 points. Since leaving Raleigh, Skinner has faced his former team 13 times and scored as many points, seven of which were goals. Derek Ryan was also with Skinner in Carolina from 2015 to 2018 before departing for the Calgary Flames.
7. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has the most points by an active Oiler versus the Hurricanes with 21 points in 20 games. Connor McDavid averages 1.38 points per game in his 13 appearances against them, and Zach Hyman has seven points in six games.
