Sometimes, it is just a matter of inches.
The Carolina Hurricanes were seemingly on their way to a comfortable victory Sunday over the Edmonton Oilers. A sellout crowd at PNC Arena was on its feet and loud as defenseman Brett Pesce blistered a shot past goalie Mike Smith off the rush.
Then, in a matter of seconds, it all turned. The Canes won, but it was anything but comfortable, a hard-earned 2-1 victory that Carolina’s fifth in a row.
Sebastian Aho had a goal and assist, and Teuvo Teravainen scored to extend his personal point streak to nine games while goalie Frederik Andersen had 29 saves in his 29th win of the season. The Hurricanes (37-11-4) were flawless in killing penalties Sunday and held two of the most skilled players in the world — Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl — without a point.
The Pesce goal, which would have given the Canes a 3-0 lead three minutes into the second period, was disallowed after the Oilers challenged for offside on the play. After review, Canes winger Andrei Svechnikov, who was trying to straddle the Edmonton blue line, was ruled to have been an inch or two offside on the entry.
No goal, no 3-0 lead. Instead, it would be a tight game the rest of the way.
“It’s crazy how that happens, right?” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It’s 3-0, we’re playing pretty well. That would have been maybe a different kind of game. But they had the same thing happen early in the game. It might have been different if they get it, so I guess those kind of cancel out.
“It was weird. For the amount of high offensive players in the game there wasn’t a ton of Grade-A opportunities but there were a bunch of almost’s.”
McDavid sped down the right wing and scored in the first minute of the game, only to have his goal disallowed when Warren Foegele, a former Canes forward, was ruled offside after a successful challenge by Brind’Amour.
“I was thinking it could be a long afternoon, that’s for sure, but thankfully we got a bounce and it was offside,” Pesce said.
McDavid then was high-sticked a few minutes later by defenseman Brady Skjei, chipping some teeth and suffering a laceration, missing most of the first period.
McDavid would return in the second and finished with five of the Oilers’ 30 shots. It was a tougher game for Draisaitl, whose has 36 goals trails only Toronto’s Auston Matthews. Draisaitl did not have a shot on goal and lost 15 of 19 faceoffs.
“That’s huge,” Brind’Amour said. “It felt like (Draisaitl) was on the ice the whole game. They play those guys a lot and I would, too. They’re pretty special players. But I give our guys a lot of credit. Our defense especially logged a lot of minutes and they’re heavy minutes.”
The Oilers (29-21-3) got their goal from their hottest offensive player, Derek Ryan Ryan. The former Canes forward, who had a hat trick Saturday at Florida, blocked a shot by defenseman Ian Cole, raced after the puck and beat Andersen early in the second period.
Just like that, it was a 2-1 game. And a lot of pizzazz in the game was later lost when it took a long time to repair a section of glass. By the time the stanchion was successfully lowered into place, both teams had been sitting or standing for a lengthy stretch.
“It definitely was a weird game, with a lot of stuff happening,” Aho said.
Teravainen and Aho scored for the Hurricanes in the first period, both goals coming after some crisp puck movement. Teravainen’s goal was his 15th of the season and Aho took a nice pass from Teravainen in the slot in scoring his 23rd.
It was the 171st time the two Finns have teamed up on goals, tying a franchise record set by Ron Francis and Kevin Dineen for most shared goals by a duo of players.
“Everybody talks about Draisaitl and McDavid and we’re fortunate to have those two,” Pesce said. “They’re world-class players. They both think the game so well and obviously their skill is unmatched.”
The Oilers were shocked to see McDavid leave the ice in pain, his mouth bloodied in the first period after taking the high stick from Skjei. The Canes killed off the four minutes in the double minor as McDavid was kept out the final 14:20 of the first — a big opportunity for the Oilers but without their best player.
The Oilers began the second period with 83 seconds of power-play time after a late first-period penalty on Svechnikov. The Canes killed it off but the Oilers and stayed on the attack, outshooting the Canes 16-6 in the period.
On Friday, the Canes beat a Columbus Blue Jackets team that had faced the Panthers the night before and was completing a back-to-back. The OIlers were in the same position after playing at Florida, but were anything but fatigued.
