The positive: the Canes got a total of three points off a back-to-back that had both games go into Overtime and saw two starters get injured. The negative: if they had taken better care of the puck they wouldn’t have needed overtime either night and would have all four points.
After a game where both Seth Jarvis and Jesperi Kotkaniemi left due to injury—Jarvis was back out on the ice to face the Oilers. He was bruised but otherwise didn’t show any ill effects from the injury. The Canes were once again without Jaccob Slavin and Jalen Chatfield, and had the daunting task of taking on the best duo in the NHL without their two best defensemen.
The first period got off to a very similar start to Friday Night’s game, as mistakes led to the first two Oiler goals. In what had to feel good for him in his return to Raleigh, Jack Roslovic took advantage of a badly misplayed puck by Frederik Andersen, and shot it past his former teammate for a quick 1-0 lead. He had plenty of experience going up against Andersen and he knew right where to place the shot. A few minutes later, Andrei Svechnikov took a cross-checking penalty to set up Oilers on the Power Play. Connor McDavid did McDavid things, taking the extra room to collect a loose puck that bounced off the end boards and shoot it at a ridiculous angle to get it past Andersen.
Anyone who has watched Edmonton this season knows that scoring goals hasn’t been a problem for them, the problem has been keeping pucks out of their own net. Fresh off a comeback win on Friday, the Canes didn’t get down and managed to build their own game. Late in the first Shayne Gostisbehere showed exactly why the Canes had missed him during his absence by once again whipping a pass over to Eric Robinson, who was able to snap it past Stuart Skinner to let the Canes get within a goal at 2-1 before the end of the first.
Much like Friday, the Canes could argue they had played the better game but mistakes had them staring at a deficit at the first intermission. They remedied that in the second, seizing control and getting a tying goal early on thanks to a white-hot Nikolaj Ehlers. The goal was all hard work from the entire line, and it isn’t a coincidence that Ehlers has started to light up since being moved to play with Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake. The line worked to keep the puck in the offensive zone, and Blake set Ehlers up in the aftermath of some chaos and Skinner wasn’t settled in the crease. He was able to whip a pass to Ehlers who scored.
The Canes overall dominated play in the second but only had that one goal to show for it, outshooting Edmonton 16-6 and looked like the fresher team despite having played the night before. Still, the Canes were unable to capitalize any more and went into the locker room tied at two.
Edmonton came out and started as a different team in the third, taking it to the Canes and forcing Andersen to make some really strong saves. It was only when McDavid again did McDavid things, and somehow beat the Canes down the ice despite multiple players being back in front of Andersen. His second of the night put the Oilers back on top 3-2, but the Canes reignited quickly and less than a minute later the Staal line got a Staal Score. The play was started with a faceoff win and a strong pass out of the zone by Gostisbehere, then William Carrier just bullied his way to the goalie with a player on him. Carrier pushed a shot on net, Skinner was unable to corral it and it bounced to Staal who potted it, knotting the score a three.
The teams exchanged great chances for the rest of the period, and after dominating the second in shots, the Canes barely outshot the Oilers 9-8 in the third. Both goalies made great stops, but for the second night in a row the Canes found themselves in Overtime. In a three on three setting, the Oilers can roll out McDavid and Draisaitl to start, and all it took was 19 seconds for the latter to show off why he is an insane talent. After winning the faceoff, the Oilers didn’t bother to take much time entering the zone, and Draisaitl just slapped one past Andersen to get the bonus point.
Saturday was the last game at home for the Canes until Thanksgiving. They won’t get much of a chance to recoup as they ship up to Boston on Monday to try and get some revenge for an earlier loss, then bounce over to St. Paul, Winnipeg, and Buffalo. They won’t get more than one day off until that return to Raleigh, so we’ll see if any of the two missing defensemen will rejoin the team during the trek.