An undermanned Edmonton Oilers squad hung tough against the Carolina Hurricanes but fell 2-1 on Sunday afternoon.
Forwards Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Kailer Yamamoto missed the game after being injured on Saturday.
The Oilers thought they had the lead when Connor McDavid beat Freddie Andersen 51 seconds into the game. However, the Hurricanes challenged the play with video review showing Warren Foegele was offside.
McDavid left the game for repairs a few minutes later after taking a high stick from Brady Skjei. The Hurricanes were up 2-0 after one period on goals from Teuvo Teravainen and Sebastian Aho.
McDavid returned for the start of the second. Brett Pesce thought he’d given the Hurricanes a 3-0 advantage, but this time it was the Oilers who successfully challenged for offside. Derek Ryan, coming off a hat trick against Florida Saturday, struck again to pull the Oilers within one. He blocked a shot at the blueline, broke in on Andersen, and slid the puck five-hole for his eighth of the season.
“Our compete was off the charts,” head coach Jay Woodcroft said. “I thought (the Hurricanes) pushed us, we pushed them, there’s lots of good in it.”
The Oilers outshot Carolina 24-13 over the final two periods but couldn’t find the tying goal.
“We lost a special teams battle there. Just ran out of time there at the end. (The Hurricanes) are a really good team, and we showed up and just fell short,” Oilers forward Zach Hyman said.
Mike Smith bounced back from a couple of tough starts and made 27 saves. However, his record fell to 5-7-1.
“We had a couple looks. But, we didn’t find a way on our powerplay and our penalty kill gave one up. I think that’s an area we can continue to clean up”, Woodcroft added.
The Oilers, 29-21-3, will visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday (630 CHED, Face-off Show 3:30 p.m., game at 5 p.m.).