EDMONTON, Alberta — The battle of the backups went to Carolina.
With the Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers giving their No. 2 goaltenders their first starts of the season, Carolina’s Cam Ward outdueled Edmonton’s Laurent Brossoit with 48 saves in a 5-3 victory at Rogers Place.
Ward got his support on a pair of goals from Teuvo Teravainen and singles from Elias Lindholm, Jordan Staal and defenseman Jaccob Slavin.
Edmonton (1-4-0) got goals from Mark Letestu, Ryan Strome and Milan Lucic, but Brossoit gave up five goals on 21 shots.
While the Hurricanes improved to 2-1-1, the Oilers were looking to rebound after three straight losses. But things kept going downhill instead.
They gave up a goal on Carolina’s first shot 20 seconds into the game and took two penalties in the first four minutes. And by the 4:53 mark it was 2-0 Hurricanes, with both goals coming off the stick of Teravainen.
Another power-play goal, this time from Lindholm late in the period, gave Carolina a 3-0 lead at the first intermission.
Letestu scored the only goal of the second period, closing it to 3-1 on a power play at 17:11.
Despite having the lead, the Hurricanes were under constant siege in the second period, but Ward kept them out in front despite being outshot 36-15 through 40 minutes.
Staal gave Carolina some breathing room 4:03 into the third period when he scored on a short-handed breakaway, but the Oilers got that one right back on the same power play one minute later when Strome cut the lead to two goals again. Then Lucic cut it to 4-3 with 11:54 left.
The Oilers looked poised for a comeback, but couldn’t get the goal, or the save, they needed. Meanwhile, Slavin shut down reigning Hart Trophy winner Connor McDavid, who registered just a secondary power play assist on Edmonton’s first goal.
After Ward stopped Edmonton’s Patrick Maroon on a breakaway midway through the third period, the drama ended for good when Slavin scored on a deke at 10:36 to seal it.
NOTES: The last time the Hurricanes won a game in Edmonton was Dec. 7, 2011. …Carolina LW Teuvo Teravainen marked his 200th NHL game with two goals in the first period. … Carolina was held to one goal in each of their previous two games. … Hurricanes 2017 first-round pick Martin Necas made his NHL debut. … Trevor van Riemsdyk (concussion) missed his third straight game, but practiced with the team before the game. … Josh Jooris made his Hurricanes debut. … Janne Kuokkanen and Brock McGinn were healthy scratches for Carolina. … The Oilers were without D Matt Benning (illness), C Leon Draisaitl (concussion), D Andrej Sekera (knee) and RW Drake Caggiula (undisclosed). … C Brad Malone, called up Monday, drew in for his first NHL game of the season. LW Jujhar Khaira was a late scratch to make room.
