The Carolina Hurricanes outplayed the Edmonton Oilers with a 2-1 home victory on Sunday, Feb. 27. Left wing Teuvo Teräväinen and center Sebastian Aho simply outshined Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl of the Oilers with stellar passing and team play.
The Canes (37-11-4) executed a solid win over the Oilers (29-21-3) with a pair of peak examples of tic-tac-toe passing, both in the first period. The game-opening goal featured all five skaters making quick passes in the offensive zone, culminating in Teräväinen’s 15th goal of the season assisted by right wing Andrei Svechnikov and defenseman Jalen Chatfield.
“It’s not always like that,” Aho said. “Make five straight passes tape to tape and then you score a goal, but yeah, those were nice plays by us. I think we started on time, we created those chances and obviously big goals early on and it was enough for us.”
The trademark “SAT” line of Svechnikov, Aho and Teräväinen was involved in both Hurricanes goals. The trio was on the ice for the opening goal and later teamed up for Aho’s power play goal that stretched the lead to 2-0 by the first intermission.
The Teräväinen-Aho connection hit for the 171st time in their careers on that second goal, putting them at the top of the all-time Hurricanes franchise leaderboard for most goal combinations by a single duo. The current record is now a tie between them and Kevin Dineen and Ron Francis, who set the record across two stints in 1984-91 and 1998-99.
Edmonton rolled out a dynamic duo of their own with McDavid and Draisaitl, but neither Oiler made much of an impact on the game. McDavid missed most of the first period after taking a high stick from defenseman Brady Skjei while Carolina smothered Draisaitl throughout the game, not allowing him to register any shots on goal.
“Obviously they’re two of the best players in the world,” said defenseman Brett Pesce. “The thing with McDavid is that you try and stay tight on him as much as you can, but he’ll just blow right by you. It’s kind of tough to defend those guys, but obviously I thought we did a really good job of it tonight.”
The Canes penalty kill played a big part in Carolina’s success in containing McDavid and Draisaitl. Edmonton boasts the third-best power play in the NHL, but the Hurricanes league-best PK unit held the Oilers to 0-for-4 on power play chances.
“I just think we have a good system in place and we all buy in,” Pesce said. “Everyone’s willing to block a shot and I think everyone does a good job when it’s time to jump on them and try to get after them and take away their space. We’re just so in sync, whoever’s out there. The four guys that are out there are intact with each other and we’re really confident right now too.
The Hurricanes will hit the road again for a matchup with the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, March 1. Puck drops at 7:30 p.m.
