Babcock and Hurricanes Reflect on Oilers’ Shootout Win

“We got a ton of lessons here tonight,” Oilers coach Mike Babcock said after Edmonton’s 6–5 shootout win over Carolina at Rogers Place on Thursday, October 22.

Asked about puck management, Babcock said Carolina denied space and required resilience. He rejected a reporter’s description of a one-line offense, saying he saw two effective forward groups. His concern was that too few other players were competing at the required level.

“There were some mental mistakes that kind of cost us a little bit,” Seth Jarvis told Hurricanes.com. Jarvis said Carolina fought well but gave Edmonton’s skilled power play too many opportunities.

Assessing his own first game, Jarvis said he initially had to catch up to the pace and felt better later, but faulted his defensive responsibility.

Carolina led 4–2 after two periods. Edmonton scored three power-play goals, and Connor McDavid’s deflection with 1:28 remaining tied it 5–5. McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each had two goals and three assists; Ryan Nugent-Hopkins supplied the only shootout goal.

Nugent-Hopkins also described having details to improve in his return. He said he became more comfortable as the game went on and began correcting some mental errors during the third period.

Carolina next visits St. Louis and Edmonton hosts Toronto on Saturday, October 24. Both games are scheduled for 5 p.m. MDT.

Carolina comments come from the complete Hurricanes.com written postgame report, which provides topic labels and selected quotations rather than a complete availability transcript. Edmonton comments were reviewed against the complete official automatic captions for Mike Babcock and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Read the full game account.