Hurricanes shut down Oilers via ‘full team effort’

EDMONTON – The Carolina Hurricanes were pretty quiet during the trade deadline period, but based on the way they’ve been playing of late it could easily be argued they didn’t really need to tinker with the lineup.

Jackson Blake had a pair of goals and K’Andre Miller had three assists as the Eastern Conference-leading Hurricanes registered a 6-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday.

Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and an assist and Shayne Gostisbehere, Jordan Martinook, and Jordan Staal also scored for the Hurricanes (40-16-6), who have won seven of their last eight games and have gone 16-2-3 in their last 21.

“A full team effort,” said Hurricanes defenceman Jalen Chatfield. “I don’t think there was a guy that took a shift off. We knew that was a good team coming in tonight and we had to play together and we needed everybody.”

Frederik Andersen only needed to make 13 stops to earn the win in the Carolina net.

“They’ve obviously got some very good players and we did a really good job of containing them,” said the veteran goalie. “They’ve got a lot of speed when they carry the puck up the middle, the D did a hell of a job containing (Connor) McDavid a lot.”

The only downside to the night was that the team lost Gostisbehere to an undisclosed injury.

“It’s obviously not good, he’s kind of been dealing with stuff, I feel like, all year,” said Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour. “Just when he kind of gets rolling, he keeps getting nicked up. So, I don’t really have an update at this time.”

Brind’Amour was impressed with how the rest of the defence stepped up.

“Those guys really dug in,” he said. “We lose ‘Ghost’ and we’re down to five, and are really playing four for the most part, it’s a lot to ask against that team and thought they did just a great job. They didn’t have a lot of chances and didn’t have a ton of shots, so we were doing a pretty good job.”

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The Hurricanes did make one minor deal on trade deadline day, acquiring bruising 35-year-old forward Nicolas Deslauriers from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for a conditional seventh-round pick in 2027.

Deslauriers has dressed in 24 games for the Flyers this season, recording one assist and 33 penalty minutes.

Zach Hyman had a pair of goals and Vasily Podkolzin also replied for the Oilers (30-25-8), who have lost six of their last eight. Edmonton has allowed 56 goals in its last 12 games.

Tristan Jarry managed 26 saves in the loss for Edmonton.

“Obviously we need to find it and put together wins,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “We’ve only got 20 games left and we’re on the brink of not making the playoffs. We can’t wait to find our game in the playoffs because we need to ultimately get there. We need to find another gear.”

The Oilers have had 10 home games this season with a save percentage below .840, an NHL high.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 7, 2026.

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