EDMONTON, AB – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins registered his 700th career point for the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night in a 5-2 defeat to the Chicago Blackhawks at Rogers Place, dropping the Blue & Orange to 0-2-0 to begin the 2024-25 NHL regular season.

Forward Jeff Skinner picked up his first point as an Oiler on veteran Corey Perry’s tally in the middle frame that nullified Philipp Kurashev’s go-ahead goal during an exciting first period, but the Blackhawks would score three straight through Seth Jones, Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen over the next 20:40 of play to build themselves back up to a 4-1 advantage.

After Viktor Arvidsson had his first Oilers goal taken away for goaltender interference and Leon Draisaitl scored on the power play at 10:01 of the final stanza to give Edmonton a chance at a comeback, the German took a hooking penalty with the net empty late in the contest to give Teravainen his second goal of the contest with the man advantage in the final minute to seal the 5-2 victory for the visitors.

Teravainen finished with two goals and two assists, while Bedard added two helpers and scored against Edmonton’s netminder Calvin Pickard, who stopped 15 of 20 shots in his first start of the season.

The Oilers will have a quick turnaround to when they face the Calgary Flames in the Battle of Alberta on Sunday in the second of their weekend back-to-back.

FIRST PERIOD

An exciting first period ended with the hosts trailing by one despite the Oilers showing considerable progression from their Opening Night defeat.

Zach Hyman had Edmonton’s first big opportunity when he took a feed through a defenceman’s legs from Connor McDavid before putting his backhand wide after Darnell Nurse started the play with a great stretch pass to the Oilers captain in the neutral zone to begin the rush.

Both Hyman & Nugent-Hopkins each needed one point to reach the respective 400 & 700-point marks of their careers, while Brett Kulak was celebrating playing in his 500th NHL game on Saturday night.

The Oilers were pressing, but they couldn’t forget about the elite skill on the other side in Connor Bedard, who nearly orchestrated the opening goal for the Blackhawks minutes later.

After falling on a spin-o-rama attempt against Evan Bouchard, Bedard didn’t quit on the play and followed it up with a no-look one-hand pass through the legs of Mattias Ekholm to Teuvo Teravainen. The Finnish forward put his shot off the crossbar to make the generational talent’s efforts all for naught before at the end of the same shift, Teravainen took a cross-ice feed from Bedard for a one-timer from the right circle that Pickard took away with a confident glove stop.

Edmonton’s fourth line was buzzing in the opening frame and created a chance for Perry that escaped the reach of the veteran forward after all three forwards Podkolzin, Ryan and Perry all touched the puck, but Perry couldn’t collect the puck for a clear chance in front after he pushed it under the last Chicago defenceman.

With 4:11 on the clock, Philipp Kurashev ended up giving the Blackhawks the lead, whacking the puck into the top corner from the hashmarks after the puck was floated into the danger area by former Oilers 2010 first-overall pick Taylor Hall from the top of the zone.

The Oilers had a golden opportunity through Leon Draisaitl to equalize in the last minute when the German stole a puck before having his backhand stopped in tight and his rebound going directly off the left post and away from danger.

Edmonton trailed 1-0 through 20 minutes and awaited their first goal since 6:44 of the first period of Game 7 during last season’s Stanley Cup Final.

SECOND PERIOD

They don’t ask how they go in – just that they do.

The Oilers finally broke through offensively for the first time this season with a gift of a bounce for Corey Perry, who struck the shinpad of defenceman TJ Brodie in front of the crease off a goal-side centring pass from before it crossed the line behind Petr Mrazek to make it 1-1 with 4:55 gone in the middle frame.

Also getting off the mark was forward Jeff Skinner, who picked up an assist on the play for his first point as a member of the Oilers.

Perry has been a prolific scorer against the Blackhawks over his career with 19 goals and 37 points in 53 contests against his former NHL team, whom he played 16 games for during the 2023-24 season before joining the Oilers in late January.

Edmonton’s power play got an early chance in the period, but Chicago restored their one-goal lead near the halfway mark of the frame on a sneaky shot from Seth Jones at the blueline that crept through Pickard’s five-hole.

The Oilers’ penalty kill dropped to 1-for-4 in its first two games after being beaten twice on three chances by Winnipeg back on Wednesday night in their season opener.

Mistakes began to surface for the Oilers in the final 10 minutes of the third period after falling behind for a second time, including on a giveaway in the offensive zone that allowed the Blackhawks to come up the ice on the rush and score their third through Bedard, who waltzed across the blueline uncontested and used Brett Kulak as a screen to snipe his first of the season over Pickard’s left shoulder.

The Blackhawks led 3-1 through 40 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD

Edmonton’s power play was still searching for a breakthrough after Teravainen made it 4-1 past the final frame’s quarter mark on a power play that resulted from a soft roughing call on McDavid in the offensive zone.

The Oilers had Viktor Arvidsson’s first Oilers goal waved off for goaltender interference and couldn’t convert their second power play of the night early in the period, but Leon Draisaitl found an answer on their next opportunity to give his side a chance with 9:59 left in regulation.

With Jones in the box for Chicago, Draisaitl tried to find Hyman at the back post from the left circle with a pass that was broken up in the slot, but after it fell kindly to McDavid in the opposite circle, the captain gave it right back to the German for a quick shot along the ice that beat Mrazek to make it 4-2 with just under half a period to play.

The Oilers pulled Pickard for the extra attacker and needed a chance for Nugent-Hopkins at the right post to go in to keep any hopes of completing the comeback alive, but after Mrazek blockered away the longest-tenured Oiler’s great opportunity to pull within one, a late hooking call to Draisaitl would allow the Blackhawks to add another on a late power play for the 5-2 final score.