The Carolina Hurricanes came up short Thursday night in Edmonton, dropping their second game of the road trip 6-5 in a shootout.

The Hurricanes weren't as bad as the score might suggest, but instead they simply couldn't find a way to slow down the Oilers' top brass.

Here are three takeaways from the loss:

After a torrid start to the season for the Hurricanes' penalty kill, key injuries have seen it take quite the tumble.

Heading into this road trip, Carolina was second overall on the kill, with a 93.3% success rate.

Through those first eight games, the Canes were allowing just 71.55 shot attempts per 60 (3rd best) and had a 5.43 expected goals against per 60 (3rd best) while shorthanded.

Since then, the team has killed off just 58.3% of their penalties, allowing five goals in 12 shorthanded instances.

In that span, the rates have ballooned to 110.5 shot attempts against (14th worst) and 12.25 expected goals against per 60 (5th worst).

They've allowed a power play goal against in three straight games and on Thursday, the Oilers completely dominated the Hurricanes' kill, scoring three times in five tries.

The Canes are obviously missing key pieces in Jordan Staal and Mark Jankowski, but the team just hasn't been as sharp overall in that particular area of the game.

And against a team like Edmonton, that just isn't going to cut it.

"When you give them the ice, like power plays, that's death," said Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour. "It's two of the best players maybe to ever play with that much space. Can't do that."

However, Brind'Amour was also keen to point out that the Oilers were handed five power play chances to the Hurricanes two, despite the game being essentially even, if not more tilted toward Carolina, at 5v5.

"It's kind of obvious how that game went," Brind'Amour said. "Like I said, five penalties was too many. The fact that we only had two power plays and they had five in a game where it's even like that. That's a little suspect, for me, because that's the game. We all see what's happening."

Every single one of the Edmonton Oilers' goals came almost immediately following a faceoff win.

The average time between the faceoffs and the goals for Edmonton was 9.6 seconds, with 16 seconds being the longest time between a faceoff win and a goal.

Three of those came in the defensive zone on the penalty kill and another came with under two minutes to go in the neutral zone and facing an extra attacker.

That's not to say that he would have won all of those key faceoffs, but the absence of Jordan Staal, and to a lesser extent Mark Jankowski, is certainly notable given how all the goals were scored.

Carolina was picked apart by the Oilers' quick strike and being down their top faceoff and defensive centerman didn't make things any easier.

Again, it's all easier said than done when it comes to Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. 

They're two of the best offensive players of all time and McDavid is currently on the best scoring pace of all time with 31 points in 10 games. I mean, c'mon, this was his third five-point game of the season already.

"They're incredible," Jarvis said. "They're two of the best players in the world and it takes everybody in here. I mean, some nights, that's going to happen. You can see why they're so highly regarded."

While it was certainly a frustrating loss given that the Canes had a 4-2 lead after 40 and scored a go-ahead goal with just 2:40 remaining in regulation, there were still a lot of aspects of the game to be happy with.

For one, the team's depth scoring continues to shine with contributions up and down the lineup.

Three of the team's four lines potted goals, Seth Jarvis scored in his first game back and Juuso Valimaki also continued to shine, controlling a 14-2 5v5 chance share and chipping in offensively as well.

And even though the team only got the two power plays, they also converted on one of their chances, with Jackson Blake finally getting a bounce to go too.

I'll also give props to Skyler Brind'Amour, who didn't see a ton of action due to Edmonton leaning on their top guys (8:10), but he wasn't on the ice for a single shot attempt against and nearly scored as he had a redirect hit the crossbar.

Overall, all four of the Hurricanes' lines outchanced the Oilers at 5v5, they allowed just a single 5v5 goal against and outside of McDavid and Draisaitl, none of the Oilers really did anything.

A lot of things to like, just not the penalty kill.

"If you take away the five penalties, that game was pretty good," Brind'Amour said. "We did a pretty good job. Last [goal against] was tough. Should never go in. Everybody knows that. It was just a bad bounce and probably should have had two points, but that's the way it goes."

Seth Jarvis Added To Roster; Could Play Tomorrow In Edmonton

Carolina Hurricanes Continue To Be Handed Tough News As Mark Jankowski Sent Back To Raleigh For Evaluation

'You Don't Want To Be One-Dimensional': Carolina Looking To Work Its Penalty Killing Magic On Logan Stankoven

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