- The nurse was not wearing a helmet during the warm-up, let alone a face shield
- He suffered a bloody nose, but still played twenty minutes in the 6-3 defeat
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Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse’s face was bloodied from a self-inflicted wound Wednesday, in a painfully apt metaphor for the Oilers’ early-season struggles.
Nurse was warming up in Raleigh prior to the game against the Carolina Hurricanes when he took a wrist shot that deflected off the crossbar and went straight back into his face.
Unfortunately, the NHL veteran wasn’t wearing his helmet, which could have prevented the puck from bouncing into his nose. The nurse quickly skated to the tunnel to return to the locker room, before returning with a bloody face and cotton wool in each nostril.
Nurse lived up to the sport’s biggest cliché (“he’s a hockey player”) and played another twenty minutes in the 6-3 defeat.
But he wasn’t the only member of the Oilers to have an accident before the game. Goaltender Stuart Skinner lost a lead on one of his skates and spent a small portion of the warm-up skate sliding across the ice.
Sportsnet cameras captured the accident before Wednesday’s Oilers-Hurricanes game in Raleigh
Nurse fulfilled the sport’s biggest cliché (“he’s a hockey player”) and still played 20 minutes
And Skinner’s evening wasn’t going to get any better.
The Edmonton native was left with 5:12 left in the first period after Carolina’s fourth goal. It is the first time the Oilers have made a goalie change since the season opener.
The first period offense set the tone as the Oilers never recovered.
“We’ve never had a game like this where we scored on all our chances,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “Obviously it was nice to get those in and let them chase the game. That’s absolutely the way to do it.”
Skinner (left) was pulled in favor of Calvin Pickard after conceding four goals in the first period
Jesper Fast, Jack Drury, Martin Necas and Brent Burns also scored for Carolina. Jalen Chatfield had two assists.
Zach Hyman scored twice and Mattias Ekholm also had a goal for the Oilers, who fell to 2-8 in road games. They have lost three in a row after a three-game winning streak.
“We didn’t do ourselves any favors,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We made it difficult.”
The 5-12-1 Oilers play again in Washington on Friday.