Calgary Flames 0 Edmonton Oilers 1

Complete Stats

Recap

Well, the winning streak has come to an end. Calgary’s 6 game run in the win column was snapped with a 1-0 shut out loss to the Edmonton Oilers Sunday night. Calgary looked like a team that played 3 games in 4 days, but you have to give Edmonton a lot of credit. The Oilers played a very physical game (32 hits to Calgary’s 28) and they shut down the the Flames offence on the night.

The only goal of the game came in the first period when Connor McDavid would fire home a one timer, beating David Rittich to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish. And that’s pretty much it for this game. The Oilers play a weird brand of hockey: fast, physical, but also extremely boring. At times this game could have been used as a cure for insomnia. Edmonton stood the Flames up at the blue line and when the Flames did have some decent looks, the Oilers just blocked their shots. Edmonton finished with 20 blocked shots, 7 of them courtesy of old friend Kris Russell.

The Flames pushed back a little in the 3rd period, but they also played undisciplined. Calgary took 3 third period penalties and even though Edmonton’s PP is atrocious at home, you don’t want to give this team that many chances to play with the man advantage. Calgary’s penchant for sitting in the bin almost cost them as Connor McDavid would wire one off the cross bar, barely missing his second goal of the game.

Scoring

Calgary Flames

1st: None

2nd: None

3rd: None

Edmonton Oilers

1st: 12:18- McDavid (18) (Chiasson/Draisaitl)

2nd: None

3rd: None

Final Thoughts

Once the Oilers saw what the Flames had to offer in the 1st period you could see Edmonton’s game change. Calgary came out flying for the first 6 minutes or so, but you could tell they were out of gas. Edmonton then started playing physical and started grinding this game down to a pace they were comfortable with. The Lucic line gave the Flames fits all night with their physical play and Calgary’s top line just didn’t have any room to shoot or any answers. Calgary also struggled with getting the puck out of their own end and their zone entries were less than successful at times.

David Rittich was strong in net, stopping 29 of the 30 shots that came his way and you couldn’t have asked for anything more from him. He made some spectacular saves to keep it a 1 goal game, but no one playing in front of him could get the equalizer. The other lone bright spot for the Flames was their penalty kill. That portion of the Calgary special teams was 5 for 5 when asked to kill a penalty on the night.

Flame Of The Game

Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Derek Ryan (C). Pickin’s were slim tonight when it came to a player of the game, but Ryan had a very solid game. He excelled on the PK (4:41 SH TOI) and looked very good with the puck on his stick. He had 2 SOG, 2 hits and won 63% of his face offs.

What’s Next?

12/12: Calgary Flames vs Philadelphia Flyers, 6:30 PM MT