Flames 7, Oilers 3: Rookie Game Recap

A quick summary of this game would be that the Flames rookies did what was expected of them, especially those of elevated status, while the Oilers fell flat.

The Flames top line of Andrew Mangiapane – Dillon Dube – Spencer Foo combined for 2 goals and 5 points, while the second unit of Brett Pollock – Glenn Gawdin – Matthew Phillips combined for 3 goals and 8 points.

Dube was easily the best player on either team, both chipping in offensively with a goal and assist, while being dependable all over the ice all night. The first period saw a scary collision between he and a linesman, which sent the linesman off the ice for the remainder of the game.

Brett Pollock certainly performed as you’d expect an older prospect to, as he recorded two goals while adding an assist of his own. Matthew Phillips finally started to find open ice in the third period, and set up 3 goals. Glenn Gawdin added a goal of his own, and 2 points.

Tyler Parsons played the entire game, and showed off his stunning athleticism. He only gave up one goal that could’ve been stopped, to Cooper Marody late in the third. He displayed a calm demeanor all game, while recording several highlight reel stops.

On defence, Juuso Valimaki was all over the ice all afternoon. It was apparent playing in front of 9000 devoted fans got to him a bit, as he took several risks and was a little bit of a defensive liability on a few occasions. Nonetheless, he too recorded a goal and an assist.

Oliver Kylington, while not overly involved offensively, was the Flames best defender, almost always in position and playing defence well. That is something that has been a knock on his overall game his entire career, so it was nice to see him visibly working on it.

Both undrafted defencemen playing tonight made an impact. Jake Christiansen scored a beauty backhand breakaway goal fresh out of the penalty box, while Igor Merezhko dropped the gloves twice and performed admirably in both bouts.

Overall, a solid showing by almost every Flames player, and a good start to the 2018-19 hockey season (especially beating the Oilers).

Scoring summary:

1st Period

CGY (1) Dillon Dube (Spencer Foo)

EDM (1) Evan Bouchard (Caleb Jones)

2nd Period

CGY (1) Brett Pollock (Oliver Kylington, Josh Healey)

CGY (1) Andrew Mangiapane (Dillon Dube, Juuso Valimaki)

CGY (1) Jake Christiansen (Andrew Mangiapane)

3rd Period

CGY (1) Juuso Valimaki (Matthew Phillips, Glenn Gawdin)

CGY (1) Glenn Gawdin (Matthew Phillips, Brett Pollock)

EDM (1) Caleb Jones (Tyler Benson, Kailer Yamamoto)

EDM (1) Cooper Marody (Unassisted)

CGY (2) Brett Pollock (D’Artagnan Joly, Matthew Phillips)

by Gordie Taylor