The Calgary Flames defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in Tonight’s Battle of Alberta

Calgary Flames 4 – Edmonton Oilers 3

Preview

Scoring

Calgary Flames

1st: None

2nd: 5:25 – Dube (7) (Lindholm), 8:57 – Lindholm (7) (Kylington, Dube), 13:45 – Mangiapane (9) (Lucic, Backlund)

3rd: 6:32 – Hanifin (3) (Mangiapane, Backlund)

Edmonton Oilers

1st: None

2nd: 9:49 – Larsson (3) (Ennis, Yamamoto), 17:07 – Archibald (5) (Shore, Bear)

3rd: 5:25 – Draisaitl (17) (McDavid)

Complete Stats

Recap

It wasn’t easy — it is the Battle of Alberta after all — but the Calgary Flames were able to fight their way to their third straight win.

Total accumulated shots on goal were 9 in the first period, the only excitement came in a big boy bout between Oilers’ JuJhar Khaira and Flames’ Brett Ritchie — Ritchie getting Khaira back for his hit on Flames’ D Oliver Kylington. The hit looked bad, and caught Kylington off guard, but luckily he not only returned to the game, but got an assist on the Flames second goal.

The game remained scoreless after the first period.

There was a lot more action in the second period — with a total of 5 goals, and the shots were 13-13 a piece.

Elias Lindholm would take the puck away from Connor McDavid in the neutral zone and his pass up gave Dillon Dube the room for a breakaway goal — opening up the scoring 5 minutes into the second.

Lindholm scores the Flames second goal only 3 minutes later — with a stretch pass from Kylington that looked like it was meant for Dube. Lindholm would make no mistake on the one-timer putting the Flames up by 2.

A short celebration for Flames fans as Adam Larsson would make it a 2-1 game with the Oilers goal — Jacob Markstrom in net for the Flames, gave away one too many rebounds allowing Larsson to come forth and fetch a goal.

Andrew Mangiapane’s goal would put the Flames up by two again with a score of 3-1 — Mike Smith playing outside of the crease for the Oilers, gets the puck taken away from him by Flames’ Milan Lucic, who makes a quick back pass to Mangiapane who’s shot finds net.

Before the end of the second period, Josh Archibald would put the Oilers within one again — with a weak shot from an acute angle, that Markstrom probably should’ve had. Archibald was all smiles leaving the bench for the second intermission.

Leon Draisaitl scores his 17th goal of the season tying the game 3-3 early in the third period — but it would take the Flames only a little over a minute to be back on top 4-3.

A play that started after Tanev was able to stop McDavid in the Flames zone — Hanifin sees an opening, rushes up and calls for the puck — Mangiapane hears him and delivers the pass for the game winning goal.

The Calgary Flames win 4-3 at home versus the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers still lead the series 3-2, but the Flames have a chance to tie the series on Wednesday when they play Edmonton again.

Final Thoughts

It ain’t called the Battle of Alberta for nothing. Jujhar Khaira does not return in the game — I'm speculating concussion protocol, but he did get TKO’d by Brett Ritchie. I hope he’s okay — never want to see serious injury to a player.

Just some McDavid highlights:

It’s Daryl Sutter’s team now — The Calgary Flames are 3-0 with Sutter’s return as bench boss. I don’t see the lines changing again anytime soon — the depth scoring is there and Sutter will keep things consistent until it stops working. The players are confident as ever and I hope they continue their winning streak.

Flame of the Game

Elias Lindholm (F) got the Flames going in the second period with the big assist on Dube’s breakaway goal, and then his goal coming off of a pass from Kylington that just sailed past Dube’s stick — who was crashing the net — and perfectly onto Lindholm’s stick for the one-timer.

Next Game

Calgary Flames vs. Edmonton Oilers — Wednesday, March 17th @8PM MT.

by Renu Sahota