Favourable Officiating Boosts Oilers, as Flames Fail To Hold Lead

Official Stats

Scoring:

1st Period

CGY [1] Tkachuk (18) (Lindholm (19), Hanifin (11)) 8:29

CGY [2] Lucic (9) (Hanifin (12), Andersson (17)) 19:19- PPG

2nd Period

EDM [1] Bouchard (7) (Draisaitl (29), McDavid (35)) 5:35- PPG

EDM [2] Bouchard (8) (McDavid (36), Draisaitl (30)) 9:41- PPG

EDM [3] Perlini (4) (Ryan (1), Ceci (9)) 18:18

CGY [3] Hanifin (4) (Gaudreau (29), Tkachuk (19)) 19:16

3rd Period

EDM [4] Draisaitl (27) (Keith (9)) 14:29

EDM [5] Draisaitl (28) (N/A) 19:59- ENG

Game Notes

-Hot Start: With all the obvious elements that made this yet another trap game for the Flames to fall in to, they actually came out and had a superb first period and fairly solid game overall. Matthew Tkachuk and Milan Lucic each scored a well-earned goal to send the Flames up 2-0 after the first. That combined with near 50 shots on goal would likely earn a victory most nights, but things didn’t go that way.

-Turning Point: There was a noticeable shift in the game in the second period, and it really originated with one event. A seemingly harmless and minor collision between Matthew Tkachuk and Connor McDavid sent the latter diving to the ice for some unknown reason, which drew the ire of Rogers Place. A crosschecking call on Oliver Kylington was materialized in short order, and Edmonton capitalized. 4 minutes later, McDavid drew the first of two mystery penalties in the period, shortly after Leon Draisaitl hunched over in agony in the neutral ice after a whack from Andrew Mangiapane. Not a single other Oilers penalty would be called after the first period, which became evident on the game-winning goal.

-Care to Explain?: First of all truly full credit to Draisaitl for a slick move to cut in for the game winning goal, but it was a play that should have never happened. Jesse Puljujarvi bowled Oliver Kylington over in the slot which both allowed Draisaitl to enter free ice, while also tangled Kylington up with another Flame. It was a fairly blatant missed call after a string of questionable ones that had all gone Edmonton’s way, and unfortunately played a big factor in the outcome of this game.

-Credit: With the absolute barrage of criticism up North, Mikko Koskinen put forth an admittedly solid performance to shut down a Flames onslaught of shots. With the game tied in the third, he made two crucial sliding saves on Dillon Dube and Kylington, as he finished the night with 44 saves.

-Elite Offence: While the top line yet again generated two even-strength goals, only Noah Hanifin had a hand in all of them. The 24-year-old sent Elias Lindholm into the Oilers zone for the game’s first goal, before firing the shot that was redirected by Lucic on the powerplay. Number 55 finished his night off with the equalizer late in the second period, as a long shot found its way over Koskinen. Evan Bouchard for the Oilers also had himself a night from the back end, as he scored powerplay goals just 4 minutes apart.

by Gordie Taylor