Recap: Flames Cough Up Late Lead, Fall To Edmonton 3-2

Calgary Flames 2 – Edmonton Oilers 3

Complete Stats

Scoring

1st: None

2nd: CGY 4:29- Backlund SHG (Unassisted), EDM 5:02- Hyman PPG (McDavid/Draisaitl), CGY 16:06- Ritchie (Lewis/Lucic)

3rd: EDM 9:02- McDavid (Unassisted), EDM 12:24- Hyman (McDavid)

Well, the second round of the BoA didn’t go the Flames way as they fell to the Edmonton Oilers 3-2. Calgary had a 2-1 lead and had multiple chances to put this game away, but Edmonton got some key saves and timely goals and in the end took home their 6th victory of the season.

It’s not that the Oilers were any better or the Flames failed in any aspect of the game. This was a great back and forth contest and will certainly go down as one of the better games in this storied rivalry.

Calgary came out hot tonight, forcing the pace of play and after two periods were outshooting the Oilers 28-20 and had a 2-1 lead. The Flames got a key, SHG from Mikael Backlund to open the scoring and Brett Ritchie would find the back of the net to put the Flames up 2-1.

But as quickly as Calgary could get a lead, the Oilers battled back. Less than 40 seconds after Mikael Backlund put the Flames up 1-0 Victor Hyman would tally for Edmonton and it was all tied up. Calgary would get a tally from Brett Ritchie towards the latter stages of the second frame and Calgary would hold a 2-1 lead for a while. But as with all things Edmonton, you can’t keep Connor McDavid down for long. McDavid would score in the third and he would feed Zach Hyman again for the game winner. The Flames did attempt a valiant comeback, but Stuart Skinner was up to the task, shutting down multiple Calgary high danger chances to leave CowTown with a 3-2 victory.

Highlights

Final Thoughts

-This was a really entertaining game from start to finish. Both Calgary and Edmonton battled back and forth in an entertaining game. There were plenty of solid scoring chances and both goaltenders played at the top of their game and it was a clean game as well. Considering the two teams playing there were minimal scrums and there the Flames had the most PPO with four. Seven penalties total between these two teams and nothing of the roughing or fighting variety, that’s impressive in itself.

-The goaltending as a whole was very good in this contest as well. Both keepers came up with key saves at many different times to keep this contest interesting. Unfortunately for the Flames, Skinner made more saves at the end. The Edmonton keeper would stop 36 out of 37, while Markstrom would stop 18 out of 20. Now, that looks like a light workload for sure, but 20 shots from this Oilers group is no light lifting as any team in the NHL will tell you.

-The worst part of this game is it’s the last time Calgary will play Edmonton until December 27th. After that? That’s all. These two won’t play another game, unless they meet in the playoffs in late spring. That just doesn’t seem right.

Flame Of The Game

Elias Lindholm (C): 1 assist, 5 SOG, 4 hits, 52% FOW

What’s Next?

11/1: Calgary Flames vs Seattle Kraken, 7 PM MT

by Mark Parkinson