Edmonton 2, Calgary 1
When: 10:00 PM ET, Saturday, January 14, 2017
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta
Referees:
Gord Dwyer, Ghislain Hebert
Linesmen:
Greg Devorski, Ryan Gibbons
Attendance:
18347
By The Sports Xchange
EDMONTON, Alberta -- It was not a game that will be remembered amongst the classic Battle of Alberta encounters of years past. It was tight-checking. It was tense. Scoring chances were at a premium.
However, the Edmonton Oilers aren't going to cry too much about the lack of entertainment value after earning two huge points in the Pacific Division race.
After 60 minutes of cautious hockey and five minutes of frenetic overtime, the Oilers got shootout goals from Leon Draisaitl and Mark Letestu to give them a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames.
Brian Elliott made 26 saves for the Flames. Oilers goalie Cam Talbot made 24
stops and was perfect in the shootout.
The game started off slowly, with scoring chances at a premium through the first period. The Flames outshot the Oilers 8-5, but there was only one real scoring chance of note, Talbot came up with a huge glove save on Calgary's Sean Monahan after the Flames came down the ice on a three-on-one rush.
Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said his team, having lost to New Jersey last night, had to manage their game Saturday.
"There was a feeling out process there for the first couple of periods. I thought today was one of the best games we've managed the puck in the season. That's how we're going to have to play if we want to get points in back-to-backs."
The game's feel was just as tentative through most of the second period, as shots were few and far between. But, with a little less than four minutes to in the second period, the crowd at Rogers Place finally had reason to jump out of their seats.
At the 16:24 mark, on a goalmouth scramble, Patrick Maroon smashed home his team-leading 18th goal of the season to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead. It was just the Oilers' 10th shot on goal. Flames defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka was in the penalty box when the goal was scored.
"It was a tight game all the way through," said Maroon. "Nobody really had any chances. I thought the neutral zone was really clogged up. Our cycle game really wasn't there and neither was theirs. But we battled hard and we got the two points that we needed. That's huge. We have to keep climbing the standings. That was a playoff game tonight. It was a playoff atmosphere. That's how games are going to be for the next two months, and we have to find ways to play through it and battle."
But, just 26 seconds later, on just their 11th and 12th shots on goal, the Flames evened the score. Monahan's initial shot was stopped by Talbot, but the Flames center pounced on the rebound and made no mistake with the second attempt.
Three minutes into the third, Talbot made a series of saves as the Flames enjoyed an extended period of pressure in the Oilers zone. Calgary's Johnny Gaudreau had a couple of good chances to give the Flames the lead, but Talbot kept the puck out.
Talbot noted that this game was markedly different than the teams' two previous meetings this season, which were both high-scoring affairs won by the Oilers.
"It was a lot more tight-checking than the first couple of games we played against them to start the season," said Talbot. "That was more pond hockey and this was more of a playoff atmosphere. We knew neither team was going to budge much and we got another greasy one from Patty on the power play and we battled it out from there."
The Flames kept pushing to go ahead, with Deryk Engelland rocketing a shot off the post with a little more than 11 minutes left in the third.
"I think, for a back-to-back, two teams that, if you look at our stats, are pretty equal, I thought we played a good road game," said Gulutzan. "I wasn't worried about our scoring. We'd like it to be nice and tight. Too bad we got a couple of the post that didn't go for us, and that's fine. I thought we had some odd-man rushes, we couldn't get things to go."
"I thought our forwards did a great job of getting above pucks and really frustrating them," said Flames defenseman Mark Giordano. "And, when they did get it in, we tried to play in packs of five and cut the ice in half, and get them hemmed in the corners."
The five minutes overtime produced more in terms of edge-of-the-seat action than the 60 minutes that preceded it.
Oilers right winger Jordan Eberle, who hasn't scored since Dec. 6, had a breakaway chance in the overtime frame, but couldn't get a shot on goal. With less than a minute left in overtime, Eberle deftly tipped a point shot from Oscar Klefbom, but Elliott got his pad on the puck.
Gaudreau rang a shot off the post just before the end of the overtime period.
And Elliott made a sprawling save to rob Maroon with two seconds left on the clock.
NOTES: Hayley Wickenheiser, who was one of the greatest women's hockey players in the world, was honored in a pregame ceremony. Wickenheiser won five Olympic medals, four of them gold, with the Canadian women's team. She also represented her country in softball at the 2000 Summer Olympics. She announced her retirement earlier this week. Wayne Gretzky, longtime teammate Danielle Goyette and Wickenheiser's son, Noah, were part of the entourage. Gretzky called her the "female Gordie Howe." ... Oilers D Adam Larsson missed the game with a lower-body injury. D Eric Gryba took his spot in the lineup. ... Flames C Matt Stajan played his 900th career NHL game Saturday. ... The Flames and Oilers met twice in October, with Edmonton winning both games by a collective 12-7 margin. They will meet again in Calgary next Saturday. ... The Oilers scratched LW Jujhar Khaira. ... The Flames scratched C Freddie Hamilton, D Brett Kulak and LW Micheal Ferland.
Top Game Performances
Calgary |
|
Edmonton |
Sean Monahan 1 |
Points |
Patrick Maroon 1 |
Sean Monahan 1 |
Goals |
Patrick Maroon 1 |
Johnny Gaudreau 1 |
Assists |
Drake Caggiula 1 |
N/A |
Power Play Goals |
Patrick Maroon 1 |
N/A |
Short Handed Goals |
N/A |
Brian Elliott .963 |
Save Percentage |
Cam Talbot .960 |
Brian Elliott 26 |
Saves |
Cam Talbot 24 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
Calgary
|
25 |
1 |
0-1 |
2-3 |
8 |
25 |
Edmonton
|
27 |
2 |
1-3 |
1-1 |
4 |
29 |
Upcoming Games
-
Edmonton will play their next game at home against Arizona. The Oilers have a W/L % of .591 after a win and .435 after a loss.
-
Calgary will play their next game at home against Florida. The Flames have a W/L % of .478 after a win and .522 after a loss.