Oilers fail to complete comeback in loss against Flames

The Edmonton Oilers dropped a 4-3 decision to the Calgary Flames on Saturday night.

The Flames jumped out to an early 4-1 lead, only for Oilers to mount another comeback to make it 4-3 game heading into the third period. Yet, some timely saves from Dan Vladar prevented the Oilers from completing the comeback.

An exciting and frustrating experience if you’re an Oilers fan.

First Period:

Oilers came out with some physicality, with Kailer Yamamoto and Evander Kane landing a few punishing hits on Mackenzie Weegar on the game's first shift. It didn’t really matter all that much, however, as the Flames got on the board first.

A point shot hit a few sticks but eventually came to Mikael Backlund in front who beat Campbell through the five-hole. 1-0 Calgary. Another early goal against the Oilers.

They weren’t about to dwell on it this time. Cody Ceci answered back a few minutes later as he walked into a wrist shot from the point and beat Dan Vladar clean. An exciting start from both sides as we got a 1-1 game early.

The early goals continued. This time it was Michael Stone regaining the lead for the Flames with a point shot through several bodies that beat Campbell over the blocker. 2-1 for Calgary and we are less than five minutes in.

Nazem Kadri gave the Flames some insurance after Brett Kulak blew a tire and gave him a breakaway. 3-1 Calgary and the Oilers find themselves trying to overcome a multi-goal deficit for the second straight time to start the season.

Andrew Mangiapane added to the lead as yet another defensive collapse allowed them to get an odd-man rush. I’d say it was a tough night for Campbell but Edmonton was hanging them out to dry. Nonetheless, that was it for Campbell. Stuart Skinner comes in to try and stop the bleeding. 4-1 Flames.

Oilers had some nice looks on net with a few power-play chances but no ground was made up.

4-1 Calgary heading into the second.

Second Period:

The Oilers had a much better start to the middle frame.

Edmonton finally had a dominant even-strength shift that hemmed Calgary in their own end and it wasn’t the usual suspects.

The line of Hyman-RNH-Puljujarvi gave the Flames fits at times...but they still couldn’t find the back of the net.

That changed halfway through the period. Connor McDavid deposited a PP goal for his fourth in two games. Oilers have life—the lead was cut to 4-2.

The comeback continued as, five minutes later, Ryan McLeod jumped on a puck in close and beat Vladar on the far side. we now had a 4-3 game with plenty of time remaining.

A much better effort leads to much better results.

The Oilers clawed back and found themselves trailing by just one goal heading into the final frame.

Third Period:

The Stuart Skinner show to kick off this period.

After going to an early powerplay, the Flames were sending absolutely everything on net, but ran into a brick wall in Skinner. He must’ve made at least three top notch save to keep the Oilers within striking distance.

Edmonton would push but, in the end, couldn’t get that crucial equalizer. Calgary does all the scoring in the first and Edmonton does all the scoring in the second, but nobody scores in the third.

4-3 Calgary is the final score.

Takeaways:

• You can have all the offence in the world but if you don’t play defence you get exactly what happened to the Oilers in the first period. Abysmal zone coverage, terrible at defending the rush, and crumbling under Calgary’s forecheck. It’ll kill them if they don’t figure it out.
• The sloppiness wasn’t exclusive to the defence. The Oilers forwards were also out of sorts all night long. Disjointed passes, giveaways and some baffling decision in the offensive zone stifled the team all night long.
• Speaking of which, are the Oilers cursed to have bad starts? It was a problem all last year and it seems to have followed them into this year...
• Was Jack Campbell good tonight? No. Was he a problem tonight? I don’t think so. You could have the best goaltender in the world in net for the Oilers, they still would have given up at least three goals. The defence is to blame for tonight, not the goaltending.
• Staying on goaltending...Stuart Skinner had a helluva game. Far and away Edmonton’s best player. Fantastic start to the season for #74.
• I thought the improvised line of Hyman-RNH-Puljujarvi was great. I wonder how often we will see that trio out together this season.
• I did like Hyman’s game once again.
• The Oilers record drops to 1-1-0 on the season. They’re back in action on Tuesday to host the Buffalo Sabres.