Fresh off the heels of a disappointing, albeit lively, loss to the Nashville Predators, the Edmonton Oilers would look for redemption against the Calgary Flames.
The redemptive win, if obtained, wouldn’t come easy. The Oilers would not only be starting an inexperienced, backup netminder in between the pipes, but they would also be trying to find their feet just 24 hours removed from the loss against the Preds. Considering all of that, plus the fact that Calgary was operating on an extra day’s rest, and one would be forgiven if holding doubt about the task at hand.
Could the Oilers look to their leader Connor McDavid and his supporting cast to ride into Southern Alberta, snab a precious 2 points, and in the process completely sweep the Battle of Alberta for the first time in history? Let’s take a look and see.
1st Period
- That’s how you start a game that you need! Just a minute into the game and Slepyshev scores off an assist from Caggiula. Just a rocket of a wrist shot! 1-0 Oilers.
A rocket from the Russian! 🚀 #EDMvsCGY pic.twitter.com/FRCNVhQgsG
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 22, 2017
- And hey, hey, there is another one! 5 minutes in, and a warrior of a shift from Kassian to set up Letestu for the goal, and this game was 2-0 Oilers!
- AND ANOTHER ONE 36 SECONDS LATER! Jordan Eberle, with the monkey off his back the other night, executes just a gorgeous wrist shot off the rush and that is now 3-0 Oilers! Pouliot and Larsson with the assists. That was all she wrote for Johnson as in came Brian Elliott.
SNIPE SHOW! 🎯 #EDMvsCGY pic.twitter.com/OamEoUNs0i
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 22, 2017
- Loooooch! A spirited fight between Milan Lucic and Deryk Engelland and the big Oilers winger continues to roll with his impressive physical presence. Love to see some life get put into the Battle of Alberta.
Two fights in two nights for Looch! #EDMvsCGY pic.twitter.com/log65qGYFj
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 22, 2017
- Laurent Brossoit stopped all 12 of Calgary’s shots in his first period of NHL play this year.
Wow. What a period for the Oilers! Just a massive start for a team that has not been the quickest off the gate this year and before you could blink the game was 3-0. Not only that, but Chris Johnson, the Flames superior starter, was chased after the 3rd goal in favour of Brian Elliott relief. I looooove it.
After a disappointing game last night, that is exactly the start you want to see. Now, the task was just to close it out.
2nd Period
- The Flames received an early man advantage opportunity, but the Oilers were successfully able to kill it. Great work by Brossoit on the penalty kill to hold on to the 3 goal lead.
- And what an important kill as Captain Connor would capitalize right after for his 16th goal and 56th point of the year! What an excellent little dangle and a seeing eye wrister through a Maroon screen. Draisaitl and Larsson with the assists. That is 4 even strength goals with 1 from each Oiler line. 4-0 Oilers!
Goal 1️⃣6️⃣ Point 5️⃣6️⃣ #EDMvsCGY pic.twitter.com/YbrDzkXyhT
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 22, 2017
- The Oilers would get a Power Play a little over 5 minutes in and generate a ton of chances. They came close but just couldn’t quite put it home. Great 2 minutes from both units.
- Hard work pays off! Make it 5 on the board! An excellent forecheck by Jordan Eberle and Benoit Pouliot lead to a smart shot/pass by Benning where Eberle was able to direct it in. What a play by all 3! 5. Nothing. Oilers.
- Well, we wouldn’t want tonight to be too hard on the Flames would we? Okay yes we would, but the Flames scored anyways. Tkachuk scored one on the Power Play and the game was 5-1 Oilers.
- That 4 goal lead wouldn’t last long though, as Klefbom would get one right back on the Power Play with a big blast from the point. Nuge and Ebs with the assists, make it 6-1 Oilers. This game has been so damn fun, wow.
- The Oilers will start the 3rd on the Power Play after a careless Flames hook on Draisaitl. Tkachuk tried to take Draisaitl down after that play… he got embarrassed by the big German in the process. Too good.
What more can be said about that period? Oilers come out of it up 6-1 on the Flames. I hope you all cracked a beer ladies and gentleman and started early, because this game was worth a party already. Brossoit looked like a stud, every line was firing, and seriously, the Flames must have felt completely smothered. Nothing was going right for them through 40.
The Oilers would just need 20 more minutes and they would have their first sweep in the history of the Battle of Alberta.
3rd Period
- Little bit of a silly, mental cramp by Maroon to start the period, and the Flames would get their second goal of the night off of a turnover. Might as well give the Flames a little bit more hope for the Oilers to crush, right?
- Just 5 minutes in, and due to the Oilers swarming hard in the Flames zone, the Flames would hand the Oilers a minute plus 5 on 3 opportunity. The Oilers wouldn’t capitalize but it was still great to see them moving their feet and working hard to draw penalties, even in a blowout.
- Laurent Brossoit really looked terrific tonight. I am not sure if Chiarelli will add a different goalie before the deadline, but the play by Brossoit tonight must be a little comforting for the GM knowing he at least has one more option.
- More sparks started to fly by this point, and with that going on the Flames would score again. That was their second deflection goal, another one that Brossoit can not be blamed on. 6-3 Oilers.
- Well… a 3 goal win wouldn’t have been good enough so Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ensured that this game would go down in the books as a 4 goal win. Eberle with the assist, for his 4th point of the night. 7-3 Oilers.
You'd think you were in Edmonton… #BattleOfAlberta #Oilers #NHL pic.twitter.com/y2tXD47Exk
— Ryan Jespersen (@ryanjespersen) January 22, 2017
Final Score: Oilers 7 – Flames 3 (!!!!)
Postgame Thoughts
What more can you say? An emotional Battle of Alberta that resulted in a BIG win for the Edmonton Oilers. They started hot, with a flurry of goals in the first 5 minutes, and from there it was just a continued hard drive by the visitors to never give the Flames a chance in this one.
That my friends, is the first time that the Edmonton Oilers have ever swept the Battle of Alberta in a year. That my friends, was a move up the standings for the Oilers, putting 9 points between them and the Flames with no games in hand. That my friends… was a helluva lot of fun.
This was a game in which everyone was contributing. You could tell in the skate strides that every single player that went over the boards was heavily invested in taking this game. That is very inspiring especially considering that this team played just last night. These Oilers look prime and ready to compete in what will be a wicked stretch drive to April.
And the Oilers will do it, perhaps with a nice option behind Cam Talbot. In his first taste of NHL action this year, Laurent Brossoit delivered a terrific game where he made impressive stops all throughout the night. That is great to see after he struggled last season in his call up. That is Brossoit’s first ever NHL win. .927 save percentage on the night, but with 2 goals that he can’t be blamed on, he was even better than that.
Also worth noting that Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins, and Pouliot continue to get better and they looked extraordinary tonight, driving the play with authority. 4 points for Eberle, 2 for Nuge and Pouliot and that totals 8 points for this line tonight. McLellan will be very happy with that.
On the backend, Adam Larsson picked up 3(!!) assists while Oscar Klefbom picked up a goal and an assist, to give that pairing 5 points on the night. These guys are still young and it will be quite the journey to see just how far their ceiling can climb.
What a Saturday! I’m still a little accustomed to Hockey Night in Canada’s crushing my mood for the night so to have 2 back to back HNICs end in joy against the Flames has my heart in a state of shock. I am sure this is the case for most of us. Oh well, enjoy that boosted adrenaline! This game calls for celebration.
Players of the Game
Hmm…
- Laurent Brossoit, you’re a star. .927 save percentage on 41 shots for your first NHL win.
- Eberle, you’re a star. 4 points, 2 goals. You looked possessed tonight, in a good way.
- Nugent-Hopkins, you’re a star. 2 points and an insane amount of hard work.
- Adam Larsson, you’re a star. 3 points. Big hit on Gaudreau. Takin’ care of business all night.
- Oscar Klefbom, you’re a star. Goal, assist. We can listen to the TSN 1260 Klefbom goal song. Excellent.
And these are just the top 5… I really wanted to put up 90% of the team here but you get the point. Great game, Oilers. You deserve the upcoming rest.
Up Next: A Nice Little Break
The Oilers will get to take a few days and regroup before playing again on Wednesday in Anaheim. The time off will do this team some good, as the last 2 games have been very physical.
They can rest up feeling damn good about themselves and come prepared to battle hard in the last few games of January.
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