GOOD START AT HOME
Pitlick makes an impact in win
When he arrived at the rink Monday morning, winger Tyler Pitlick had a sick all over feeling when he searched for his name on either the travelling roster to Calgary or the Edmonton Oilers’ four-line roster as they kicked things off at Rogers Place and couldn’t find it anywhere.
But, then Benoit Pouliot came down with an illness, and the 25-year-old farmhand, who has battled a litany of injuries throughout his days in the Oilers’ organization, gratefully took his spot. And wouldn’t you know it, Pitlick’s game was the picture of robust health in a 4-2 victory.
After Pitlick rang one off the post and Flames’ goalie Jon Gillies robbed him, the hard-luck forward cashed one in from the blue paint in the third period Then he put an exclamation point on a very noticeable night with a spinarama feed to tryout winger Kris Versteeg for the insurance goal.
Ryan Vesce, a late training camp invite centre/winger who played the last two years in Minsk in the KHL, tied the Game 2-2 on a tip of Matt Benning’s point-shot early in the third. Then, Pitlick raced in to bang some loose garbage in the crease past Gillies for the gamewinner.
The Oilers scored the game’s first goal on a scramble 11 minutes into the game when Iiro Pakarinen finished off a rebound of a hard Mitch Moroz shot on a very strong Gillies, but the Flames came back with two in 90 seconds on Cam Talbot to take the first-period 2-1 lead.
Kenney Morrison, who played college with fellow Oilers D Jordan Oesterle at Western Michigan, burst between the Oilers blueliners to take a nice relay from Flames’ former first-round draft Mark Jankowski and beat Talbot cleanly to tie it. Then defenceman Dougie Hamilton’s older brother, forward Freddie, sent a hopeful shot at Talbot and it bounced off Oscar Klefbom’s skate and skipped in — the last goal Talbot gave up. He took a seat for Eetu Laurikainen for the third period.
Connor McDavid, who will be on the ice Tuesday morning along with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, was in the building watching the game after the World Cup experience with Team North America.
He might not play until the Kraft Hockeyville game Sunday in Vernon against the Los Angeles Kings. The Oilers play in Vancouver Wednesday and Winnipeg Friday before going to B.C. The only drama with McDavid is when to have a news conference to announce they’ve slapped the C on his jersey. ON THE BENCH: Ex-Oilers winger Lauri Korpikoski was in the Calgary lineup. He’s there on a tryout after playing for Finland at the World Cup ... Winger Tyler Benson, who hurt his shoulder playing four pre-season games for his Vancouver Giants’ team because they only had 12 forwards, didn’t have a no-contact jersey on Monday. He could get his first practice work where he can be hit Tuesday ... Scott Bourgeois is the new Oilers’ PA announcer, replacing Mark Lewis who retired. Bourgeois is a radio newsman at 880 ... The game was supposed to be streamed on the Oilers website by MLBAM which runs all the team websites, but they reportedly pulled the plug on it.