Oilers hold off late Flames rally
Edmonton picked up a big two points, but it wasn’t as easy as it looked like it was going to be.
Jesse Puljujarvi scored twice and Patrick Maroon had the eventual game-winner as the Oilers held off a wild third period Calgary rally to beat the Flames 7-5 on Saturday night.
The Oilers led 6-1 with less than 15 minutes remaining when Calgary scored four goals in a row in just over seven minutes to suddenly close within one.
“The first five minutes we were on them and got pucks in and got the forecheck and then they got one, they got two, they got three, they got four,” said Maroon. “My heart skipped a beat there for a second on the fifth goal.”
Pressing for the tying goal, Johnny Gaudreau had his shot on a two-on-one blockered away by Laurent Brossoit. The Flames also failed to capitalize on a power play with six minutes left.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins ended the threat with 1:01 left when his centering deflected in off the stick of Flames defenceman TJ Brodie.
“Our resilience right now is really good. Other than tonight, we’ve been down in every game for the past three and the way we fought back has been a really good sign for us. It’s something we did really well last year,” Nugent-Hopkins said. The Oilers have won six straight against Calgary, outscoring them 31-16. Edmonton pulls within five points of the Flames in the Western Conference standings.
“It’s been a good streak right now. We want to keep that rolling,” said Nugent-Hopkins. “Obviously a divisional team and a natural rivalry with the Alberta thing. We take pride in these games and we come out really hard.”
Jujhar Khaira, Mark Letustu and Milan Lucic also scored for Edmonton (11-14-2).
Sam Bennett, with a pair, Mikael Frolik, Micheal Ferland and Gaudreau scored for Calgary (14-11-1).
“Way too many chances against tonight. Way too many,” said Flames captain Mark Giordano. “We gave up four or five breakaways again to that team. They just feed off transition and turnovers. We hung our goalie out to dry.”
Brossoit made 29 saves for the win in net. Mike Smith kicked out 22-of-27 shots through two periods before giving way to David Rittich, who made four saves on six shots.
Puljujarvi opened the scoring at 10:29. Four minutes later, Eric Gryba’s shot went through the holder of Mark Giordano’s skate then changed directions again off Puljujarvi’s leg before trickling through Smith’s pads to make it 2-0.
“I’ve never seen it before in this league or any league that I’ve been in. It goes through the skate blade,” said Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan. “We’ve got to deal with that better. There are bounces that are going to happen. We have to react to those things better.”