FLAMES LOSE THE BATTLE
Goalies shine in Oilers win
OILERS 1 FLAMES 0
In a throwback to a rowdier time in the Battle of Alberta — like, a few weeks ago on Nov. 17 — the tone was set at centre ice during warm-ups.
Calgary Flames winger and noted tough guy Anthony Peluso, called up curiously in time for Sunday’s date against the Edmonton Oilers, skated along the line and dangerously into Oilers territory.
Zack Kassian, the Oilers’ resident ruffian, skated his warm-up circles and darted as close as he could to the boundary at centre ice.
The two shared words, likely not involving each other’s Christmas holiday plans.
But when the puck was dropped, skill took over and there was no surprise that Connor McDavid led the charge, scoring a highlight-reel top-shelf goal on a cross-ice setup from Alex Chiasson to get the Oilers on the board midway through the first period.
The one-goal lead stood until the buzzer, handing Calgary a 1-0 loss marking only the second time in which the Flames have been shut out. The last time was a 2-0 loss on the road to the Vegas Golden Knights on Nov. 23, which also happened to be their last regulation loss.
“We had a good weekend,” said Flames head coach Bill Peters. “I’m not happy with the result, obviously, but happy with the effort. I’m happy with the fact that we gave up two last night and one here tonight. Some positives in the game.
“It looks like we’re running a bit on fumes. So, a day off (Monday) will be good for our guys.”
The decision snapped a fivegame win streak for the Flames, who came into the game as the top team in the Western Conference and the third-best team in the NHL.
Sunday came on the heels of Saturday’s 5-2 win over the visiting Nashville Predators on Hockey Night in Canada. The Flames were 9-1-1 in their previous 11 outings including a 14-4-2 posting since an embarrassing 9-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on home ice back on Oct. 25.
The statistics show the Flames are a good third-period team, having gone into the game leading the league with 47 third period goals.
But on this night, missing their heart-and-soul captain Mark Giordano (serving the second and final game of his suspension) and top shutdown centre Mikael Backlund (to a concussion), they just didn’t have any magic.
The fact they took three penalties in the third period didn’t help, either.
Sam Bennett with five minutes elapsed in the final frame dangled through Darnell Nurse for a one-on-one chance on Oilers goaltender Mikko Koskinen, who would make 24 saves on the night. But the Flames winger didn’t slow down and crashed into Koskinen and was handed a goaltender interference infraction. Dalton Prout was dinged for an illegal check to the head while Elias Lindholm was caught for slashing in the final six minutes.
The Oilers were blanked on all five power plays during the game but the time on the kill disrupted Calgary’s flow.
“I didn’t think it was fatigue, just the momentum they gained from their power play,” Peters said. “We continually put it on the ice, especially in the third when we’re trying to push and come back and we’re continually killing and taxing guys and it makes it harder than it needs to be. It’s already a tough task … that’s not like us.”
Despite a handful of scoring chances early in the first period and some in the second, it happened to be Peluso in front of Edmonton’s net that looked to have tied the game at 12:18 of the middle frame.
The veteran of 147 NHL games tipped a shot from Alan Quine, who was recalled from the Stockton Heat in the wake of Backlund’s concussion, but the goal was waved off after referees determined that Peluso had impeded the left foot of Koskinen.
“Yeah, it’s disappointing,” said Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk. “It could go either way. Our argument might be (Peluso) couldn’t really go anywhere because the (Nugent-Hopkins) was right there. But we understand how that rule works. I thought we reacted fine for the second period but chances were hard to come by either night.”
The physicality bubbled over from Calgary’s 4-2 win at Scotiabank Saddledome last month. Oilers defenceman Matt Benning laid out Peluso along the boards in the neutral zone, which he tried to return shortly after in the Oilers’ zone.
Then, with 4:39 remaining in the opening frame, after taking exception to Milan Lucic’s hit on Travis Hamonic, Peluso went after him and bear hugged him, tossing some punches before linesman David Brisebois intervened.
Really though, the Flames were sleepy for much of the opening 30 minutes or so and David Rittich kept them in it.
Taking over for Mike Smith, who has backstopped Calgary to wins in five consecutive games, the 26-year-old Czech they call ‘Big Save Dave’ was excellent on back-to-back penalty kills, particularly on a point-blank shot from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins while James Neal was off for interference.
The Flames netminder was tested early in the second period, again, when he faced a breakaway from Nugent-Hopkins and made an incredibly athletic glove save on the 25-year-old second-line centreman.
Shortly after on a two-on-oh break, Leon Draisaitl woke up Rittich with a shot that went wide and tried to put in the rebound off the boards but Rittich, falling backward, made a perfect stop at his left post. In all, Rittch made 29 saves.
Kassian levelled Garnet Hathaway by the Flames bench, but Calgary got their hits in too. Dalton Prout had six belts in the game while Hathaway had four.
Flames scratched D Rinat Valiev and RW Austin Czarnik on Sunday against the Oilers … D Mark Giordano served the final game of his two-game suspension on Sunday … Next up for the Flames? The Philadelphia Flyers come to town on Wednesday (6:30 p.m. MT, Sportsnet, Sportsnet The Fan 960) before a three-game road trip starting next weekend which sees them visit Minnesota, St. Louis and Dallas.