Flames, Oilers open series with a bang
Provincial rivals fire up torrid goal-scoring spree as Battle of Alberta renewed with gusto
With the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers finally colliding for a long-awaited, much-anticipated spring series, it seems every hockey fan in the Wild Rose Province has been in a nostalgic mood.
Game 1 was, indeed, a throwback.
And then some. When the dust settled, the Flames had skated to a 9-6 victory in Wednesday's wild and wacky thriller at the Saddledome.
Believe it or not, there'd never before been this many goals scored in a playoff instalment of the Battle of Alberta. Even Wayne and Lanny and the boys didn't fill the net like this, not in one night anyway.
The Flames notched twice in the first minute, establishing a new league record for the fastest twin tallies to open a post-season skirmish, then frittered away a four-goal advantage before rallying to regain the lead and closing it out from there.
The Oilers pulled even early in the third, with Connor McDavid collecting his fourth point of the night on the tying strike, but Rasmus Andersson soon replied with a glove-side snipe and Matthew Tkachuk provided some wiggle-room when he buried on a breakaway.
Tkachuk eventually completed his hat trick into an empty net. Blake Coleman potted a pair of his own, while Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane, Brett Ritchie and Andersson added singles as the Flames claimed first blood in this best-of-seven set.
Zach Hyman cashed a couple for the Oilers, with Evan Bouchard, Leon Draisaitl and Kailer Yamamoto also hitting the scoresheet in a losing cause.
The Flames' faithful had been waiting 31 years for another seven-game slugfest with the Oilers. Within 51 seconds, they had a whole lot to cheer about.
With the anthem still echoing, Lindholm snapped a shot from the top of the left circle and Edmonton's Mike Smith — a familiar face after spending two seasons in Calgary's crease — simply whiffed on an attempted glove save, looking more like a guy trying to swat away a mosquito as he lined up a putt.
On the next shift, Mikael Backlund backhanded a pass out front from behind the net and Mangiapane smacked it over Smith's left pad.
When Smith, 40, snagged a routine dump-in a couple minutes later, he was treated to a Bronx jeer.
As Flames fourth-liner Brett Ritchie summed up matterof-factly during an in-house intermission interview: “It was obviously a good start. Scored first shift. Scored second shift. That doesn't happen very often.”
No, it doesn't.
Smith was yanked after Ritchie's marker just six minutes in, but the fun was really just getting started.
This, as it turns out, would be a tough night for all the netminders.
Coleman tucked two to open a 5-1 lead early in the middle stanza, but it was a one-goal game after 40 minutes. Flames stalwart Jacob Markstrom looked especially shaky on Hyman's awkward-angle shot for his first of the night.
McDavid bulled his way to the net to set up the equalizer, with Yamamoto cleaning up the rebound. It was squared for all of 89 seconds before Mangiapane spied his good pal Andersson, who grazed a shot off the inside of the post for the go-ahead goal and would-be winner.
The Flames, after scoring a grand total of 15 times during a first-round nail-biter against the Dallas Stars, have already deposited more than half that many in one affair with the Oilers.
Game 2 is set for Friday at the Saddledome.
AROUND THE BOARDS
The Flames finished with a 48-28 edge in shots on net ... The previous record for the two fastest tallies to open a playoff contest was set by the 1993 Pittsburgh Penguins, with Mario Lemieux and Rick Tocchet both finding the back of the net in a 54-second span during a second-round date with the New York Islanders ... The Flames were credited with a dozen hits in Wednesday's opening frame, and four of those were collisions with McDavid. Erik Gudbranson, Milan Lucic and Nikita Zadorov all spilled the superstar centre to the ice ... Tkachuk showed impressive hand-eye co-ordination on his man-advantage marker, batting one out of mid-air from the edge of the blue paint ... While Chris Tanev was on the ice for Wednesday's optional morning skate, and while Darryl Sutter told reporters afterward that the ace penalty-killer was “feeling great,” the 32-year-old defenceman missed Game 1 due to injury ... The Flames dialed Stockton for blue-line insurance, recalling Juuso Valimaki from the farm. Valimaki is still behind Connor Mackey, a scratch for all eight playoff dates so far, on the depth chart ... With Tanev out, Johnny Gaudreau again had an `A' stitched on his jersey. He also had three apples on the final summary.
OFF THE GLASS
Darryl Sutter likes to remind reporters that few were forecasting the Flames to be in this position.
On Wednesday, he was sticking up for the archrival Oilers too. “Quite honest, in July and August and September, it was the Flames are like sixth or seventh in their division and then in December-January, that's what everyone was saying about Edmonton,” Sutter said. “And now they're both in the second round, so it just tells you that the white noise and B.S. is just that”