Calgary (34-14-7) maintained its four-point lead at the top of the Pacific Division ahead of the Los Angeles Kings, who won 3-2 in overtime against the Boston Bruins on Monday. The Flames also dealt a blow to the Oilers, who remained two points behind the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Edmonton (30-23-4) has lost three in a row and is 2-5-1 its past eight games since winning its first five under coach Jay Woodcroft, who replaced Dave Tippett on Feb. 10.
"In every game in this league, especially two good teams, Battle of Alberta, the difference is always going to be really small and in the details," said forward Devin Shore, who scored the Oilers goal. "Just a few things all over the ice you probably want to clean up and that ends up being the difference."
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, this was the first regular-season game between the Flames and Oilers at the Saddledome with fans permitted since Feb. 1, 2020. In that game, McDavid scored two goals and Draisaitl had four assists for Edmonton in an 8-3 victory that featured 102 penalty minutes, including a fight between Oilers goalie Mike Smith and then-Flames goalie Cam Talbot.
There was nothing like that Tuesday, but the Flames appreciated the home support, particularly after losing their first two games against the Oilers this season in Edmonton.
"We've missed them the past handful of games playing them, obviously, last year not having them at all," Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "That's probably the best part of the rivalry."
The game Tuesday was originally scheduled for Dec. 27 and was the last of eight home games that Calgary had rescheduled because of NHL COVID-19 protocol. Calgary went 7-0-1 in those eight games, with the only loss being 5-4 in overtime to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
"We wanted to play better than the last one," Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. "Tonight was the last of the makeup home games. This is the eighth game of the makeup games that we lost, so we got 15 out of 16 points. So that's the reason we're in a playoff spot. Very simple."
Calgary's winning formula Monday was also very simple. The Flames limited McDavid to three shots on goal and Draisaitl to one, they held the Oilers power play scoreless on four opportunities and they converted on their second power play of the night to take a 1-0 lead 6:27 into the second period.
Tkachuk flubbed a between-the-legs shot attempt from outside the right side of the crease, but the puck rolled in front to Toffoli, who chipped it in past Oilers goalie Mikko Koskinen for his 15th goal of the season. Toffoli struck again to make it 2-0 at 9:54 by beating Koskinen glove side with a wrist shot from the left circle on the rush.
"He's a goal-scorer," Sutter said. "… He only needs one chance to score. So he had two chances and he scored two goals."
The Oilers capitalized on a fortunate bounce, when the puck ricocheted off referee Dan O'Rourke, to pull within 2-1 on Shore's rebound goal at 4:67 of the third period. However, the Flames kept playing their structured game after that, and Johnny Gaudreau sealed the victory with his breakaway goal with 2:53 remaining.
"I think everybody did a good job," Markstrom said. "Obviously, I wasn't happy with the last game I played, so I really wanted to be better and put up a better performance than I did against Montreal. So it was nice. It's always good to get a two-goal lead there and they didn't have much. There was a couple chances in the second maybe and I just had to be calm but ready when they get some shots off to make some stops."
