Flames lose first game since coaching change on McDavid goal for Oilers

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid scored the go-ahead goal with 3:45 remaining, and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Calgary Flames 3-2 at Rogers Place on Saturday in Calgary's first game since firing its coach.

McDavid gave the Oilers a 3-2 lead with a shot from the left face-off dot on the rush that bounced in off the far post.
McDavid had two assists, Kailer Yamamoto had a goal and an assist, and Mike Smith made 34 saves for Edmonton (15-11-0), which scored one goal when it lost three straight to the Toronto Maple Leafs to begin its seven-game homestand.
"It's a big win," McDavid said. "When you're sliding like we were, you have to find a way out of it, and I thought we did a great job as an entire group of just staying with it, sticking with it, holding on to that game even though we probably didn't get off to our best start."
Elias Lindholm had two assists, and Jacob Markstrom made 30 saves for Calgary (11-12-2), which is 3-6-1 in its past 10.
The Flames fired coach Geoff Ward on Thursday after a 7-3 win against the Ottawa Senators, replacing him with Darryl Sutter. Assistant Ryan Huska coached Calgary against Edmonton, with Sutter not expected to join the Flames until Monday at the earliest because of NHL COVID-19 protocols.
"I thought we gave up a little too much room as the game went on and we allowed them to get into our zone too easily," Huska said. "That's really how they got their three goals, in my opinion."
Johnny Gaudreau scored 33 seconds into a tripping penalty to Yamamoto to give Calgary a 1-0 lead at 14:49 of the first period. He one-timed a cross-ice pass from Lindholm.

The Flames outshot the Oilers 21-10 in the first period.
"Anytime there is a coaching change, you know there is going to be emotion in the game, but we felt the same emotion was needed from our group even though it didn't show in the first," Smith said. "I thought, just to stick with the game, it's not always easy, but it's the way you finish the game off. It's not how you start but how you finish, so it was nice to come out on the right side of that one and get a huge two points for the group."
Jesse Puljujarvi tied it 1-1 at 17:01 of the second period when he scored on the rebound of a point shot from Kris Russell.

Noah Hanifin scored on a point shot through traffic at 1:42 of the third period to give the Flames a 2-1 lead. It was his first goal in 45 games dating to Jan. 18, 2020.
"I thought we had a really good start, and it was a pretty back-and-forth game after that," Hanifin said. "It's a rivalry game and it's always going to be competitive. It stings as a loss, but I think we competed. I think if we play that way and compete that way, we'll have success more often than not."
Yamamoto tied it 2-2 at 6:07 when he scored on a cross-crease pass from Leon Draisaitl.
"We knew it was going to be a competitive game with their situation in changing their coach and our situation needing to get our game back in order," Edmonton coach Dave Tippett said. "I thought we got better as the game went on; you knew they were going to push early. They dumped a lot of pucks at the net in the first period, and we kind of got our legs under us, and I like the way we worked in the second and third period, and Connor, Leon and [Yamamoto] gave us a big period in the third, and we ended up getting the points."

It was Markstrom's first start since Feb. 20. He missed five games with a lower-body injury before backing up David Rittich against the Senators on Thursday.
"I think the biggest difference tonight was goaltending. I think (Smith) made a couple of saves, and I didn't when we needed to," Markstrom said. "It [stinks] feeling like you didn't bail out your teammates, but I thought we played a great game over 60 minutes, and there are obviously things to improve, but I think it's a step in the right direction. It [stinks] getting a loss out of this game when the guys played so well in front of me."
NOTE: McDavid has never gone four straight games without a point in the NHL. He entered on his third three-game drought.