Flames handle Oilers; Lucic, Neal scoreless

EDMONTON-- Five players scored for the Calgary Flames in a 5-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Friday.

Andrew Mangiapane had a goal and two assists for Calgary (20-15-5), which passed Edmonton in the Pacific Division standings. David Rittich made 28 saves.
"It's big, a four-point swing for us tonight, and we knew that going in," Mangiapane said. "It was good that we got the two points. Those two points are huge for us."
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Edmonton (20-17-4) dropped out of the top three in the Pacific for the first time this season and has lost four of its past five games.
"They were better right off the hop, in the first 10 seconds, we just got beat," Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. "There is no real excuse for that. We've always talked about coming off breaks and how this team has struggled coming off a break and tonight was no different."
Mikko Koskinen gave up four goals on 24 shots and was replaced by Mike Smith after Calgary's fourth goal at 16:54 of the second period. Smith made six saves.
"We wanted to come here and play like we have on the road the past little bit and come out of here with a greasy win," Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "I thought we did a good job of that. I think the month of December, and the first half of the season, we played a lot of Eastern Conference teams. Now we're starting to get into a stretch where we're playing a lot of divisional games and teams that are right there in the standings with us in the West. I wouldn't say it was a statement game, we just wanted to come here and play good, score some goals, play good team defense and come out with two points."

Neither Calgary forward Milan Lucic nor Edmonton forward James Neal had a point in the first meeting since they were traded for each other this offseason.
"We came to each period and we scored right away so it was huge for us," Rittich said. "The guys did a really good job and they didn't get too much on me. It wasn't that hard of a game, but I'm taking those two points and going home."
Mangiapane scored 11 seconds into the first period to give Calgary a 1-0 lead, off a pass in front from Elias Lindholm following turnover by Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Tkachuk made it 2-0 at 11:39 on a shot from the slot, taking a pass from Mangiapane. McDavid scored on a tip off a point shot by Darnell Nurse at 14:26 to make it 2-1.
"Any time you can score as quickly in periods as we did, it's helpful," Flames coach Geoff Ward said. "You get to play out in front as opposed to behind and I thought that was a big thing for us tonight."
Sean Monahan scored 1:08 into the second period for a 3-1 lead, and Lindholm scored at 16:54 to make it 4-1.
"Once we got the lead, whether it was 3-1 or 4-1, we did a good job of not necessarily shutting them down, but playing the right way," Tkachuk said. "We didn't give them much tonight. I thought that was a testament to our team defense."

Mikael Backlund scored on a shorthanded breakaway 57 seconds into the third period for a 5-1 lead.
"We addressed it at practice to make sure we'd try to be ready, but obviously, it wasn't enough," Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. "We were off three days for Christmas and we didn't come with the mindset to prepare to play a hard game. We were loose. When you haven't skated for three days, you have to show up with the purpose to prepare, prepare the right way. We were loose the whole practice. We didn't prepare well enough to win and it showed right from the drop of the puck."

They said it

"It was a good play by my linemates there on the forecheck, a nice pass, and I just happened to be in front to tap it in. It was a good play all around. That first shift kind of set the tempo for us." -- Flames forward Andrew Mangiapane
"I don't really know what happened with the puck, it just came off my stick. They capitalized immediately. It wasn't the way we wanted to start, it wasn't the way I wanted to start. It was a tough break, I go back for the puck and it comes off me and they put it in right away. That's a tough way to start a game, especially after a break." -- Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

Need to know

Mangiapane is the fifth Flames player to score in the opening 11 seconds of a regular-season game. ... Tkachuk has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past four games. ... Flames defenseman Mark Giordano was plus-4. ... Edmonton has given up seven shorthanded goals this season, a tie for most with Calgary.

What's next

Flames: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday (9:30 p.m. ET; SN, SN360, SN1, NHL.TV)
Oilers: Host the New York Rangers on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, MSG, NHL.TV)