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OILERS TODAY | Chris Wescott wraps up the game
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The Oilers final road trip of 2017-18 concludes on Monday in St. Paul against the Minnesota Wild. The game can be seen on Sportsnet West at 6 p.m. MDT and heard on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.
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Mike Smith made 34 saves to backstop the home team to the slim victory, while the Oilers came up empty on five opportunities with the man advantage.
"We came out a little sloppy and picked it up, but it was a little too late," Oilers forward Zack Kassian said following the loss. "Smitty made some big saves, but I wish our power play would have been a little better."
"A tale of two teams," added fellow veteran forward Michael Cammalleri. "The first period was not good, nothing to be proud of. The second two were more of how we want to play."
The Oilers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead at 2:41 with a contribution from their fourth line as Kassian stole the puck from Smith and found Anton Slepyshev in front for the easy tap-in. The Russian winger's sixth of the season was his first goal since he scored in back-to-back games Feb. 24-25 in Los Angeles and Anaheim.
The Flames challenged the play for offside and were unsuccessful, earning a delay of game infraction as a result. Edmonton was unable to capitalize on the power play, however, and the home side parlayed that momentum into the equalizing goal at the 6:43 mark from the stick of Dougie Hamilton for the blueliner's 17th of the year.
Calgary kept pouring it on in the latter half of the opening frame, scoring two more goals from Garnet Hathaway and Michael Backlund to chase Talbot from the game in favour of Al Montoya after seven shots. Montoya received his first action since he started Edmonton's March 18 road matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Oilers regained momentum in the middle frame thanks to an early penalty kill that saw Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl generate back-to-back shorthanded two-on-one rushes. The star forwards were unable to convert on their chances but the visitors took over the game from that point on in the second period.
Though McDavid and Draisaitl weren't able to convert earlier, the fourth line struck again with 7:19 to go in the frame as Cammalleri cut the deficit to 3-2. Just a few seconds after Smith denied Cammalleri's point-blank wrist shot, the wily veteran tipped home Andrej Sekera's point shot for his sixth of the season and first since Dec. 21.
Kassian picked up the second assist on Cammalleri's goal for his second point of the night as the two experienced forwards continued to team up with Slepyshev for an effective 40 minutes of grind-it-out work.
The Battle of Alberta turned into a literal battle early in the third, starting with Drake Caggiula dropping Mark Jankowski hard into the side boards. The Flames forward got up, cross-checked Caggiula and the two tossed their gloves for a quick tussle, with Jankowski receiving the additional minor.
Then, just a few minutes later, Milan Lucic and Smith got into a punching match after the Flames goalie gave the Oilers forward a couple whacks on the leg in front of the net. Once Lucic was finished serving his fighting major, Tanner Glass took him on for a fight in retaliation to the previous dust-up with Calgary's netminder.
"I think a lot of the fans enjoyed the old Battle of Alberta," Lucic said of the fiery nature of the final frame. "There's always been that rivalry and bad blood between the two teams. It's just the nature of the sport and the nature of playing in Alberta… Hopefully there's some carry-over in the emotional aspect to next year."
Edmonton pulled Montoya - who stopped all 13 shots he faced - in favour of an extra attacker with 1:23 remaining but Smith shut the door and preserved the 3-2 decision.
"We were happy with the start, getting the first goal, but we weren't happy with the next three," said Head Coach Todd McLellan. "It put us behind the eight-ball. We decided to play harder and compete a little bit more after the first. I can't complain about the effort and the opportunities that we created."
The Oilers will fly to St. Paul tomorrow and wrap up their final road trip of the season on Monday against the Minnesota Wild, whom they've beaten twice this year by a combined score of 7-3.
