GAME STORY: Oilers 3, Flames 2

EDMONTON, AB - Connor McDavid scored the game-winning goal and had a pair of assists as the Oilers got back in the win column with a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Saturday.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY
Photo Gallery
Highlights
Box Score
Look Back at the In-Game Blog
POST-GAME VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Post-Game vs. CGY
POST-GAME RAW | Coach Tippett
POST-GAME RAW | McDavid
POST-GAME RAW | Smith

POST-GAME UPDATES
Inside The Oilers Blog

FIRST BLOOD

With Kailer Yamamoto in the penalty box for tripping, Calgary's star players teamed up for a tic-tac-toe power-play goal as Sean Monahan passed the puck down to Elias Lindholm and he zipped it across to Johnny Gaudreau for a one-timer, his 10th of the season, to make it 1-0 at 14:49 of the first period.

PLAY OF THE GAME

After Noah Hanifin put the Flames back up by a goal early in the third period, the Oilers went back to work and netted the equalizer on a magnificent passing play as McDavid found Leon Draisaitl and the reigning league MVP made a ridiculous no-look feed to Yamamoto streaking down the right wing for a one-timer that went off Mikael Backlund's stick before ultimately going in the net for the forward's sixth of the season to make it 2-2.

SAVE OF THE GAME

It won't count as one of his 34 saves on the night, but Mike Smith made a clutch defensive play behind the Oilers net with 64 seconds remaining to allow his team to regain control of the puck. With the Flames net empty, Andrew Mangiapane won a race into the Edmonton zone but Smith was able to poke the puck away from him and Darnell Nurse gathered it to hold off the Flames attack.

TURNING POINT

McDavid scored the eventual game-winning goal with 3:45 remaining in regulation as he sniped a perfect wrist shot through traffic, off the far post, off the near post and in past Jacob Markstrom for his 15th tally of the season and fourth GWG. Yamamoto provided a screen and picked up the primary assist, following up on his earlier goal for a two-point night.

TOP PERFORMER

McDavid's three-point effort further cemented his spot atop the NHL scoring race as he now has 15 goals and 28 assists for 43 points in 26 games. The Oilers captain now has six three-point games against Calgary, which is tied for the most of his career as he also has a half-dozen vs. Anaheim.

FACT CHECK

Many players have suited up for both sides of the Battle of Alberta, but none had recorded a fighting major with both teams until Saturday when Milan Lucic dropped the gloves with Nurse in the opening period. As a member of the Oilers, Lucic went toe-to-toe with Flames forwards Anthony Peluso in December 2018 and Tanner Glass in March 2018, as well as defenceman Deryk Engelland twice in 2016-17.

NEXT UP

Saturday's Battle of Alberta matchup was sandwiched between a pair of three-game sets to compose Edmonton's seven-game homestand, as the Ottawa Senators will now visit Rogers Place for North Division showdowns on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

PARTING WORDS

"Nursey taking on the big man is something special and it for sure got us going," McDavid said of the Nurse-Lucic fight, followed by James Neal scrapping with Matthew Tkachuk. "Nealer to drop them with Tkachuk is an emotional one for our group and it got us going as well. Hats off to both of those guys, and I thought the rest of the group had lots of jump. Smitty did a great job of buying us time and allowing us to get our legs into it. I thought it was a good team win."

"We wanted to nip it in the bud as quick as possible, and what better way to do that than a game against Calgary?" Smith said of the team snapping its three-game losing skid. "Every game is important, but when you come off three games in a row like we had where we didn't play up to our capabilities, we wanted to get the ship righted as fast as possible. Tonight we didn't start as well as maybe we have in the past, but we found a way to win and get two points, and that's all that matters."
"We knew this was going to be a hard game, with their circumstances and us knowing we had to play better," Head Coach Dave Tippett said, referencing Calgary's coaching change on Thursday. "I liked the way we hung in the game. Smitty gave us some real good saves and our team competed. Especially the second and third periods, we competed really hard and we've got to continue to build on that."