Fourth Battle of Alberta of the season! Oh my.
Now that the Zack Kassian and Matthew Tkachuk stuff is settled it’s time for “did Mark Giordano try to destroy Connor McDavid’s knee again” drama. Calgary’s general manager, Brad Treliving, came out in defence of his captain, calling it “complete garbage” that Giordano would try and hurt McDavid. I don’t think Giordano intended to hurt McDavid in the final game of the season last year. I do think he was trying to get a piece of McDavid after he had him beat last Wednesday and that could have had terrible results.
Well, maybe the Oilers were fired up? The Oilers came out flying. Jumping out to a 2-0 lead in less than a minute and a half into the game. Flames get one back, but McDavid answers on the power play.
The Flames kept coming within striking distance of tying the game and the Oilers kept answering. When it’s 6-3 and Sam Gagner pokes for a loose puck in the crease, it’s not surprising to see a brawl break out. Wow. Goalie fight too? Battle. of Alberta.
The referees decided to call it then and have them play the remaining 20 seconds of the second period before the third period. Didn’t even know that was a thing.
The Battle of Alberta had the fireworks people were expecting.
THE BRIGHT SIDE
- Kailer Yamamoto pots a goal early in the first period. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fires a pass to Yamamoto, who snuck in front, and the RNH-Draisaitl-Yamamoto line stays hot.
- Zack Kassian finishes a nice dish from Josh Archibald to put the Oilers up 2-0 just 1:05 into the first period.
- Bronx cheer for David Rittich.
- Riley Sheahan gets a nice chance shorthanded.
- Yamamoto takes a penalty, but I’m okay with him being aggressive on the forecheck. Those penalties will happen occasionally, but knowing the NHL they won’t be often enough to warrant not playing that way.
- Allowing a goal is never a good thing, but Buddy Robinson is another elite name and I won’t hear anything about it.
- “Best power play in the NHL” has a lovely ring to it.
- Connor. McDavid. He’s on pace for 44 goals. His goalscoring is underrated.
- Oilers might have had the better chances on the penalty kill than the Flames on the power play early in the second.
- McDavid and Leon Draisaitl get an odd-man break after the penalty and McDavid finishes his second goal of the game. Oilers chase Rittich.
- The Gaetan Haas line is buzzing again.
- Correction: McDavid is on pace for 45*** goals.
- RNH-Draisaitl-Yamamoto forever.
- Caleb Jones with a sneaky shot from the blueline!
- Shots are 36-18 Edmonton at the end of two periods. That’s an absurd tally after playing the night before too.
- Rittich throws some shots at Sam Gagner after he pokes at the puck in the crease and Gagner and Mark Giordano go at it. Tkachuk and Ethan Bear start throwing. Smith and Cam Talbot meet at center ice and go as well. Wow.
- Was that a goal, though?
- Talbot getting ejected means Rittich is back in net.
- Rittich BACK.
- I don’t care. Extend Sam Gagner.
- HAAS PENALTY SHOT!
- And he scores! Oilers get the extra point after getting the touchdown.
THE DARK SIDE
- Mike Smith goes to play the puck, because of course he does, and he almost causes a goal. Smith dives back into position and prevents a goal.
- Darnell Nurse takes a penalty on Elias Lindholm.
- Matt Tkachuk scores.
- McDavid almost gets the hat trick after Lindholm’s 4-3 goal.
- Tkachuk might be hurt on a weird. I don’t wish injuries on any player, so that’s unfortunate. He’s a great player and should be on the ice.
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST PERIOD
| TIME | TEAM | DETAILS | SCORE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00:29 | Edmonton | Kailer Yamamoto (5) ASST: Oscar Klefbom (24), Leon Draisaitl (51) | 1-0 |
| 01:05 | Edmonton | Zack Kassian (14) ASST: Josh Archibald (6), Ethan Bear (13) | 2-0 |
| 12:42 | Calgary | Buddy Robinson (1) ASST: Johnny Gaudreau (28), Mark Giordano (20) | 2-1 |
| 15:33 | Edmonton | PPG – Connor McDavid (28) ASST: Darnell Nurse (18), Leon Draisaitl (52) | 3-1 |
2ND PERIOD
| TIME | TEAM | DETAILS | SCORE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 03:18 | Edmonton | Connor McDavid (29) ASST: Riley Sheahan (6) | 4-1 |
| 04:35 | Calgary | Matthew Tkachuk (17) ASST: Andrew Mangiapane (8), Mark Giordano (21) | 4-2 |
| 10:14 | Calgary | Elias Lindholm (22) | 4-3 |
| 11:37 | Edmonton | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (14) ASST: Kailer Yamamoto (5), Leon Draisaitl (53) | 5-3 |
| 15:58 | Edmonton | Caleb Jones (2) ASST: Gaetan Haas (5), Alex Chiasson (11) | 6-3 |
3RD PERIOD
| TIME | TEAM | DETAILS | SCORE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13:16 | Edmonton | Sam Gagner (3) ASST: Oscar Klefbom (25), Leon Draisaitl (54) | 7-3 |
| 18:03 | Edmonton | PS – Gaetan Haas (5) | 8-3 |
#GOODCONTENT
Kailer Yamamoto may non-ironically be The Answer.
— WheatNOil (@WheatNOil) February 2, 2020
— Raider Jesse (@EdmontonRaider) February 2, 2020
Flames fans walking into the Saddledome tonight. pic.twitter.com/4yZHNd0AuT
— 🅽🅰🆃🅸🅾🅽 🅳🅰🅽 🍥 (@TheNationDan) February 2, 2020
Mike Smith, looking like Gumby, makes the save.
— Robin Brownlee (@Robin_Brownlee) February 2, 2020
Flames have been dominating since going down 2-0 65 seconds in. Now they have a PP. A goal here would change things quickly.
— Eric Francis (@EricFrancis) February 2, 2020
Buddy Robinson is the name of the new character in the Mighty Ducks sequel
— J (@Account4hockey) February 2, 2020
#Oilers Connor McDavid becomes the 5th youngest player in NHL history to record 450 points pic.twitter.com/OOxS2MmfUM
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) February 2, 2020
Buddy is short for Budward
— Mike Pfeil (@mikeFAIL) February 2, 2020
@OilersnationHQ is doing Marvel-themed gifs for tonight’s game? pic.twitter.com/OuHqnrzB1U
— Cummingtonite? (@geology24_7) February 2, 2020
@EdmontonOilers somebody keeps making complaints against @OilersnationHQ on twitter and Instagram and getting them shutdown. U should know, the only reason I watched the worst losing record in the league over this 10year span was because of O.N. I’d have their back if I were U
— Eric Johnson (@EricJJohnson79) February 2, 2020
Yamamoto – Drai – Nuge have played 115 minutes together at 5×5. Sure they're riding some lovely shooting percentages, but they're 52.6% corsi, 54.5% xGF, and 54.3% scoring chances together.
That's BEFORE tonight's game.
(via @NatStatTrick)
— WheatNOil (@WheatNOil) February 2, 2020
Oiler bench giving it to Rittich on his way by
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) February 2, 2020
Caleb Jones scores to kick off Black History Month. YOU LOVE TO SEE IT. #Oilers
— Avry's Sports Show (@Avry) February 2, 2020
I was the told we needed a cowboy on the Oilers, I remain confused
— bcurlock (@bcurlock) February 2, 2020
Kailer Yamamoto this season vs. Kailer Yamamoto the previous two seasons pic.twitter.com/hRXjcFQ0A9
— Christian Pagnani (@chrispagnani) February 2, 2020
Fighting in hockey is so dumb AND YET pic.twitter.com/g8kIwAnhCw
— Drew (@DrewGROF) February 2, 2020
tfw you watch the nice man make your donair pic.twitter.com/rnDlMvphbB
— zach laing (@zjlaing) February 2, 2020
Paging Milan Lucic. Please report to centre ice for a statement of some sort.
— Eric Francis (@EricFrancis) February 2, 2020
When it's Saturday night and everyone in the club is having fun but you're just not feelin it pic.twitter.com/BNMHIitdJ6
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) February 2, 2020
My sexual orientation is goalie fight.
— Alice Moran (@Alice_Moran) February 2, 2020
Here are the penalties. Not sure how Giordano got away without one … #Oilers #Flames #NHL pic.twitter.com/BsS8DB95Ix
— Derek Van Diest (@DerekVanDiest) February 2, 2020
The Flames and Oilers are sharing the same emergency goalie tonight, which is incredibly awkward because that means he now has to fight himself
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) February 2, 2020
— The Prince Of Canada (@ajdesousa19) February 2, 2020
— Woodguy (@Woodguy55) February 2, 2020
When the Flames brought in Milan Lucic to protect their star players I never imagined he'd be shadowing the goalie pic.twitter.com/xyTmjQj5t8
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) February 2, 2020