Takeaways: Flames overwhelmed by Oilers’ stars, power play

The last time they played, it took eight rounds of a shootout for the Flames to beat the Oilers.

This time, it took eight points from Edmonton’s two best players to even the series.

As is so often the case in the modern-day Battle of Alberta, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl ran Calgary’s show from start to finish on Tuesday night.

Pretty easy for them to do when they have six power plays with which to operate.

By night’s end, the Oilers captain continued his torrid streak with five assists, while Draisaitl scored three easy goals on the power play to pace Edmonton to a 5-1 stomping at Rogers Place.

“I don’t think that was a very good night for us,” said Flames coach Ryan Huska of the beating that saw the Oilers outshoot Calgary 39-19.

“I feel like we gave them way too much room in the neutral zone in particular, and I thought their top players did a really good job, and I don’t think we handled them all that well.

“You have to stay on top of them. If they have room to skate and nobody’s in front of them, they’re the best players in the game. So they’re dangerous.

“Then, the power play too, you can’t give them that many opportunities, they’ll make you pay.

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The league’s best man advantage went three-for-six all told, while Calgary’s league-worst power play went 0-for-4.

“They just came out with a lot more intensity than us,” said Kevin Bahl.

“If we could have shut down their power play, I think we could have given ourselves a good shot in that game. Special teams have got to be a lot better.”

Although the two teams meet again on Saturday night, this one will be easy for the Flames to forget as they will spend the next three days off, celebrating Christmas with their families.

Scrappy affair

There was plenty of bad blood throughout this one, as one would expect given how embarrassed the Flames were.

With six seconds left, everyone on the ice was given a ten-minute misconduct after Ryan Lomberg interrupted a frosty discussion between Adam Klapka and Darnell Nurse with an attempt to get at the Oilers defenceman.

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A dog pile ensued, which is often an appropriate way to end a Battle of Alberta, especially one that saw Bahl fight Trent Frederic earlier in the evening, after the Oilers took exception to a Bahl blast on Zach Hyman.

There were 154 penalty minutes in total, setting up what should be a juicy return date Saturday in Calgary on Hockey Night in Canada.

Weegar taps out early

One period after scoring to tie the game 1-1, MacKenzie Weegar was kicked out of the game early in the second after slashing the stick out of Nurse’s hands following a whistle.

Unhappy with the call, Weegar smashed his stick on the glass several times while in the penalty box, earning him a ten-minute misconduct.

When he did it again, he got the ol’ heave-ho, prompting him to tap his stick on the ice as he skated from the penalty box to the Flames bench.

It left the Flames with five defencemen for the final 35 minutes, allowing Hunter Brzustewicz to play a season-high 18:12.

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“Weegs is a big part, and when you lose a guy that plays those top two, top four minutes, you have to keep it simple,” said Bahl.

“Quick shifts, don’t drag those shifts too long.”

Wolf kept things reasonable

Dustin Wolf actually kept the game within reach, making timely saves on Hyman in the first and second periods when the game was still within reach.

“The first goal he’d want to have back, on the rebound (by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins), but other than that he was really good for us tonight,” said Huska, whose starter made 34 saves, including six on McDavid.

“There were a couple too many opportunities against, and he was good for sure,” added Bahl.

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