Flames hold on to defeat Oilers in scoring frenzy

Mikael Backlund scored once and added two assists while a half dozen of his teammates also had multi-point games to lead the host Calgary Flames to an entertaining 6-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.

Jacob Markstrom made 28 saves for the Flames, who snapped a two-game losing skid by beating their Alberta rivals in the first of 10 meetings this season.

Johnny Gaudreau, Milan Lucic and Dillon Dube all collected one goal and one assist, while Mark Giordano, Andrew Mangiapane and Sean Monahan each netted two assists.

On an emotional night, Calgary’s Elias Lindholm opened the scoring 56 seconds in after the drop of the puck by grabbing a drop pass from Dube at the top of the right circle and firing home a blocker-side wrist shot.

However, the Oilers controlled the rest of the period — shots were 17-3 — and were rewarded.

First, Jujhar Khaira tied the game by deflecting the point shot for his first goal of the season at 6:53, and then McDavid’s shot from the right face-off dot hit for a power-play goal that gave the visitors a 2-1 lead with 91 seconds remaining in the first period.

The Flames responded in the second period, outshooting the visitors 16-5 in the frame, and took a 3-2 lead. After Lucic pounced on a loose puck at 3:04 of the period and tied the clash, Backlund buried a rebound two minutes later.

And then the scoring came fast and furious.

Jesse Puljujarvi evened the count with his third goal in two games, completing a give-and-go with McDavid 78 seconds into the third period, but Dube blasted a one-timer from the right dot for a power-play goal at the 2:56 mark to give the hosts their third lead of the night.

Gaudreau gave the Flames a 5-3 edge when he ripped a top-corner shot while on a breakaway at 5:16, only to see Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse convert an open chance a few minutes later to make it a one-goal game.

However, Sam Bennett restored Calgary’s two-goal lead two minutes later by driving to the net and converting a Gaudreau pass for his first goal of the season to round out the scoring.

McDavid recorded his seventh consecutive multi-point game for the Oilers, who received a 22-save performance by Mikko Koskinen in a loss that saw their three-game winning streak snapped.

–Field Level Media