FLAMES FALL TO OILERS

Elias Lindholm, Mikael Backlund and Johnny Gaudreau had the goals for the homeside.

The Flames are now 14-13-3.

Jacob Markstrom made 23 saves, while Mike Smith turned aside 30 of the shots he faced.

Lindholm tested Smith early, taking a pass from Dillon Dube in tight at the top of the crease, but the Oilers ‘tender stuck with him and stopped it with his arm.

The visitors opened the scoring at 4:39 after a turnover in the Flames zone, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins taking a pass from Connor McDavid all alone beside the net and throwing it into the open cage. 

Less than a minute later, Brett Ritchie was sent off for slashing Kris Russell and the Oilers converted with 12 seconds left in the advantage at 7:22, Jesse Puljujarvi tipping Tyson Barrie’s point shot, the puck squeeking through the legs of Markstrom.

The Flames poored on the pressure early in the second period, Sean Monahan and Milan Lucic both getting great chances point-blank in the slot but unable to convert.

Later, during a prolonged possession in the Oilers zone, a cross-ice one-timer from Lindholm was also stopped by Smith.

Edmonton made it 3-0 at 8:39 when Dominik Kahun – who drew into the lineup along with Zack Kassian, who returned after missing 17 games with a broken hand – snapped one past Markstrom.

The Flames answered back quick just 25 seconds later.

Matthew Tkachuk got the puck behind the net and skated out front while fighting off Darnell Nurse who was draped on his back, passing cross-crease to a streaking Lindholm who tapped it home for his eighth of the season.

Video: EDM@CGY: Lindholm scores in 2nd period

The Oilers got a powerplay early in the third period, McDavid firing one from the right faceoff circle that beat Markstrom.

Alex Chiasson, with a powerplay marker, Nurse and Kassian also added third-period markers.

Backlund and Gaudreau rounded out the scoring.

THEY SAID IT:

Head coach Darryl Sutter on game:

“I think it kind of (goes back) to what I said at the start, when I came here. In this division, there’s way too much power in terms of offence and our team has to play a very, very strong checking game. The lesson would be in the first period, we weren’t good enough down low in our zone on the first goal, and the next goal is a powerplay goal on a penalty we didn’t have to take. In the second period, we were back to where we wanted to go and, in fact, I thought there were times where we sustained some pressure and played pretty well. So, we lost the first period, tied the game, and the bottom line is you’ve got to win the third period – and again two powerplays at the start of the period make it a 5-1 game.”

Video: The coach weighs in on tonight’s loss

Captain Mark Giordano’s thoughts:

“For the first time in a little bit, we were chasing the game and you can’t – when you’re chasing the game – change the way you play and start taking chances. At the end of the day, it’s 3-1 going into the third – two penalties and they scored on both. We have to be better than that.”

Video: “We have to be better than that”

Matthew Tkachuk on takeaways:

“I just think we have to play harder. We have to try and get the lead. … When that happens, you have to keep at it, grind it out and just play the way we know is going to make our team in particular success.”

THE LINEUP:

* To start the game

Lines

Johnny Gaudreau – Sean Monahan – Brett Ritchie

Matthew Tkachuk – Elias Lindholm – Dillon Dube

Milan Lucic – Mikael Backlund – Andrew Mangiapane

Sam Bennett – Derek Ryan – Josh Leivo

Embed – Twitter: Tweet from @NHLFlames: Focused. pic.twitter.com/24aZQ9gfno

Pairings

Mark Giordano – Rasmus Andersson

Noah Hanifin – Christopher Tanev

Juuso Valimaki – Oliver Kylington

Goaltender

Jacob Markstrom – starter

David Rittich

UP NEXT:

The Flames hit the road for four games down east, starting with a back-to-back set against the Maple Leafs Friday and Saturday.