October 16, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers fell behind by three goals early for the second time in a row to open their season. However, they weren’t able to complete the comeback on Saturday night. The Flames took the first Battle of Alberta of the season by a score of 4-3.

It was an eventful opening ten minutes of the game. The Flames had built a 4-1 lead by the time the game was ten minutes old. Obviously, the “Call Outs” section for this game will be longer than the others.

Call Outs:

The pairing of Ryan Murray and Evan Bouchard were great in the first game, but they didn’t fare so well on Saturday night. There’s a reason that coach Jay Woodcroft broke that pairing up in the second period.

Both men were caught chasing after the puck in the left corner on the Flames’ first goal. The Oilers were playing man to man defence. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins lost Mikael Backlund high in the zone and Backlund him to the net. Backlund banged home a bouncing puck that had been partially blocked by Dylan Holloway. It was Nugent-Hopkins’s man that scored, but the right defenceman (Bouchard) should have been in a spot to be able to cover for the forward’s mistake there.

The second Flames goal came off a slap shot from the left half wall by Michael Stone. Murray and Bouchard both followed the same Flame to the net. They screened Jack Campbell on the shot. He didn’t even see it. Only one of them should have been there. The faceoff was on Murray’s side, so Bouchard should have been the one defender to cover the one Flame in front of the net.

There was a poorly timed change on the fourth Flames goal. Murray stepped onto the ice just as the puck was coming to him. Murray couldn’t handle it, and Kadri took it and walked to the net. Campbell made the original save, but Murray couldn’t sweep the puck away or tie up eventual goal scorer Andrew Mangiapane.

Brett Kulak tripped over the blue line, which allowed Nazem Kadri to walk in alone and tuck one past Campbell on the third goal. Kulak is a great skater and that won’t happen to him often; but that can’t happen in an NHL game.

Finally, Jack Campbell allowed four goals on ten shots in the first ten minutes and eighteen seconds of the game. The first goal came off a broken play, but that was a shot that went in along the ice while Campbell was already on his knees. That’s one you’d like your goalie to stop.  I can’t blame him for the second goal where he was screened by both of his defencemen. It’s hard to fault him entirely for the Kadri breakaway goal, but a save there would’ve kept Edmonton in the game. He made the first save right before the fourth goal, but he failed to keep his skate against the post on the rebound. The Oilers needed a save to keep them in the game, and Campbell couldn’t provide that on Saturday night. The Oilers have fallen behind by multiple goals early in both of Campbell’s appearances in an Oilers uniform thus far. The Oilers need more from Campbell early in games.

Standouts:

Stuart Skinner allowed the Oilers the opportunity to make this game interesting. Skinner came into the game in relief of Campbell half way through the first period, and he was stellar. He shut the door on the Flames. His best work came on a Flames powerplay early in the third period where he made two stops on glorious chances for Calgary. He got bailed out by his posts twice, but he was definitely the best Oilers on the night. Skinner has earned himself a start on Tuesday night.

Shout Outs:

Zach Hyman was a beast, as usual. He’s more than just a digger and a grinder. He creates dangerous chances for his linemates by protecting the puck and taking it hard to the net. He found himself on the top line with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl by the end of the night for the second game in a row.

Cody Ceci scored a rare goal, and he looked like he knew what he was doing on the shot. He took a feed from Kailer Yamamoto and ripped a wrist shot past Dan Vladar’s glove hand. He also got a point blank chance on a slap shot that was turned aside by Vladar in the second period.

The feed from Yamamoto on Ceci’s goal should have come a fraction of a second sooner and it should have went to Evander Kane in the slot, but it worked out well for him in the end. Yamamoto did great work to create a short-handed opportunity near the end of the first period as well.

Ryan McLeod showed some soft hands in tight on the third Oilers goal. He won a faceoff then went to the net. Murray took the puck to the net and made a smart pass back to McLeod who roofed it from a tight angle. Hopefully we see more of that from McLeod. A goal early in the season is an encouraging sign for the sophomore.

The good news for the Oilers was that they outscored the Flames 2-0 in the final 49:42 of the game. The bad news was that they had a putrid start again. They didn’t start this game on time. They have lived this tale before. Last season, they went through a two month stretch where they couldn’t score the first goal of the game if their lives depended on it. That can’t become a trend this season.

The Buffalo Sabres come to town on Tuesday. The Oilers should win that game, but they could find themselves fighting an uphill battle against a fast, young team with reason for optimism if they’re not careful.