Battle of Alberta at Rexall

Calgary Flames vs Edmonton Oilers 3-4OT (0-1, 2-1, 1-1, 0-1)

The Oilers kept together the four forward lines, three defensive pairs and netminder who had won their two previous games for this 3rd Battle of Alberta of the year - having split the earlier two between them.

"Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash" said George Patton. The armoured spearhead of the Oilers was stopped short by a well entrenched Flames defense, as expected, and the first period reflected evenly contested sides with equal desire to win. Only gritty forward Greg Moore was able to infiltrate the opposition and score, which he did with significant help from Anton Axelsson who carried the puck over both bluelines before feeding Moore for the opening marker.

The game opened up a bit more in the second, if only due to some lacklustre goaltending. Mark Giordano was allowed to pick up an easy goal that Khabibulin really should have stopped, while Dustin Penner sent the Oilers up 2-1 on a similarly soft goal. It was Giordano again, this time with a more admirable effort, that levelled the game mid way through the game, a score that stood at the second intermission.

What unfolded in the third was Edmonton unfolding, giving up 5 consecutive power plays, though some heroic penalty killing kept the Flames from taking the lead. Whether exhaustion or poor concentration set in, it was in vain as Dave Scatchard was allowed to put the visitors ahead with ten minutes to go. Nine minutes and fifty eight seconds of them were controlled quite comfortably by Calgary. When Dustin Penner sniped home the equaliser, a mere two seconds remained on the clock. The home fans cheered as if the Messiah had arrived, and arguably he had, in form of a Winkler, Manitoba native name of Dustin Penner!

The revelation was not done yet, and just 13 seconds into overtime, Brooks Laich tore himself from Robyn Regehr's watchful presence and slapped home the game winner. The game had been turned around so fast it was already sold as a movie in stores at Rexall!

Post game: Fans outside Rexall cheered as if the Stanley Cup itself had been brought to Edmonton. The jaws of defeat had not only been deprived of its prey, it had formally been snapped in half by the prey itself, having turned the tide so abruptly against it. First star of the game, Brooks Laich reminded fans and reporters alike, that despite the feeling of victory, it was just 2 points gained. "More work has to be done".


Scoreboard
1st Period:
EDM - Moore (Axelsson, Stone)

2nd Period:
CGY - Giordano (Bourque, Langkow)
EDM - Penner (Hemsky)
CGY - Giordano (Dawes, Sjöström)

3rd Period:
CGY - Scatchard (Walker, Kubina)
EDM - Penner (Laich, Moore) PP


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

Lines:
Penner - Gagner - Hemsky
Cogliano - Laich - O'Sullivan
Axelsson - Stone - Moore
Moreau - Falardeau - Brule

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Smid - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Yonkman

Khabibulin
(Hiller)