Edmonton host rivals Calgary

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

Thomas Jones said "Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate". Between these rivals, there was certainly accumulated stakes, as the Oilers had done away with the Flames in a 4-1 win a mere week ago. Nevertheless, Calgary commanded the Western Conference with 31-14-3, with Edmonton trailing five points behind them. Once again, Edmonton dressed the same 20 players as last game, including starting Khabibulin in net. Ryan Stone remained a healthy scratch, something he has been since playing in the new years game against the Flames over two weeks ago.

The highly combustible combination of oil and flame brought about a lightning fast opening goal as Ales Hemsky dangled his way through the Calgary defence right off the opening faceoff, making it 1-0 before the fumes from the oil spills had even begun to evaporate. Calgary matched the Oilers by taking control over the game through an effective forecheck, but was not rewarded until Backlund found the net in the last minute of the period.

Intimidating the opposition was evidently not enough for the Oilers in the second, as Dustin Penner's fury at the referee following a penalty gave him a 10 minute misconduct. Still, the passion was channelled into more constructive parts of the Oilers' game, and a powerplay marker by O'Sullivan gave the home team a 2-1 lead late on.

The lack of discipline carried over into the final frame and it caught the Flames with full strength just as the Oilers seemed to have become immune to taking penalties. No less than six minors were served in their entirety by Calgary's belligerent players, though without setting them back another goal. Nonetheless, it also hampered the Flames' chances at putting the game on level terms. Edmonton edged out, once again, a close game.

Post game: "Impressive defensive effort, though somewhat heated" was head coach Constantine's summary of Edmonton's win. Hemsky was again the leading star offensively, along with a solid supporting cast of O'Sullivan, Gagner, Penner and Laich - but the lack of scoring may become more of a problem if Edmonton lose just a little concentration in their defensive game. "We know we might be overperforming a bit defensively right now, and that Khabibulin is bailing us out every now and then, so we'll be working to prevent a drop in our defensive game as well as trying to incite more offense" noted assistant coach Tom Renney on the situation.


Scoreboard
1st Period:
EDM - Hemsky (Gagner, Penner)
CGY - Backlund (Bourque, Regehr)

2nd Period:
-
3rd Period:
-


Injuries/Misconducts/Etc.
-

Lines:
Penner - Gagner - Hemsky
Cogliano - Laich - O'Sullivan
Moore - Krysanov - Skille
Moreau - Falardeau - O'Marra

Babchuk - Visnovsky
Smid - Gilbert
Grebeshkov - Yonkman

Khabibulin
(Hiller)