Calgary Flames Jump into First in the Pacific Division

The Edmonton Oilers rolled into Calgary on Saturday night hoping to continue their five game winning streak. However, after the two went back and forth in the first and second periods, it was the Flames who scored the winning goal early in the third to earn the victory.

Calgary, who twice fell behind against the hard charging Oilers, saw Elias Lindholm scoring twice to earn his 19th and 20th of the season and helping lead the team to their fifth straight win. The Flames went into the game behind the Arizona Coyotes and Las Vegas Knights but now top the Pacific Division by one point.

Also scoring for Calgary was Dillon Dube and Johnny Gaudreau while assists went to Matthew Tkachuk, Derek Ryan, Sean Monahan, Noah Hanifin, Mark Giordano and Johnny Gaudreau. The Calgary Flames will next head to Montreal to begin a three game road trip that will see them also arriving in Toronto on Thursday and Ottawa on Saturday.

For punters, the beginning of 2020 has been good news for the Flames, and perfect for those looking to place bets in favour of the Flames with leading Canadian sportsbooks, who hope to continue their winning streak on the road. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored twice for the Edmonton Oilers while Connor McDavid scored once. Kailer Yamamoto earned two assists last night while Ethan Bear and Leon Draisaitl each earned one. Mikki Koskinen had 33 saves, and Cam Talbot had 32.

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After the first period ended with a score of 2-2, the Oilers were able to take advantage of Johnny Gaudreau’s string of bad luck after he lost his footing while inside the blueline giving up the puck, which Kailer Yamamoto collected and sent to Nugent-Hopkins.

As Nugent-Hopkins, fired off a shot, it was Gaudreau’s skate that deflected the shot into the goal to put the Edmonton Oilers up 3-2. Calgary replied with to tie the period at the mid-way point when Dillion Dube chipped in a shot over the shoulder of Mikko Koskinen to once again tie the game with just over eight minutes remaining.

After the second ended with the two teams tied, it was Lindholm who put Calgary back out front early into the third period while on a power play after he fired off a shot that went over Mikko Koskinen’s shoulder. The penalty play and goal came as a result of Zack Kassian reacting to a hit from Matthew Tkachuk. It saw Kassian dropping his gloves and attacking Tkachuk with punches and twice throwing him to the ice. That earned him a roughing penalty and a ten minute misconduct and watching as Tkachuk assisted in the winning goal

Edmonton, who currently have the best power play in the league didn’t get a chance to use it until the third after the Flames kept clear on the penalty box for most of the night. However, the one chance they had to tie the game in the third was lost due to being unable to capitalise on the opportunity.