*Photo from Yahoo!
After multiple fights in the last installment of the battle of Alberta between the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers, there was curiosity surrounding this version of it. Brett Ritchie and Jujhar Khaira ended up being the only ones to drop the gloves this time around, but there was still entertainment to be had. Ritchie fought Khaira, Noah Hanifin scored the game winning goal, and the Flames topped the Oilers with a 4-3 win in Monday night's installment of the battle of Alberta.
The scoring started in the second period, and it was quite the frenzy. It started with Calgary jumping out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Dillon Dube and Elias Lindholm. Adam Larson then scored for Edmonton to cut the lead to 2-1. After Andrew Mangiapane extended Calgary's lead to 3-1, Josh Archibald countered for Edmonton, making it 3-2 after two periods. In the 3rd, Leon Draisaitl tied it up for the Oilers, but Hanifin then scored the eventual game winning goal to make it 4-3 Flames.
Flames coach Darryl Sutter offered his thoughts on the game after it ended, saying that "I think we were in fits and spurts, but overall we did a pretty good job. We can play better. I think we lost coverage a couple times and lost goals, but overall, I thought it was a pretty solid game and I think our goalie, probably the last three or four minutes, made some big saves to hang on for the win."
Jacob Markstrom started for Calgary, and got the win this time around, bumping the Flames win streak to 3 games. Markstrom stopped 28 shots out of the 31 that came his way in a winning performance. Markstrom's record improves to 11-7-2 this season, while the Flames have a 14-12-3 record, 5th in the NHL's North Division.
Hanifin talked about his game winning goal, saying that "It was a huge response. Obviously, it was a great play by Backs(Mikael Backlund) on the wall and by Mang(Mangiapane), it's huge. Every time you're playing a team like that, it's going to be really intense and go back and forth a bit. It was a huge rebound for us."
Mike Smith started for the Oilers, getting hit with the loss in this game. Smith stopped 23 shots out of 27 that came his way this time around. His record dropped to 9-3-0 this season, while Edmonton still sits in playoff position, with a 18-13-0 record, 3rd place in the North Division.
Despite two straight losses, Larson has liked what he has seen from his fellow teammates in Edmonton, saying that "I still think we're doing a lot of good things. We got enough chances to win, but today we came up short. We're still a confident group. We just have to play a lot harder."
Edmonton and Calgary face off for the 6th battle of Alberta this season on Wednesday night, with Smith and Markstrom slated to start again.
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