*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
If you're the Edmonton Oilers and need some momentum in the game, you can always count on Leon Draisaitl to get it done. Draisaitl scored two goals, Evan Bouchard scored two goals, and the Oilers rallied to defeat the Calgay Flames 5-3 on Saturday night at home.
The season's second battle of Alberta did not disappoint, as the Oilers overcame a two goal deficit to win. Draisaitl scored two goals and also had two assists, while Bouchard scored both of his goals on the power play. This was also a key win for the Oilers as they look to break out of an extended funk, with this win snapping an 0-5-2 skid.
Draisaitl said of snapping the skid that "Obviously it feels great; losing is awful, it stinks, it's not fun and it feels like there is always a cloud around you when you are losing. And obviously, we're not where we want to be yet, but this is the first step and we have to start it at some point, Koskinen was amazing and it was a total team effort."
Starting off the scoring for the Flames was Matthew Tkachuk, who's 18th goal of the season at 8:29 of the first period gave the Flames the 1-0 lead, with Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm assisting. With 41 seconds left in the first, the lead doubled to 2-0, when Milan Lucic scored on the power play, his 9th goal of the season.
To start the second period, Bouchard scored his 7th goal of the season 5:35 into the period, and his 8th at 9:41 of the period, both on the power play, with Draisaitl and Connor McDavid assisting on both goals. Brendan Perlini scored to give the Oilers a 3-2 lead, but Hanifin scored 58 seconds later to tie game back up.
In the 3rd period, Duncan Keith picked up the lone assist on Draisaitl's 27th goal of the season at the 14:59 mark of the 3rd, putting Edmonton ahead by a 4-3 score. Draisaitl scored again on the empty net with one second left to finalize the 5-3 Oilers win.
Edmonton head coach Dave Tippett said "You can tell there is a relief, but there is a happiness. When you lose, people don't realize the toll it takes on you when you lose. When you lose, it's hurting everybody, so it's good to see them feel good about it tonight, and hopefully, it's a night we can use to start building ourselves back up again."
Getting the start at home for the Oilers was Mikko Koskinen, who ended a stretch of bad starts by finally getting the win. Koskinen turned aside 44 of the 47 shots on goal he faced from the Flames, posting a .936 save percentage, with his record improving to 13-8-1 in 21 starts.
Opposing Koskinen on the other side of the ice was Calgary's Jacob Markstrom, who still had a good night, even in the loss. Markstrom was able to save 26 of the 30 shots he saw from Edmonton, posting a .867 save percentage as his record dropped to 13-9-5 this season, totaling 27 starts.
Asked about the game as a whole, Tkachuk said that "We should have gained some momentum, I thought we did and had some chances. We had some chances when it was 2-0 and we just have to capitalize and extend our lead and not keep a team like that in it, and we did, and they found a way to get some and they came out with the win."
Up next, the Flames get back in action with a Monday night home matchup with the St. Louis Blues, with Markstrom likely to get the nod in goal. The Oilers head west for a Tuesday contest with the Vancouver Canucks, where Koskinen is the probable starting goalie.
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