Elias Lindholm and Mikael Backlund also scored twice for Calgary (40-17-8) with Chris Tanev, Oliver Kylington and Dillon Dube adding one each. Tkachuk has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in his last four games, while Gaudreau also has 11 points in the same period (three goals, eight assists). Leon Draisaitl had a hat-trick to lead the attack for Edmonton (36-25-5) with Derick Brassard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scoring one each. Jacob Markstrom had 26 saves for Calgary. It is 31-12-7. Mike Smith, with the relief of Mikko Koskinen, ended in defeat to fall to 7-9-2. He stopped 22 of 26 shots he faced. Koskinen allowed five goals in 12 shots. The two provincial rivals ended up splitting a series of four season games. In front of a noisy crowd of 19,289, Calgary’s first sellout since February 21, 2020 against Boston, the game was a thrilling journey from start to finish with goals seemingly unstoppable. Draw 4-4 early in the second, the Flames took the third and final lead of the night with a pair of goals less than three minutes away from Tkachuk. At 5:06, Gaudreau passed in front of Evan Bouchard to retrieve a loose elf, then turned and sent a pass to the receiver to a wide-open Tkachuk, who fired a shot through Koskinen’s cushions. That ended the night for Koskinen. It did not start better for Smith, who was beaten between the pads by Tkachuk at 7:39, when the overthrow of the Oilers at their own end allowed Gaudreau to find Tkachuk behind the defense. Seeing a deadly power play, the buck roared again at the Oilers, making it 6-5 when they converted the two-player lead they owed when Erik Gudbranson was sent off for a hard three seconds on a penalty kick by Andrew Mangiapane. Dreisitl’s third game at 9:18 in the second and 47th seasons brought over 50 hats from the noisy Oilers fans who were scattered throughout the crowd that had sold out the reds. But Edmonton would not get any closer, in part thanks to a clutch stop by Markstrom early in the third. After robbing Evander Kane after putting him in front of a great passing sequence with Connor McDavid and Jesse Puljujarvi tying him up, the Flames pushed the ice with Gaudreau setting up Lindholm for his second night. The Flames added an insurance goal just over three minutes later when Backlund scored his second, hitting a shot into the crossbar. Edmonton lost some time jumping to a 1-0 lead when Brasar blocked Bouchard’s shot over Markstrom just 32 seconds after the game. But the only Oilers overnight lead lasted less than five minutes. Lindholm was sent alone by Tkatsuk’s pass and he went to the back, putting a shot under the crossbar. The flames overcame in front of the goals with a difference of 16 seconds. At 14:23, Tanev found himself behind the Oilers defense and while he was stopped, the rebound bounced off the Darnell Nurse. Calgary made it 3-1 when Backlund was left unmarked in the box and scored by Mangiapane in the center corner. But the Oilers reduced the deficit in half with 59 seconds left for the period. Nugent-Hopkins fell to a perfect pass behind the Flames defense, which Draisaitl succeeded from the wing, picked up and as he cut the reception, beat Markstrom in the far post. Before the season was over, Backlund hit McDavid on the ice as he skated and was sent off for interference. This led Edmonton to return to 3-3 in another power-play goal with Dreisaitl taking advantage of the glittering fresh ice to start the second period to score in 44 seconds. NOTES: Noah Hanifin played his 500th game in the NHL. At 25 years and 60 days old, he is the fifth youngest defender to reach this milestone in NHL history and the youngest since 1994 … Flames center Ryan Carpenter made his debut after acquiring Chicago on the trade deadline. He crossed a line with Milan Lusic and Trevor Lewis. This Canadian Press report was first published on March 26, 2022.
