Calgary Flames Post-Game: Flames work (exhibition) overtime against Oilers

If we’re being honest, friends, we’ve seen more action-packed exhibition games for the Calgary Flames this season. But on Friday night, facing an Edmonton Oilers team that was light on NHL talent but high on work ethic, the Flames spent much of their time working on systems.

The Flames lost 2-1 in overtime to the Oilers in a game that got away from them in the third period.

The game was generally pretty one-sided in terms of puck control. Aside from a few bobbles or miscues, the Flames controlled large swaths of this game. It was not particularly end-to-end or high event, as the Flames seemed much more concerned with sticking to their systems than in going for fancy stuff – they broke formation from time to time in their 10-0 walloping of Vancouver earlier on.

The Flames opened the scoring midway through the second period, right after a strong penalty kill. The Flames put out a “bump-up” group of Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Elias Lindholm, Ilya Solovyov and Jeremie Poirier against a tuckered Oilers group and cashed in. Poirier fired a shot towards Jack Campbell’s net, and Lindholm tipped it into the Oilers net to make it 1-0.

The Oilers pushed in the third period and began to take over the flow a bit.

The Flames scored another goal late in the third period, coincidentally after another Oilers power play. The Flames cycled the puck off a rush chance, and Mikael Backlund seemed to have scored, but it was waved off for goaltender interference. The Flames challenged that call, but the call on the ice stood and so the Flames took a delay-of-game penalty as a result.

The Oilers pulled their goalie and used their two-man advantage to draw even, with Dylan Holloway scoring with 1:40 to tie things up. The Flames pressed before the buzzer and seemingly scored, but Yegor Sharangovich’s buzzer-beater turned out… on replay… to have not beaten the buzzer.

So this contest went to overtime, and Brad Malone scored on a breakaway to give the Oilers a 2-1 victory.

The Oilers were over-matched, dressing a mix of Bakersfield Condors mainstays and a handful of depth NHLers. But the Oilers worked hard and didn’t give the Flames too many freebies. The Flames stuck to their structure and systems, though, and played a really workmanlike game. The game got away from them late and the Oilers put a lot of pucks on net, but for the most part they looked quite solid.

Let’s go with two individuals: Jordan Oesterle and Dan Vladar. Oesterle really stood out with his play with the puck, and Vladar was really solid for yet another pre-season game.

The end of the third period had a ton of dramatic swings – the Flames challenged their disallowed goal, the Oilers scored on their power play, the Flames almost scored before the buzzer – but the winner in extra time is the obvious call here.

Here’s how the Flames lined up:

Jonathan Huberdeau – Elias Lindholm – Yegor Sharangovich
Dillon Dube – Nazemi Kadri – Matt Coronato
Blake Coleman – Mikael Backlund – Walker Duehr
Samuel Honzek – Cole Schwindt – Clark Bishop

Noah Hanifin – Rasmus Andersson
Jordan Oesterle – Chris Tanev
Jeremie Poirier – Ilya Solovyov

Dan Vladar started for the Flames and went the distance, backed up by Dustin Wolf.

Mikael Backlund wore the captain’s C for the first time in a game. His alternates were Chris Tanev and Elias Lindholm.

The Flames began the game with a tremendous video tribute to Chris Snow.

The Flames are back in action on Monday night when they host the Winnipeg Jets.