Quotable: the Flames beat the Oilers 3-1
By Ryan Pike
3 years agoAfter a close loss on Monday, the Calgary Flames bounced back with a rock-solid road effort as they grinded out a tight 3-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday evening. Their playoff hopes remain alive for a little while longer.
Here are some selected quotes from the post-game media addresses.
Darryl Sutter
Sutter reflected on Elias Lindholm’s big game.
Good all-around game for Lindy, I think. Obviously scored two goals, he could’ve had that shortie, too, late when Mikael passed to him and Smith made the glove save. Thought he would’ve had a hat trick, but he was really good on face-offs. Obviously he’s a really good two-way centreman for us but it’s nice to see him get rewarded, too.
Overall, Lindholm had two goals on five shots and won 16 of 25 face-offs (64%) in 18:55 of ice time.
Since Noah Hanifin’s injury, Sutter had to shuffle his defensive pairs. Mark Giordano & Chris Tanev and Juuso Valimaki & Michael Stone stayed together, but Nikita Nesterov came in to play with Rasmus Andersson. Sutter spoke about his defensive pairing usage.
I think that we [played] Gio and Chris two or three minutes too much tonight, which I think, you know, Nester’s an older guy who’s gotta come in and be a solid guy for that and he’s been pretty good these two games. And I think that Stoner plays his game the same way all the time. We keep pushing Val to be a stronger player, more aggressive and hopefully he does.
Defensive ice time broke down like this: Giordano 27:14, Tanev 25:07, Andersson 20:52, Nesterov 20:02, Stone 14:01 and Valimaki 12:44.
Andersson picked up a primary assist on Lindholm’s game-winning goal (on a tipped point shot) and a secondary assist on Dillon Dube’s goal (on a transition pass that led to Milan Lucic’s initial scoring chance). Sutter assessed “I like him specifically most nights.”
Elias Lindholm
Lindholm nearly completed the hat trick at the end of the second period, but Mike Smith made a big glove save.
I just tried to get it up and saw open net, but he made a nice save. It is what it is. That was probably my best chance in a long time and it’s funny how it works. Two greasy ones in the beginning and then you get a really good chance and it doesn’t go in.
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