The Edmonton Oilers’ best players made it known there is  a clear difference in skill level between the teams as they dumped on the Flames in what would be a 5-1 loss for Calgary.

It’s a Team Game – Lets just start by saying the 5v5 high danger chances were 15-2 in favour of the Oilers. It was a brutal night across the board for every Flames player, especially those with the job of trying to shut down Connor McDavid. The leagues marquee star kept his ridiculous hot streak up with ease, amassing 5 assists in the game. Calgary couldn’t get a single defenceman to defend the crease properly, they lost Weegar for over half of the game because he was banging his stick on the glass at the referee (it’s the Battle of Alberta, send some refs with thicker skin please) and were completely discombobulated from the second period on. I would have expected to see some form of a push from the Flames in the third, but it never happened. They checked out for the holiday break a little early.

Corsi King – I guess the crown here goes to Jonathan Huberdeau (50.41 CF%), although nobody deserves a positive shoutout for shot attempts. I could award Yan Kuznetsov (43.97 per cent) some flowers for surviving quite well without his regular partner. He also led the team with 18:09 in 5v5 time on ice while seeing no 5v5 goals scored against him. If I can pick one thing to celebrate out of this, it would probably be those shot rates. High danger chances for him were in a 7-1 deficit, so not overly great, but better than others that should be relied on in bigger spots.

Taken By Chance – Mikael Backlund (38.51 SCF% // 22.60 HDCF%) just could not compete with the machine on the other side. McDavid is playing in a league of his own and there was not much Backlund could have done with his skill-set too properly counter anything 97 was doing out there. That being said it’s not an excuse for the organization. The Flames management team can’t look at this loss and wonder how or why it happened – it’s clear as day the talent level between their top guys and yours is astronomical. Don Maloney might need to accept that these “fantasy players” are needed to truly compete. Yeah, you might end up with a Kyle Turris, but the Draisaitls of it all make it quite worth it – for the long haul too.

xGF% – I’m not analyzing in this section because there isn’t much to analyze. The Flames got their lunch handed to them. So instead, I’m just going to list everyone that finished below 25% in terms of expected goals. Matt Coronato – 24.98%, Morgan Frost – 24.37%, Ryan Lomberg – 22.04%, Kevin Bahl – 15.86%, John Beecher – 13.34%, Hunter Brzustewicz – 8.97%, Nazem Kadri – 7.76%, Joel Farabee – 7.20%, Yegor Sharangovich – 6.50%, Joel Hanley – 5.38%, and Adam Klapka – 1.37%. They’ll get another crack at the Oilers in 4 days, here’s hoping it goes better than this.

In The Crease – The Oilers power play is on so much fire right now I don’t blame any goaltenders for surrendering goals to them. The players simply can’t take a single minor or commit any infractions. 5v5 play saw Dustin Wolf perform just fine. He only surrendered 2 goals at 5v5 on 25 shots, both of those being scored on high danger chances. No weak goals, enough saved to keep his team alive (if they played normal hockey), and really a performance the coach need not be concerned about.

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