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Instant Reaction: Flames shut out by Oilers, four game winning streak snapped
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Photo credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Oct 28, 2026, 23:14 EDT
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Welcome to Instant Reaction, where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Calgary Flames game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below! 
The Calgary Flames headed into hostile territory on Wednesday evening to face the Edmonton Oilers for the first time in the 2026-27 season. After a fairly even opening period, the Flames seemed to get a bit rattled in the middle frame after starting netminder Devin Cooley left due to an injury.
Ultimately, the Flames just didn’t have their mojo going in a 4-0 shutout loss to the Oilers, ending their winning streak after four games.

The rundown

About five minutes into the game, fourth-liner Brennan Othmann tussled with Edmonton’s Ty Emberson. Othmann landed awkwardly at the end of the bout and didn’t return to the game.
A few minutes after the bout, after a stretch where the Flames had a lot of good looks, the Oilers opened the scoring. The Oilers carried the puck up the ice and the red team was perhaps guilty of focusing in on Connor McDavid, the puck carrier, rather than the play that was developing. McDavid found Mathieu Joseph, entering the zone late off a line change, and Joseph buried the back-door pass past Devin Cooley to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead.
Late in the first period, Edmonton’s Colton Dach crashed into Cooley during a scoring chance.
Cooley got up and finished the period, but he left the game after the opening frame and was replaced by Dustin Wolf in net for the remainder of the game.
Just shy of five minutes into the second period, the Oilers doubled their lead. They won an offensive zone face-off back to the point, stacked up oodles of bodies between the point and the net, and Mattias Ekholm’s shot found a way through the pack – and past Wolf – to give Edmonton a 2-0 lead.
Early in the third period, the Oilers pulled things out of reach with a pair of goals.
With Kevin Bahl in the penalty box, the Flames couldn’t clear a 50/50 puck just inside their blueline. The Oilers cycled the puck down deep into the Flames’ zone, and McDavid found Kasperi Kapanen at the far post for a tap-in to extend the lead to 3-0.
On the very next shift, Jake Middleton mishandled a puck in the Flames’ zone. Jason Dickinson yoinked the errant puck and passed it to Alex Formenton, who fired the puck past Wolf’s glove hand to give the Oilers a 4-0 lead.
The Flames had some looks, but the Oilers defended well in front of Tristan Jarry to cement a 4-0 win over Calgary.

Why the Flames lost

During the Flames’ four game winning streak, they played imperfect hockey but their details were pretty good at key times. The Flames had a good start in this one and had some looks, but their details weren’t especially good at key moments, and they seemed a little bit slower and more disjointed than we’ve seen them recently.
Look at Edmonton’s goals: a lapse in coverage that left Joseph wide-open, a lapse in coverage that gave Ekholm tons of time to shoot, a failed clearing attempt, and a puck-handling miscue that led to an own-zone turnover. The Flames looked fine, but their details were lacking.

Red Warrior

I thought Mikael Backlund’s line was the best of the bunch for the red team, so we’ll give the nod to the captain.

Turning point

The Oilers scored two goals on consecutive shifts to kick off the third period, turning a 2-0 game into a 4-0 game and completely scuttling the Flames’ hopes for a comeback.

Flames lineup

The Flames looked like this against Edmonton:
Joel Farabee – Mikael Backlund [C] – Matt Coronato
Matvei Gridin – Martin Pospisil – Ryan Strome
Yegor Sharangovich – Morgan Frost – Aydar Suniev
Brennan Othmann – Jonathan Castagna – Adam Klapka
Kevin Bahl – Simon Nemec
Jake Middleton [A] – Zach Whitecloud [A]
Yan Kuznetsov – Zayne Parekh
Devin Cooley started in net, backed up by Dustin Wolf. The healthy extras were Joel Hanley and Maxim Tsyplakov. Jonathan Huberdeau and Sam Honzek missed the game due to injury.
As noted earlier, Cooley was replaced by Wolf to begin the second period due to what the club termed a lower body injury. Brennan Othmann didn’t return after his first period fight with Ty Emberson due to what the club termed an upper body injury.
This was the 70th Battle of Alberta appearance for Flames captain Mikael Backlund.

This and that

This is the first time the Flames have been shut out this season. They were last shut out back on Mar. 10, 2026, when they lost to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden by a 4-0 score.
The Oilers wore their cream alternate jerseys as the home team, so the Flames brought their classic red home sweaters up the highway to wear as the road team.

After Burner

Join Mike Gould and Cami Kepke right after the game for After Burner!

Up next

The Flames (5-7-0) are headed home. They host the Seattle Kraken on Friday night in the first half of a back-to-back; they’ll visit the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night.

This article is presented by Shane Homes


Home is where life happens.
It’s where little moments become lifelong memories, first steps, family dinners, backyard summers, and celebrations with the people who matter most.
Because a home isn’t just about where you live. It’s about how you live, who you share it with, and the memories you create along the way.
For more than 47 years, Shane Homes has been helping Calgary families build homes around the lives they want to live.
Shane Homes. The Better Way to Build.
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