The first Battle of Alberta since 1991 comes to an end, in a dramatic 5-4 overtime win for the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers defeated the Calgary Flames in five games in the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Oilers have now won the Battle of Alberta five out of the six times these teams have played each other in the playoffs. This will be the first time since 2006 that the Oilers will be in the Conference Final. Let’s take a look at how the Calgary Flames vs Edmonton Oilers series came to an end.
Calgary Flames vs Edmonton Oilers Comes to an End
The Oilers Superstars
It is no secret that Oilers captain, Connor McDavid, was the star of the series. Not only did he score the overtime game-winning goal to put the Oilers into the Conference Finals, but he has also steadily been breaking records along the way. McDavid has matched Wayne Gretzky‘s set in 1983 for an eight-game multi-point streak. During the five-game series against the Flames, McDavid recorded three goals and 12 points. The captain seems to have elevated his already elite game in the last two playoff series. On top of carrying the puck, he has been laying hits on the Flames, making excellent passes, and winning battles for pucks.
Over the 12 games of the two series, McDavid has scored seven goals and recorded 26 points. This makes him a two-points-per-game player thus far in the playoffs. But McDavid isn’t the Oilers only two-points-per-game player. Leon Draisaitl has recorded the exact same numbers: seven goals, 19 assists, and 26 points. McDavid and Draisaitl became the fifth and sixth different players to record 26 or more points through their first 12 games of a postseason. Draisaitl also tied for the most NHL points through five games in a single playoff series. But the accolades don’t stop there; he also broke an NHL record for the 5th straight playoff game with three-plus points.
Other Oilers Production
Edmonton had a couple of other honourable mentions when it came to putting points on the score sheet. Evander Kane, who was a mid-season acquisition has really shown up over these two series. In 12 games played, he has recorded 12 goals, three assists, and 15 points. In the Calgary series alone, he scored five goals, including a hat trick. The other honourable mention would be Zach Hyman. In the five games against the Flames, Hyman scored six goals. He is the only Oilers player that scored a goal in every game this series.
Calgary Offense
Despite the Flames top line putting up 301 points during the regular season, they did not produce as much as the team would have liked to see. In 12 games, forward Johnny Gaudreau only scored three goals but recorded 14 points. Matthew Tkachuk, who only scored one goal in the First Round, looked like he had found his groove when he scored a hat trick in Game 1 of the Second Round. However, he did not score any more goals and only contributed one assist in the remainder of the series.
Elias Lindholm was tied for the most goals scored for the Flames with five goals. Mikael Backlund, who was not a huge offensive threat during the regular season, also scored five goals in 12 games. Other than that the Flames goals trickled in by other players. Calgary did put up 20 goals this series against the Edmonton goalies, compared to the 15 allowed in seven games by Dallas Stars goaltender, Jake Oettinger.
Goaltending
After a rocky start in Game 1, Oilers goaltender Mike Smith turned his game around and was solid for the second series. Smith finished the season with a goals-against-average of 2.81 and a save percentage of .932%. In the First Round against the LA Kings, Smith allowed 16 goals. In the 12 playoff games, Smith’s goals-against average is 2.70 and his save percentage is .927%. As the Oilers move into the Third Round, Smith is going to have to keep up his solid goaltending.
Jacob Markstrom, who duelled it out with Oettinger in the First Round, had some trouble against the high-scoring Oilers. After finishing the last series with a save percentage of .943% in seven games against Dallas, Markstrom’s save percentage against the Oilers is .852%. And his goals-against average jumped from 1.53 to 2.95. Additionally, in the First Round, he only allowed 14 goals. However, in five games against Edmonton, he allowed 24. Markstrom looked exhausted most of the series and did not have the luxury of low shots on goal, as he did in the Dallas series.
In Game 5, four goals were scored within 1:11, which is the fastest in NHL history. The Battle of Alberta was an exciting series, with lots of broken records and high-scoring games. But the Oilers were able to come out on top. They will face whoever wins the series between the St Louis Blues and the Colorado Avalanche.
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