Flames get first win of season at home, versus the Oilers

Posted on January 26th, 2013

Archived in Battle of Alberta

Tags

Backlund, Battle of Alberta, Cervenka, Edmonton Oilers, Glencross

Glencross celebrates his goal against the Edmonton Oilers (AP Photo/CP – Jeff McIntosh)

The Calgary Flames can finally put it in the win column, thanks to the Edmonton Oilers.

The Flames held off a late push from the Oilers to win the Battle of Alberta, and earn two points tonight in Calgary.

Mikael Backlund and Jay Bouwmeester combined in the first period, to give the Flames a 2-0 lead. Curtis Glencross took a late penalty – that some may dispute – which put the Oilers on the powerplay. After a quick face-off win, and point-to-point passes, Oilers rookie Justin Schultz scored to pull the Oilers within one goal.

Glencross negated his error with an early goal in the second period to reclaim the 2-goal lead for the Flames. Edmonton answered with a powerplay goal by Jordan Eberle. But before the period was up, Lee Stempniak added the eventual game-winner for the Flames on a tip in after a beautiful pass by Bouwmeester.

The Oilers added a 3rd goal with less than a second to go, but it wasn’t enough and the Flames earned their first win of the season. It was a 4-3 final.

It’s necessary to call out a few different Flames players who played well. JayBo, with a goal and an assist, had his best game of the season, as did Jarome Iginla and Lee Stempniak. Mike Cammalleri also had his best game of the season, though he has yet to find the back of the net in 2013.

I’m a huge fan of Blair Jones, who played a great game tonight, and I was also happy to see Jiri Hudler and Roman Cervenka in there for the Flames. They took the pressure off the first line of Iginla, Glencross and Tanguay and controlled the puck for the Flames.

The win was a great one for the Calgary Flames, but it’s only one win, after all. The season is short, and there’s a lot of hockey to play, but having 3 of a possible 8 points at the start of the season isn’t the way the Flames hoped to start the season. Hopefully they can build on this victory when the head to Denver on Thursday.

About Greg Hounslow (553 Posts)

Greg is the founder of Red Mile Blog has been following the Flames through good times and bad since they arrived in Calgary in the early 80s. He has written hundreds of articles on the Flames since 2005 and considers himself an expert on hockey inconsistency and frustration. He shoots right and usually plays defence, but has been known to jump up in the rush. He is a 2-time CAHL men's league champion and knows the sweet taste of beer from a Cup.

OldeBuffalo

I’ve been waiting about 5 years for the Flames to start playing like this. Bob Hartley’s philosophy of ‘if we have the puck – they don’t', is a dramatic improvement over the old philosophy. A strong fore-check and a disciplined team effort in their own end are going carry this team much farther than their critic’s (who think the Flames are too old) think. They’re displaying an improvement in their play and slowly they’re eliminating the old and ‘out dated’ style of play that was forced on them by the Sutter’s
- http://redmileblog.com Greg @ Red Mile Blog
  
  I think we’ve all been waiting for the Flames to start playing the type of hockey that it will take to win in the NHL. Last night’s game was a great example of how a team that controls the puck, and plays solid defence, can dominate the ice. The Oilers only shot on net 10 times in the final 2 periods, and at least a third of that was after they pulled their goalie at the end.