The Edmonton Oilers survived a poor start and a disallowed goal in overtime to edge the Calgary Flames 4-3 in a shootout Thursday night at Rogers Place.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid was called for goaltender interference on what appeared to be the game winner in overtime and he clearly wasn’t happy about it. He would later score the winner in the shootout. Following the goal, McDavid celebrated by pointing at the official for a review.
“I did what I did out of frustration — obviously, I shouldn’t have done that but that’s frustration,” McDavid explained.
“I think everyone just wants black or white, everyone just wants it to be goaltender interference or not,” McDavid added about the goal that got called back.
“I see myself just trying to make a play at the net and turning, trying to get out of the way. I do avoid the goalie but I catch his stick. If I’m a goaltender, then I’m just going to start grabbing at guys’ feet and I’m going to try and sell it,” McDavid said. “It is frustrating but ultimately, like I always say, I’m always trying to defend the refs. I feel like I’m always good to the refs and I try not to do stuff like I did tonight. Hopefully they aren’t too upset at me.”
McDavid received a ten-minute misconduct for abuse of official on the play. McDavid wasn’t the only Oiler upset with the goal being taken off the board.
“No idea,” Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot said when asked if he knows what goaltender interference is. “If we would have gotten a call like that last year, then who knows what would have happened.
“I’m talking about a few goals last year, you guys can read between the lines there. But I think it was a good goal, but that’s just my opinion. We ended up getting the extra point so that’s all that matters.”
The Oilers avoided a slow start and clawed back to pick up the two points.
The Flames opened the scoring on their first shot of the game 1:32 into the first period. Shortly after, Milan Lucic gave the puck away inside the Oilers’ blue-line, Matthew Tkachuk converted a centring pass for his 15th goal of the season. Mark Giordano made it 2-0 with 5:39 left in the frame. His long shot eluded Talbot with a delayed penalty coming to the Oilers. Leon Draisaitl had a chance to put the Oilers on the board in the final minute of the period, but his hard one-timer was stopped by David Rittich.
The Oilers ended a scoreless drought of 95:53 with just over six minutes left in the second. Brandon Davidson spun and wristed a shot from a sharp angle past Rittich for his first of the season. It was Davidson’s first goal since Feb. 28, 2016. Zack Kassian tied it 1:04 later, slapping the rebound from a Draisaitl shot. McDavid drew the other assist.
Davidson blasted home his second of the night from the high slot to put the Oilers head 5:16 into the third. Tkachuk evened it up less than three minutes later.
The Oilers thought they’d won the game 1:16 into overtime when Ryan Strome banged in a McDavid rebound. However, NHL Hockey Operations called for a video review. The goal was disallowed when it was ruled McDavid committed goalie interference as he cut through the crease.
In the shootout, Mike Cammalleri and McDavid scored for the Oilers. Tkachuk scored for Calgary, but Talbot denied Sean Monahan to win the game.
“We stuck with it. The penalty kill came through, we created a little bit of momentum on the power play and then just stuck with it,” Oilers head coach Todd McLellan said after the game.
“We had good leadership on the bench, Talbot made some saves when he needed to make them and a little upper-end character came out of our team tonight. We didn’t have it against Buffalo but it came out tonight.”
The Oilers have won four of their last five and a franchise-best seven straight against the Flames. They’ll host Colorado next Thursday.
-With files from Brenden Ullrich
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