Edmonton Oilers flatten Flames with 7-3 win in latest Battle of Alberta

The Edmonton Oilers scored four goals in 6:48 in the third period on the way to a 7-3 victory over the Calgary Flames Wednesday night.

“I thought we were pretty solid through most of the whole game,” Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said after the game.

“We competed hard, did a lot of things well structurally and didn’t make the mistakes that we did the other night.”

The Oilers took the lead before the game was five minutes old. Flames forward Milan Lucic gave the puck away to Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who set up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for his eleventh goal of the season.

Less than three minutes later, Edmonton forward Jesse Puljujarvi deflected Tyson Barrie’s power-play point shot for a power-play goal.

The Flames applied a lot of pressure early in the second but were repeatedly turned away by Oilers goaltender Mike Smith.

Edmonton forward Dominik Kahun took a deft pass from Leon Draisaitl and blasted a one-timer past Calgary netminder Jacob Markstrom to make it 3-0 Oilers.

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Elias Lindholm replied for the Flames 25 seconds later.

McDavid fired a low shot through Markstrom on the power play early in the third to put Edmonton up 4-1.

Alex Chiasson added another marker on the man advantage, then Darnell Nurse potted his ninth of the season to give the Oilers three goals in 4:05.

Later, Oilers forward Zack Kassian flicked in a backhander. It was Kassian’s first game since Feb. 8. He had missed 17 games with a hand injury.

Mikael Backlund and Johnny Gaudreau scored late goals for the Flames.

Barrie, who was a game-time decision, had four assists. McDavid had a goal and two assists. Draisaitl had three assists.

“We’ve had solid defenders, but nobody with the instincts with the puck that he (Barrie) has,” Tippett said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We've had solid defenders, but nobody with the instincts with the puck that he (Barrie) has," Tippett said.

For Barrie, he’s enjoying getting on a roll after a slow start.

“With team success comes personal success,” said Barrie, who now has 28 points in 32 games this season.

The Oilers were 3 for 4 on the power play. Smith made 30 saves to run his record to 10-3.

The Oilers (19-13) will host Winnipeg Thursday. Coverage on 630 CHED starts with the Faceoff Show at 5:30 p.m. The game is at 7 p.m.

–With files from 630 CHED’s David Boles