The Edmonton Oilers opened up their pre-season Sunday night with a convincing 4-0 road win over the Calgary Flames.
“We wanted to make sure we were a working group tonight (with) a lot of young players in there,” said head coach Dave Tippett after the game. “When the group works like that, with solid goal tending — both guys played pretty well — but the work ethic throughout the group was really strong, so players end up looking good.”
LISTEN BELOW: Dave Tippett
The Oilers grabbed the lead five minutes into the second period when James Hamblin beat Dan Vladar on a breakaway. Derek Ryan made it 2-0 1:20 later with Milan Lucic serving a double minor for roughing. Ryan set up 2021 first round draft pick Xavier Bourgault for the Oilers third goal later in the second. Late in the period, Brendan Perlini converted his own rebound on a breakaway to make it 4-0 Edmonton.
Stuart Skinner played the first half of the game in net for the Oilers and stopped all eight shots he faced. Ilya Konovalov went the rest of the way and stopped seven pucks.
The final shots were 49-15 Oilers.
Colton Sceviour had two assists. Ryan and Bourgault each had a goal and an assist.
“Even when I came here four weeks ago I wanted to make a good impression right away and that’s what it’s all about,” said Ryan. “So it feels good to come out here and back in the Saddledome and have a good game; it’s a lot of fun. So a lot of different emotions coming back here. I spent three good years here. It was fun.”
LISTEN BELOW: Derek Ryan
The Oilers will host the Seattle Kraken Tuesday night.