Brad Malone scored with 2:36 left in overtime to give the Edmonton Oilers a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames Friday night.
“Very similar to what we see in through the first four exhibition games — and through all the practices and training camp — our fellas are really digging in and embracing this idea of having a blue-collar work ethic,” Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. “Obviously we had a younger lineup in tonight. Got better as the night wore on. Started to find ourselves more and more offensive chances.”
The Flames outshot the Oilers 11-4 in the first, but Dylan Holloway looked good, powering to the net for Edmonton’s two best scoring chances.
Jack Campbell, making his first appearance of the pre-season, was strong in the Oilers net, making several good saves on a Flames power play early in the second. He was finally beaten with 7:05 left in the second when Jeremie Poirier’s point shot was tipped in by Elias Lindholm.
Warren Foegele had a glorious chance to tie it on a breakaway in the third, but his backhand went off the post.
The Flames briefly celebrated a 2-0 lead when Mikael Backlund scored on a rebound with 2:38 on the clock, however the tally was disallowed when Blake Coleman was deemed guilty of goalie interference. The Flames unsuccessfully challenged the play, putting the Oilers on the power play. Holloway ripped home a pass from Foegele to tie it with 1:40 to go.
In overtime, Seth Griffith flipped the puck ahead to Malone, who went to the backhand to beat Dan Vladar on a breakaway.
“I think I got caught there, forechecking the goaltender there,” Malone joked after the game. “I was trying to direct Griff to take away the other side and I don’t know, I guess he can’t read sign language because he went to the middle of the ice, but he made up for it, so here we are. I mean that’s what he does every night and he’s got a ton of talent, a ton of patience — it’s a pleasure being on the ice with him. That’s something the two of us won’t forget for a while.”
Campbell finished with 34 saves.
“Frankly I was a little nervous,” Campbell said. “I put a lot of work in this summer and wanted to do well. Just really excited to go out and have a good performance and just keep building on the things I’ve been working so hard on.”
The Oilers will visit the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday (630 CHED, Face-off Show at 5:30 p.m., game at 7 p.m.).
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