GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Flames 2

CALGARY, AB – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins recorded three points and Calvin Pickard stopped 33 shots on Saturday night as the Oilers earned a hard-fought 4-2 victory over the Flames in the Battle of Alberta at Scotiabank Saddledome.

"I thought it was rocking in the first period there," Pickard said. "Our fans travel over here and there were a lot of Oilers fans, so that was nice to see. We have the best fans in the league and such good support all over, so that was fun and it was definitely nice to bury them at the end."

Leon Draisaitl reached 40 goals for the third straight season and the fifth time in his career late in the second period on a power play before Connor Brown extended Edmonton's lead to 2-0 on the other side of the intermission with his fourth goal in 11 games.

The Flames received power-play tallies from Yegor Sharangovich and Nazem Kadri to make it 2-2 midway through the final frame before Evan Bouchard notched the game-winner on the man advantage with 9:24 left in regulation.

Nugent-Hopkins added the empty-netter with 42.2 seconds left in regulation, securing the Oilers the victory over the Flames in the season series with three out of four victories.

The Oilers have a three-day break from action before entertaining the Vegas Golden Knights at Rogers Place on Wednesday night.

FIRST PERIOD

Zach Hyman's battle with Jacob Markstrom provided fuel to the fire in the first period of Saturday's Battle of Alberta after the two exchanged a few shoves and collisions around the crease before the Flames netminder delivered a few jabs on the winger during an Oilers power play late in the opening 20 minutes.

The Oilers were charged with three minor penalties in the first but escaped the period with three successful first penalty kills, making it six straight kills over their last four periods and 19 of their last 22 (86.4 percent) over their last seven games.

Markstrom wasn't a fan of Hyman crashing the crease and let the winger know with a hard push into his back before throwing a few hooks into his midsection on a late Oilers power play while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was aiming up a one-time set-up for Leon Draisaitl.

The Flames netminder might've been distracted when the German's one-timer was delivered on goal from the right circle and skirted into the top corner with 15.5 seconds left in the first period, marking Draisaitl's 40th goal of the season to give him three straight 40-goal seasons and the fifth of his career.

McDavid added an assist for his 98th helper as the Oilers entered the intermission with a 1-0 lead.

SECOND PERIOD

The Oilers and Flames traded goals in 44 seconds early in the middle frame, but the pace of play was in Calgary's favour with an 18-8 shot advantage for the hosts.

"You've got to give them credit. They were good," Pickard said. "They played a lot of pucks towards the net and just retrieved them and we got spinning around there in the d-zone a bit. We bent but we didn't break, and we had the lead going in the third."

Darnell Nurse poked a puck to Derek Ryan to start a rush up ice where the 37-year-old cut inside and lost the puck before Connor Brown came through and chipped his fourth goal in his last 11 games past Markstrom 3:13 into the period.

With an assist, Mattias Janmark now has nine points (2G, 7A) in 18 career games against the Flames, including a goal and assist this season.

Yegor Sharangovich pulled the goal back for the Flames to make it 2-1 just 44 seconds later on the power play, teeing up Andrei Kuzmenko's feed and notching his 30th goal of the season over Pickard's shoulder.

Concern was with Hyman after he took a redirected shot from Bouchard off the inside of his right skate, leading to play being stopped for the winger and prompting his trip to the Oilers dressing room to seek attention, but he returned to the bench soon after.

The referees handed out roughing calls to Mattias Ekholm and Jonathan Huberdeau late in the period along with an extra goaltender interference penalty for the Flames forward, leading to an Oilers power play to help settle the host's momentum heading into the final frame with 1:43 of carry-over time on the power play.

THIRD PERIOD

On Calgary's equalizing goal that came with the man advantage, the Flames worked a similar move to their first tally when Sharangovich released a one-timer off the feed by Kuzmenko, but Kadri was able to get a piece of it to record his 25th goal – the fourth time in his career he's reached the mark – and make it 2-2 just over seven minutes into the third period.

The rivalry was deadlocked until it was time for the Oilers to head back to the man advantage, where Bouchard was able to beat Markstrom on a Bouch Bomb that caught a piece of a Flames' skater on its way through and into the top corner.

McDavid added another assist to reach 99 helpers, putting us officially on watch for the captain to hit the 100-assist mark and become only the fourth player in NHL history to do so.

"I don't think we're happy with our second. They took it to us a little bit," Derek Ryan said. "That's what happens in big games – a lot of momentum swings, ebbs and flows, and we were able to come out and have a really good third. I was happy about that and how we regrouped and found the two points."

The Flames pulled their goalie and were unable to keep the puck in the Oilers zone before Nugent-Hopkins and Draisaitl took off on a two-one-one that was dispatched by Nugent-Hopkins for his 18th of the season, solidifying Edmonton's victory in the Battle of Alberta.

"I thought we played well in the third period and the power play came up with a huge goal at the end," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "And the other one would be Calvin Pickard. He was outstanding. I thought he made a huge save, especially late in the game with the goalie pulled and the game on the line. He came up big.

"So often you win some games with goaltending, and I think tonight was one of those."