'IT'S A BIG ONE, FOR SURE'

It was a sight to behold.
Especially if you're a Flames fan.
After all, how rare is it to see Connor McDavid contained?
The two-time Art Ross and Ted Lindsay Award-winner, and former Hart Trophy champ is on pace for 100 points this year, and has exited, stage-left, only three times to this point without recording at least one.
Actually … Scratch that.
Make it four.

Last night, the line of Mikael Backlund, Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane did a masterful job controlling No. 97, exterminating the offence and making the centre's life miserable with a flat-out, full-court press at the other end of the ice.
Turns out - for Mangiapane, anyway - this isn't his first rodeo with the crafty, Edmonton skipper.
"I even played against him in minor hockey," he laughed. "We were always paired up. I was maybe on a 'lesser' team and all that, but I was always one of the better (players) on my minor-hockey team, so I was going up against him, even then.
"He's obviously a great player and you always have to be watching for him, but there are a lot of great players in this league and I think (defending them) has a lot to do with puck management, knowing where they are, chipping the puck in and forechecking, and playing a good offensive-zone shift.
"That's always the best defence, when you're in the other team's end."

Well, they certainly did plenty of that.
Here's how it broke down, with the Tkachuk-Backlund-Mangiapane crew matched up against McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jesse Puljujarvi:
The 'MMA' line accounted for 87.50% (14-2) of the shot attempts, 87.50% (7-1) of the scoring chances, 75.00% (3-1) of the high-danger looks, and 76.20% of the expected goals, 5-on-5.
Most impressively, they did it all without a single offensive-zone start.
"There's a lot of confidence and chemistry there," Mangiapane said of his line. "We played together last year for quite some time. Those are two great players and I think, for us three, we've gelled together pretty well.
"Last night, it would have been nice to score maybe a goal or two early on - we had some great chances - but hopefully, if we're playing together again tonight, we can score a couple."
Oilers coach Dave Tippett tried to shake the matchup throughout the evening with changes on the fly - so, roughly half of McDavid's even-strength ice time came away from that dominant trio, briefly freeing him from the 'Backlund Effect.'
But that underscores the adjustments needed for the return engagement tonight at Rogers Place. As the visiting team, the Flames will not have the last change, and will be forced to adapt to whatever matchups the Oilers choose to employ off faceoffs.
While Friday's effort was, indeed, a "step in the right direction," it wasn't enough, according to the players and their coach. And as the Flames now begin a critical, six-game road trip, they need to be better in a vast number of areas.
"If we start taking the positives out of losses, we're going the wrong way," said Tkachuk, who was particularly candid during his Saturday morning media session and put the focus on himself tonight. "Losing isn't fun. Do you take a couple things out of it that we were successful with? Yeah, definitely. But to sit here and take positives out of a game that we lost …
"It's time to get wins."

Tkachuk is the team's emotional leader and promised to be an impact player tonight in what he describes as pitovtal point in the season.
"I've got to get going," he said. "I'm putting all the pressure on myself to turn this around and it starts tonight. All the pressure should be on me. I haven't performed the way I'd like to, so all the pressure should be on me to try and turn this thing around, try to provide emotion from the first drop of the puck tonight, and grind out a win on a tough back-to-back against a team that's playing very well."
The Oilers have now won five of their last six and are a perfect 3-0 in the second of back-to-back games.
While the 2-1 victory on Scotiabank Saddledome ice last night was viewed as a calm, composed, even clinical road game from Edmonton, Tkachuk is eager to show the hockey world his team has far more to give from an emotional standpoint.
"People were telling me that (last night's game) was a game that was kind of putting them to sleep, watching it," he said. "That's not what should be happening in the Battle of Alberta, Friday night game, especially in Calgary.
"We're going to be ready from the puck drop tonight. We're going to make sure that this is a very emotional game from our team tonight and it will be. It really will be. This is a huge, huge moment in our season, this game tonight, and we have to be ready right now. We can't wait 'til game time to try and ramp it up.
"There's no excuse that we shouldn't be chomping at the bit for this one. It's a big one.
"It's a big one, for sure."