The Oilers – who came into the night with only a pair of goals, combined, in their first two outings – were the quicker of the two teams early in the game and as a result, drew first blood at 1:16.
Mattias Ekholm’s long-range bomb was kicked out by Vladar, but unfortunately, right on the stick of Jeff Skinner, who shovelled it upstairs to collect his first as an Oiler.
While it took almost nine minutes for the Flames to record their first shot, the tide slowly began to turn, with the visitors tilting the ice back in their favour. Sam Honzek, in particular, was flying in the early going and came oh-so close to cashing his first-career goal on a terrific backhand chance off a setup from Andrei Kuzmenko.
Pospisil had the next great chance for the Flames after Mantha’s wrister was blockered aside by Stuart Skinner, but a bouncing puck handcuffed him in tight and skittered to safety.
A Corey Perry tip looked to put the Oilers up by two late in the period, but after a lengthy challenge initiated by Ryan Huska, it was determined there was goalie interference on the play and the goal was wiped off the board.
The Oilers carried their 1-0 lead (and 10-5 advantage on the shot clock) into the middle frame.
Blake Coleman had a golden opportunity less than five minutes in when a Brayden Pachal centring pass caromed off the skate of a defender and directly onto his stick between the hashmarks, but Skinner leapt out to the top of his crease and emphatically denied Coleman’s half-slapper.
For the second time in the game, the Oilers turned a close call in their own end into a goal at the other…
Or so we thought.
Former Flame Derek Ryan slipped in behind the D and buried his first of the season, but Viktor Arvidsson – doing his best Houdini impression in the moment – was offside on the entry.
Stick tap to Flames video coach Jamie Pringle, who radioed to the bench in both instances, wiping a pair of Oilers tallies off the board.
“Jamie is the best in the league when it comes to that stuff," said Head Coach Ryan Huska. "Initially, he wanted more time to see if more views would come in - because that's the hard part with challenges sometimes. Sometimes, the best picture comes a little bit later, so you try to stall a touch. And then, he saw one that he felt that's goalie interference and Vladdy wasn't able to make the save because of where Perry was and how he impacted his glove and his stick. He was pretty confident when he radioed in and said challenge it.
"He's the best in the business and that was a huge part of tonight's game.”
This time, the momentum swing was positively wild.
An incredible solo effort from Andersson made it a 1-1 game at only 1:57 after the challenge – much to the dismay of the locals.
Andersson picked his way through the neutral zone before slaloming inside the blueline, backing up the Oilers defence, before curling back to the middle and rifling a shot over Skinner’s left shoulder.
And – you guessed it – the ‘staredown’ celebration made its return.
