PUTTING ON A SHOW

The Flames have made a habit of huge third-period comebacks this season.
And none was bigger than Saturday night, on a national stage, against their biggest rival in a Battle of Alberta classic at home.
Elias Lindholm scored a pair - including an empty-netter to seal the deal - and Sean Monahan also tallied in the final frame at the Scotiabank Saddledome, as the Cardiac Kids rallied from a 2-1 deficit with a thrilling final 20 minutes that electrified the crowd en route to a 4-2 victory.
The Flames, who trailed 2-0 until late in the second period when Derek Ryan got them on the board, dominated when it mattered most, outshooting the Oil 18-5 in the final frame.
David Rittich, who was named the game's second star behind Lindholm, was stellar between the pipes, earning his first win since a 1-0 shutout over the Kings in L.A. on Nov. 10.
Among his finest of the night were three breakaway stops.

"It's the Battle of Alberta and everybody wants to win," said Rittich. "A lot of great fans were here today and when we came back and went up 3-2, you could hear the crowd. It was great."
As for yet another third-period rally, Lindholm said they'd prefer to quit making a habit of it.
"I don't know. It's hard to tell," he said. "We have a lot of skill and we're a fast team. For now it works to be down in the third, but we just talked before going into the third to give it our all, play better and a lot of times we've played unreal in the third. But you don't want to chase the game too much. It's not going to work all the time to be down before the third, so it's something that we've got to work on.
The game got off to a physical start, setting the tone for the evening.
Sam Bennett stepped into Darnell Nurse with a huge body check that sent the defenceman crashing to the ice in front of the Oilers bench in the opening minute of the game.
Not long after, Leon Draisaitl upended Matthew Tkachuk, who landed awkwardly on the ice, earning the Oilers forward two minutes in the box for interference.
On the ensuing powerplay, Mark Giordano tried to pinch and keep a puck in the zone, but Alex Chiasson poked it past him and led a 2-on-1 rush down the ice, with the former Flame keeping the puck and driving towards the net from a sharp angle before slipping the puck five-hole past Rittich on a backhand.
Before the penalty expired, Bennett and Nurse began jostling behind the Oilers net with both dropping their mitts for a quick scrap.
Just before the midway mark of the frame, Mikael Backlund and Connor McDavid got tied up along the half boards in the Edmonton zone, with McDavid wrestling Backlund down to the ice.
Both players went to the box, along with Draisaitl who got involved in an ensuing melee along with handful of other players, including Tkachuk.
Rittich's best save of the period came at the 12:15 mark, when Draisaitl swooped in on a breakway and tried to slide another backhand home but the Calgary goalie steered it wide.
With 11.5 seconds left in the first, the ref threw his arm up to call a delayed roughing penalty on Zach Kassian for going after Tkachuk. Kassian then dropped his gloves and jumped Tkachuk, earning a triple minor and a 10-minute misconduct.
Just as time expired, Johnny Gaudreau had a golden chance, ringing one off the crossbar.
The Flames started the second on the powerplay but it was shortlived, with Backlund being given a double minor for high sticking Draisaitl.
McDavid one-timed a pass from Draisaitl on a 2-on-1 break on the powerplay minutes later to put the visitors up by a pair.

Rittich made another huge save later on a shorthanded breakway by Jujhar Khaira, who also tried to go five-hole with a backhand but was denied.
Later on the same Flames powerplay, Noah Hanifin fired a pass to Bennett who tried to redirect in but instead it scooted across the crease to Ryan, who deposited a long-range backhand into the empty net with Mikko Koskinen out of position at the 16:23 mark.
Elias Lindholm almost tied it up when he took a pass from Backlund on a Flames shorthanded 2-on-1 with less than two minutes left in the second but his shortside shot was stopped by Koskinen.
Monahan did knot the game up with his 10th goal of the season 2:40 seconds into the third period, when Koskinen kicked out a juicy rebound from a Travis Hamonic shot right into the slot where the Flames centre quickly snapped it home.
Lindholm, whose hard work along the boards kep the play alive before Monahan's marker, gave the homeside their first lead at 9:50, when he took three smacks at a rebound of another Hanifin shot to put it past Koskinen.
Monahan picked up the other assist.
Moments before Lindholm iced the game with his empty-netter, Hamonic cleared a rebound from a Adam Larsson shot that looked destined for Chiasson's stick and then the back of the net.
Coach Bill Peters cut to the point when asked what changed over the course of the contest for his club.
"We executed better with the puck," he answered. "I didn't think we executed great with the puck early in the game but once we settled down and made a few plays, we became a better team."

NEXT UP:

The Flames host their annual Hockey Fights Cancer awareness night when they welcome the Vegas Golden Knights to the Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday (7 p.m., TV: Sportsnet West; Radio: Sportsnet960 THE FAN.
The Flames will support this league wide initiative with proceeds from both the Flames Foundation 50-50 raffle sales and Hockey Fights Cancer apparel available in FanAttic stores during November, going to Hockey Fights Cancer.
In support of this campaign, players will sport lavender-coloured jerseys and tape on their sticks during warm up as well as Hockey Fights Cancer helmet decals throughout this month. The lavender jerseys will be auctioned off in support of the NHL Hockey Fights Cancer campaign immediately after warm up. To bid on your favourite player's jersey all while supporting the campaign,
click here
.
For more information on our Hockey Fights Cancer night,
click here
.