Flames pull away from Oilers in 3rd, remain undefeated

EDMONTON -- Rasmus Andersson had a goal and two assists for the Calgary Flames, who remained undefeated with a 4-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Sunday.

Justin Kirkland scored his first NHL goal, and Dan Vladar made 25 saves for the Flames (3-0-0).

"It was an important goal. We were fighting as hard as we could trying to be relentless," said Kirkland, 28, who was playing in his 11th NHL game. "It's a big credit to my linemates, too, the D that were on the ice. It was kind of a working shift and I thought we played pretty solid all night. It was nice to get rewarded with a goal.

"Almost like the weight of the world off my shoulders. It means the world, especially on a night like this, in the Battle of Alberta. Friends and family all over watching. It's special and I couldn't have drawn it up any better."

Jeff Skinner scored, and Stuart Skinner made 25 saves for the Oilers, who are 0-3-0 for the first time since 2015-16 (began season 0-4-0).

"We’re not off to a good start, obviously," Edmonton captain Connor McDavid said. "There have been a couple of bad bounces with some of those goals not going our way, obviously. Ultimately it is just not good enough. I’m sure there are lots of ways to explain it, but ultimately it hasn’t been good enough."

Skinner gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead, their first of the season, at 1:16 of the first period. He scored into an open net after Mattias Ekholm's slap shot from the left point produced a big rebound.

Edmonton appeared to take a 2-0 lead at 18:03, but Calgary challenged the play for goaltender interference, and the call was reversed after a video review determined that Corey Perry impaired Vladar's ability to play his position.

The Oilers then had another potential goal called back at 5:39 of the second period, this time after it was determined that Viktor Arvidsson was offside prior to Derek Ryan's goal.

"Obviously, a couple bounces our way, which I haven't seen in a lot of games. So, I'm happy for that, but that's the first week so we've got to keep going and getting even better," Vladar said. "The first one, I knew he was standing there but by the time the shot came, I think he was out of the crease. I don't really know. I just know my blocker got kind of stuck there, but to be honest with you, I thought it was a regular goal. But then I saw it from the top view and I saw there was a collision, so I'm happy it got overturned."

Andersson scored on an individual effort for Calgary to tie it 1-1 at 7:30. He skated into the offensive zone, cut around Zach Hyman toward the left point, made another move around McDavid in the circle, and beat Skinner glove side from the hash marks.

Anthony Mantha gave the Flames a 2-1 lead at 7:06 of the third period, lifting in a rebound with his backhand after Martin Pospisil deflected Andersson's point shot on net.

"We maybe got them at the end of a shift and we just circled the puck and moved it properly and ended up with a goal," Mantha said.

Kirkland pushed it to 3-1 at 9:27. He picked up another rebound in front, moved the puck to his backhand and roofed a shot past a sprawling Skinner.

Connor Zary added an empty-net goal with 24 seconds left for the 4-1 final.

"I kind of felt it was after the first 10 minutes of the first period our game got better and better," Flames coach Ryan Huska said. "And in the third period I thought we did a good job of controlling it. Even when they had a little bit of pressure on us late in the third period I thought we handled it pretty well. So, I'm really pleased with this effort."

Edmonton has been outscored 15-3 in its three home games this season.

"I’ve said that numerous times here, up and down the lineup, myself first and foremost, everybody could be better and everybody will be better," McDavid said. "We’re not quitters in here, we never have been. Losing three in a row off the bat is not ideal, but it is nothing we can’t work out of."

NOTES: Andersson led all skaters with a plus-4 rating. ... The Oilers were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill after going 1-for-6 in their first two games. ... Skinner's first goal of the season came on his first shift after being moved onto the top line with McDavid and Hyman.