McDavid's 22nd goal lifts Oilers past Flames

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid broke a tie when he scored four seconds into a third-period power play, and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Calgary Flames 3-2 at Rogers Place on Friday.

McDavid scored his 22nd goal with a quick shot off a Leon Draisaitl face-off win to make it 3-2 at 7:01.
"It was a good play by Connor, and it was a good play by [Alex Chiasson], he kind of jammed everything up there," Edmonton coach Dave Tippett said. "It wasn't a clean (face-off) win. We have it set up where there are certain things to happen if it's not a clean win, and fortunately the puck bounced right to Connor and he shot it quick before anyone could get to him."

Draisaitl had two assists for the Oilers (23-14-1), who have won seven straight at home, the second-longest active streak in the NHL behind the Minnesota Wild (11). Mike Smith made 24 saves.
Michael Stone and Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Flames (16-19-3), who have lost six of seven. Jacob Markstrom made 22 saves.
"I think it was pretty even. We had good opportunities to go ahead or tie it up and didn't," Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said. "The power-play goal, that's a face-off goal. I'm not so sure if Markstrom saw it or not, it was hard to tell from the bench."
Stone scored at 12:23 of the first period on a shot from the point to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins tied it 1-1 at 1:19 of the second period when he scored on the power play with a backhand shot off a scramble in front.
Tkachuk scored on a breakaway coming out of the penalty box at 5:25 to make it 2-1.
"This has happened a couple of times against these guys in this rink; it's an even game, and they score late," Tkachuk said. "And they come out of here with two [points], and we come out of here with absolutely nothing."

Flames center Mikael Backlund was a late scratch with an undisclosed injury. Sam Bennett moved from right wing to center to take his place and had an assist on Tkachuk's goal.
"Playing center is something I'm comfortable with," Bennett said. "[Backlund] plays a big role on this team shutting down guys. Obviously I'm not going to fill those shoes, but I like myself as a guy that can fill in anywhere and play any position. I just tried to do my job tonight, and it's frustrating we didn't get the win."
Dominik Kahun tied it 2-2 at 11:29, tapping in a pass from Kailer Yamamoto.
Kahunwas a healthy scratch the previous two games.
"It was almost like a playoff game, it was very tight," Kahun said. "I think the biggest thing we were talking about was to outwork them, and I think we did a good job with that. All four lines were going today, all four lines were battling, and that's what brought us the win."
Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin was called for interference against Yamamoto at 6:57 of the third period to give the Oilers the power play when McDavid scored the game-winning goal.
"We got behind a couple of times and we were able to get back in the game and push along and we were able to get the third one," Smith said. "... The main focus of our group is to keep pushing forward and want to be playing our best hockey going into the playoffs. It's not a switch you can turn off and on, so we want to continue to play well."
McDavid leads the NHL with 64 points (22 goals, 42 assists) and is two goals behind Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the NHL lead.