Oilers defeat Flames, set record with 13th straight victory

CALGARY -- The Edmonton Oilers set the record for the longest winning streak by a Canadian team in NHL history with their 13th consecutive victory, 3-1 against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday.

The Oilers tied the 1967-68 Montreal Canadiens’ previous record of 12 straight wins with a 4-2 victory against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.

"When we did the (franchise record) 10-game streak we eclipsed the Oilers, the 80s teams, now it's the old Montreal team," Edmonton forward Zach Hyman said. "When you're in the moment you just go out there and play, but I'm sure it'll be something cool to look back on [how] we now hold this streak for a Canadian team. We want to keep winning, so we'll see where it goes."

"Any time you can be the only team to do anything that's positive, that's always exciting,” Edmonton forward Connor McDavid said. “Good for our group."

Hyman, Ryan McLeod and Sam Gagner scored, and Stuart Skinner made 26 saves for the Oilers (26-15-1), who set a franchise record with their ninth consecutive road win.

"We like playing on the road," McDavid said. "We like playing at home. Playing on the road is fun, hostile environments. Feels like you're playing against everybody in the rink and that's fun for us."

MacKenzie Weegar scored, and Dan Vladar made 29 saves for the Flames (21-20-5), who lost their second straight after a four-game winning streak.

"It's frustrating losing, in general...it doesn't matter the opponent," Calgary forward Blake Coleman said. "We keep giving ourselves these great opportunities to make a push and go on these runs and then we take two steps back. It's getting down to where we can't have these setbacks."

McLeod gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead at 15:03 of the first period when he pulled a pass from Warren Foegele up through his legs before cutting in on a partial break and lifting a shot over Vladar's glove.

His goal came after Vladar make consecutive right-pad saves on Foegele's breakaway five minutes into the game, a stick save on McDavid in behind Calgary's defense at 5:54 and a sprawling glove save on Connor Brown on a 2-on-1 setup by Dylan Holloway at 10:18.

Weegar tied it 1-1 at 1:58 of the second period when he chipped Coleman’s pass over Skinner's left shoulder on a 3-on-1.

"It wasn't a good first," Coleman said. "We did have a good response, evened it up and then just didn't generate. Didn't make life hard enough on their goalie."

Gagner put Calgary back ahead 2-1 at 1:39 of the third period after his centering pass from below the goal line tipped off Rasmus Andersson before catching the thumb of Vladar's glove and deflecting back off the post and in.

"I felt pretty bad for Vladar," Skinner said. "I felt great at the time, obviously, because it put us up a goal. But a lot of credit to Vladar. He played an incredible game. It could've gotten out of hand pretty quickly there. That's how Gagner practices, too. He goes hard to the net, and he battles and he grinds. It's always great to see him score."

Hyman scored on a wraparound into an empty net with 35 seconds remaining for the 3-1 final.

"I thought there would have been a little bit more pride there from us," Weegar said. "It's a big game, they're coming into our territory, our city, I thought we would have a little bit more juice there. There were some good things, of course. I thought we had a little bit of a pushback there, but for the most part it just felt like they were winning the battles."

NOTES: Skinner won his 10th straight game, tying Grant Fuhr in 1985-86 for the longest winning streak in franchise history. ... Skinner has allowed two or fewer goals in nine straight starts. ... McDavid’s 12-game point streak ended (five goals, 13 assists). ... Flames forward Adam Klapka had four hits in 6:06 of ice time in his NHL debut. ... Calgary forward Nazem Kadri had an eight-game point streak end (six goals, five assists).