Oilers score seven, hand Flames first loss in four games under Sutter

CALGARY -- The Calgary Flames lost for the first time under coach Darryl Sutter when Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists for the Edmonton Oilers in a 7-3 win at Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday.

Tyson Barrie had four assists and Leon Draisaitl had three assists for the Oilers (19-13-0), who had lost two in a row. Mike Smith made 30 saves.
"You don't want to lose three in a row," Edmonton forward Zack Kassian said. "It's important to nip it in the bud quick and I think we did a good job from top to bottom. Played a good road game. But we really can't take our foot off the gas."
Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 23 saves for the Flames (14-13-3), whose three-game winning streak to start the tenure of Sutter ended. Sutter replaced Geoff Ward on March 4.
"This team, this group of players have to learn, they don't have the firepower to not put themselves in a position to be good defenders or to check or to play well in their zone," Sutter said. "If they don't play that way ... look at the shots, they end up 33-30. I don't think we're going to score eight goals and beat Edmonton 8-7."
The Oilers and Flames split the two-game set after the Flames won 4-3 on Monday.
"Very important, but I honestly think we're going to be talking about every game how important it is going forward," Kassian said. "Obviously it feels a little better when you beat the team right down the highway from you. It's important we continue this and don't get too high but we also don't get too low."
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins put Edmonton up 1-0 at 4:39 of the first period when he shot a pass from McDavid by Markstrom after Milan Lucic's failed clear.

Jesse Puljujarvi made it 2-0 at 7:22 when he tipped Barrie's point shot. Draisaitl assisted on the goal to extend his point streak to eight games (five goals, 10 assists).
Dominik Kahun scored on a Draisaitl setup to extend the lead to 3-0 at 8:39 of the second period, and Lindholm scored 25 seconds later to make it 3-1.
McDavid scored five-hole on the power play 1:50 into the third period to make it 4-1. He has 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in a seven-game point streak.
"It's pretty incredible the skill we have on this team," said Barrie, who leads NHL defensemen with 28 points (four goals, 24 assists). "We expected more of a defensive grind and not explode for four goals. I think when you play the right way you get rewarded and our big guys, our top guys did that tonight and we obviously got rewarded there in the third."
Alex Chiasson scored on the power play to extend the lead to 5-1 when he deflected a shot from Nugent-Hopkins at 3:44, and Darnell Nurse made it 6-1 at 5:55. Kassian, in his return after missing 17 games because of an upper-body injury, made it 7-1 at 8:38.
"It was a [bad] night by me," Markstrom said. "I feel bad. I feel terrible. They scored on every chance they got, pretty much. It's my job to keep the puck out of the net and I didn't do that. It's embarrassing and frustrating for sure."

Mikael Backlund scored at 14:47 to make it 7-2, and Gaudreau scored on a slap shot on the power play with 3:56 remaining for the 7-3 final.
"We've got to learn from this game," Flames captain Mark Giordano said. "We're playing a team that has just as much, if not more, firepower. We have to understand if you're going to play open against teams like this and give them chances, they're going to capitalize. We have to learn from this."
NOTES: Edmonton scored seven goals for the second time against Calgary this season; they won 7-1 on Feb. 20. … Puljujarvi has four of his eight goals against Calgary. ...The Flames had gone five straight games without giving up a power-play goal before allowing three on four opportunities to the Oilers.