GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Flames 1 (Game 3)

EDMONTON, AB - Edmonton has waited 31 years for a Battle of Alberta in their building, and the Boys in Blue didn't disappoint.
The Oilers ran roughshod over their provincial rivals to the tune of a 4-1 win on Sunday night in Game 3 at Rogers Place to take a 2-1 series lead in this second-round Battle of Alberta.
Edmonton continued their barrage against Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom, depositing four goals behind him on 34 shots before the Swede was replaced by Dan Vladar in the third period.
The Oilers dominated the run of play off the strength of their top line of Evander Kane, Connor McDavid, and Leon Draisaitl. The trio combined for 10 points on the evening to provide the Rogers Place faithful with plenty to cheer about on Sunday night.
Edmonton will now look to push the series to the brink in Game 4 at home again on Tuesday.

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FIRST BLOOD

The Oilers broke the opening deadlock for the first time in the series courtesy of the red-hot Zach Hyman.
The Flames continued to have no answer for the dynamic speed and puck handling of Connor McDavid who streaked down the left wing and passed the puck to Leon Draisaitl to deftly touch to Hyman for the finish and the goal into the far side of Markstrom's goal.
The marker was Hyman's fourth of the series, with the winger scoring in all three games against the Flames thus far. The 29-year-old has been able to carry over the momentum of his career-high 27-goal campaign into the post-season, scoring six goals and two assists in 10 playoff games.

HE KANE DO IT

The Oilers doubled up their advantage shortly after Hyman's goal off of a Calgary Flames turnover. After Blake Coleman passed the puck to no one, Kane kickstarted the counter with a dish to Draisaitl, who slid the give-and-go pass to Evander Kane. The Oilers sniper showed off some silky mitts in front, taking the puck across the face of the Flames goal on the backhand and tucking the puck past a helpless Markstrom.
The tidal wave of goals kept coming when McDavid found Kane again on the pseudo-two-on-one, which the winger quickly tapped in for his second goal in 52 seconds.

Kane capped off the natural hat-trick well before the period was over. With 7:02 remaining in the second, McDavid continued his dominance on the rush, sliding a backhand pass to the Oilers sniper who beat Markstrom with a near-identical forehand-backhand deke to the one he used to score his first goal of the game just six minutes earlier.
The trio of markers gave Kane 10 goals so far in the post-season, leading all skaters. When the winger does score in these playoffs, he has done it in bunches. Every game Kane has put a puck past a goaltender has been a multi-goal game for the 28-year-old, with two hat-tricks and a pair of two-goal games.

SPECTACULAR SMITTY

After the Oilers three-goal outburst, the Flames pushed back but Mike Smith was there to meet them.
Calgary sniper Johnny Gaudreau found himself alone on the breakaway, ripping a low shot which was swiftly kicked aside by the Oilers goaltender. Matthew Tkachuk tried to follow up the initial attempt with the rebound shot, but a sprawling Smith managed to get his glove on it to deny the Flames two leading scorers.

Despite Smith's outstanding performance, the goaltender briefly had to leave the game after things took a turn to the rough stuff late in the contest. Milan Lucic took a run at Smith behind the Oilers net, knocking the Oilers goalkeeper to the ice. The unnecessary infraction resulted in Lucic being assessed a 10-minute game misconduct, alongside a bevy of other Flames and Oilers penalties in the resulting scrum. Smith was forced to temporarily leave the game having stopped all 28 Calgary shots he had faced up to that point, being replaced by Mikko Koskinen.
After Smith returned, Flames defenceman Oliver Kylington broke his shutout bid with a wrister ripped up high from the left circle. That would be the only blemish on a sparkling evening by the Oilers keeper, who stopped 32 of 33 shots in the victory.

BETTER START

In a series where the Oilers struggled to hold the Flames off the scoreboard in the game's early minutes, the home crowd energy provided Edmonton with the momentum they needed.
The Oilers controlled the pace throughout the first period, holding Calgary without a shot in the game's first four minutes while barraging Jacob Markstrom at the other end of the ice.

The Oilers hard skating helped draw a pair of powerplays, first at the 9:25 mark when Josh Archibald laid a big hit behind the net before following up his tenacious forecheck on Trevor Lewis, drawing a hooking call. Leon Draisaitl later drew a tripping call on Elias Lindholm at the end of the first period for the second man advantage.
Despite a 21-7 shot advantage, the closest the Oilers came to scoring was on a Brett Kulak point shot that squeaked past Markstrom, but hit the post and sat on the blueline before being cleared away by the Flames.

DOMINANT DUO

What more can be said about the play of Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid?
Since being reunited on a line together in Game 5 against the Los Angeles Kings, the duo has gone on to torch their opposition to the tune of 32 combined points in the last six games. Connor McDavid continues to lead the National Hockey League in playoff scoring, notching a frankly ridiculous 23 points in 10 games. His German counterpart is not far behind, with 19 points of his own so far.

The Oilers captain has been on another level since the calendar turned to May. McDavid is the first player in NHL history to have nine multi-point games in his first 10 games of a post-season. His 23 points are as much or more than five of the last eight skaters to win the Conne Smythe trophy. Not to be outdone, Leon's four-assist second period was the first in NHL playoff history.

PARTING WORDS

Kane on where that game experience ranks for him in his career:
"It was a lot of fun. It was good to come home and play these guys on our home ice. We came out with a good start and obviously it was a good win for the group."
Smith on the back-to-back saves on Gaudreau and Tkachuk and the fan reaction when he came back on the ice:
"I'm just trying to make saves for our group in there and to stay as poised as possible and make saves when the team needs me to. The fans have been unbelievable all playoffs, tonight was no different, maybe a little bit louder with the Battle of Alberta. It's just an unbelievable feeling to be playing Infront of this fanbase and excited to get a win."
Kane on the Oilers best start of the series:
"We were skating. We got our legs moving early on. We got pucks in behind their defence, we were good on the cycle, we were winning puck battles, and we were connected as a group of five. I think our first period really set our group up for success moving forward for the rest of the game.
Smith when asked to compare Leon to Connor:
"I don't compare them, they are two totally different players that are special in their own ways. They're both important pieces to the puzzle as far as winning. As far as leaders in the locker room, Leon has been a horse for us. He's banged up a little bit, I think everyone's aware of that, but I think he's played better as the playoffs have gone on and that's what you want from your top players. He's just a big human out there that sees the ice incredibly well. You saw some of the plays tonight, he can pass the puck on his backhand as well as he can on his forehand. He's got eyes in the back of his head and it showed. When your best players are playing the best hockey of their career in the playoffs you have a good chance to win and they obviously have done that."
Smith on the Lucic penalty on him:
"I don't really know what happened, I was out playing the puck and all of a sudden I was getting buried in the boards. You've seen it in other series, there are not that many goalies in the league and obviously when you're getting run through the end wall and you're not expecting it. It's not an ideal situation. It's the playoffs and you know they are trying to rattle you, but like Evander said the refs handled it and we'll move on."

Woodcroft on how he saw the dominance of the Oilers top line from behind the bench:
"Obviously made some plays on those goals and were spectacular. I'd go to their checking, though. I'd talk about their checking skills, the way they defended. That line, I think Connor and Leon finished plus-four. When our best players are leading the way defensively and setting the tone for what's expected for the full 200 feet of the rink, I think it makes us a better team."
Woodcroft on the scenes in Rogers Place:
"I thought it was an electric atmosphere here with the best fans in the world in the middle of a playoff series with our arch rival. That building was quite, quite loud tonight. I can't say what the other team would've felt in that situation, but for me, I know our players felt buoyed by all the excitement in the building."
Woodcroft on the situation with Lucic running over Smith in the third period:
"I think you saw what I saw. I think last series, I talked about the four jobs in hockey: player, coach, manager and referee. My job is to coach and let the referees do their thing. I don't believe in airing complaints about officiating in the media."
"Mike Smith, what can I say about Mike Smith? I got asked the question earlier [in the series] about Mike and all the game's played and whatnot. I think when you look at the games played, he's played 28 regular-season games. You add 10, that's 38, so he's in mid-season form right now. It's not like he's played 63 games and then you add another 10 on top of it and all the wear and tear of playing 63 games during the regular season. Mike Smith played 28 games in the regular season, and now he's at 38. I felt he deserved that opportunity to go back in. He didn't want to get pulled out. It was beyond anybody's control, and that's why we called a timeout just to slow the game down so that Mike could get back in.
Woodcroft on the top line setting the tone:
"I think that's important. I think we set out with a game plan to assert our game on the other team just like every other night. We got that first goal and we had a very good first period, but for me, I think it's mindset. When your best players are leading the way mindset-wise and asserting our game plan on the other team, I think it bodes well for our entire game."
Woodcroft on the importance of the success going beyond the first line on Sunday:
"I think we have a lot of good hockey players, and we got contributions from all 20 today. All 20 contributed to that win tonight. We have a belief in our players, we trust our players, we want to put them in positions to succeed, but what I liked today was rhythm. I liked the rhythm of our game today. I thought we were able to hand a good shift off to the next line, then hand that good shft off to the next line. We were really able to sink our teeth into that team tonight."
Woodcroft on the maturity of keeping up the pressure up 2-1 in the series:
"I think as you move forward, you learn those lessons. For us, we didn't like how we played Game 4 in LA. The difference is we're at home, that's number one. I think one of the things we've tried to do for the last few months, we've talked a lot about returning to your emotional baseline. We're quite happy with the win tonight. I thought it was a really good team win, but that game's over with. Game 3 is finished. We're going to enjoy it for the next half hour and we can, it's only nine o'clock or so instead of two in the morning like the other night, but we'll enjoy it for half an hour. We have a business-like approach to every single day, we believe in getting a little bit better each and every day and taking care of that day's business, so we'll have good meetings tomorrow. It'll be a recovery and reset day for us, and we will be ready for Game 4."