GAME STORY: Flames 3, Oilers 1

EDMONTON, AB - Mike Smith was good but Jacob Markstrom was great on Thursday as the Flames defeated the Oilers 3-1 in a goaltenders' duel at Rogers Place.

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FIRST BLOOD

It was a sloppy start for the Oilers, playing the second half of a back-to-back as they arrived home from Winnipeg late last night, and the Flames made them pay with the game's opening goal courtesy Elias Lindholm. After an Edmonton turnover, Johnny Gaudreau dumped the puck behind the net to Matthew Tkachuk and he found Lindholm in front for the one-timer to make it 1-0 at the 6:04 mark.

PLAY OF THE GAME

The Oilers may have only found the back of the net once on the night, but it was a pretty play finished off by James Neal against his former squad for his fourth of the season. Josh Archibald found a streaking Kris Russell cutting through the neutral zone and the usual stay-at-home defender showed some offensive flare as he navigated deep into Calgary territory and made a crafty drop-pass to Neal for a hard wrist shot that went under Markstrom's blocker-side arm for his lone blemish.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Lindholm scored his second goal of the game in the second period and he had visions of a hat-trick dancing through his head with 13 seconds left in the frame as he came in on a shorthanded two-on-one rush with Mikael Backlund. Smith had other plans, though, splaying across the crease and snagging Lindholm's shot with his glove to keep the score 2-1 after 40 minutes.

TURNING POINT

Dillon Dube's goal at 12:08 of the final frame to extend the Flames lead to 3-1 all but put the game out of reach with Markstrom playing as well as he was between the pipes. Former Oilers forward Milan Lucic unleashed one of his trademark five-hole attempts, which almost found its way through Smith and in, but Dube was there to bang home the loose puck in the crease for his ninth of the season.

TOP PERFORMER

Markstrom made 30 saves on 31 shots to earn his 18th win of the season and bump his record back above the .500 mark at 18-17-2. He was particularly sharp in the finale frame as the Oilers outshot Calgary 14-8, looking to claw their way back.

FACT CHECK

Thanks to his two-goal performance, Lindholm continued to maintain the highest career goals-per-game average among regular Flames combatants in the history of the Battle of Alberta, according to Sportsnet Stats. The Swede's 0.76 goals per game against Edmonton is well ahead of Marc Savard's 0.53 and Joe Nieuwendyk's 0.51 during their tenures with the Flames.

NEXT UP

The 10th and final Battle of Alberta of the season will be contested on Saturday night at Rogers Place before the Oilers head west to Vancouver on Sunday ahead of back-to-back games against the Canucks on Monday and Tuesday. All three above-mentioned games will start at 8pm MT.

PARTING WORDS

"They're a desperate team over there and we played a game yesterday with travel," Ethan Bear said of the Flames, who are still alive in their pursuit of a North Division playoff spot, sitting four points back of Montreal. "You could tell they had a little bit more jump than us."
"I felt good," said Neal, who logged 13:10 and generated four shots in addition to his goal, suiting up for the third time in four nights. "Playing consistent games in a row gets you back into the flow of things. I feel like I'm getting my legs at the right time."
"We were sloppy with the puck, turned a lot of pucks over," Head Coach Dave Tippett said. "Smith was really good in goal, gave us a chance. We had some chances and didn't bury anything."