In Edmonton, Andrew Mangiapane scored 11 seconds into the game for the Calgary Flames to the game in their favor. The Flames held serve throughout the match and handed the Oilers their fourth loss in five games, this time, 5-1.
The Oilers fell from the Pacific Division top three teams with the defeat.
“They were better right off the hop, in the first 10 seconds, we just got beat,” the Oilers Connor McDavid said. “There is no real excuse for that. We’ve always talked about coming off breaks and how this team has struggled coming off a break and tonight was no different.”
David Rittich made 28 saves to get the win for the Flames.
“We wanted to come here and play like we have on the road the past little bit and come out of here with a greasy win,” the Flames’ Matthew Tkachuk said. “I thought we did a good job of that. I think the month of December, and the first half of the season, we played a lot of Eastern Conference teams. Now we’re starting to get into a stretch where we’re playing a lot of divisional games and teams that are right there in the standings with us in the West. I wouldn’t say it was a statement game, we just wanted to come here and play good, score some goals, play good team defense and come out with two points.”
McDavid had the Oilers’ lone goal.
Sean Monahan and Tkachuk scored for a 3-1 Flames lead.
“Once we got the lead, whether it was 3-1 or 4-1, we did a good job of not necessarily shutting them down, but playing the right way,” Tkachuk said. “We didn’t give them much tonight. I thought that was a testament to our team defense.”
Elias Lindholm pushed the lead to 4-1.
“Any time you can score as quickly in periods as we did, it’s helpful,” Flames coach Geoff Ward said. “You get to play out in front as opposed to behind and I thought that was a big thing for us tonight.”
Mikael Backlund scored with less than a minute gone in the third period to deflate whatever resistance was left in the Oilers.
[WATCH:Â All Flames vs. Oilers highlights]
Mikko Koskinen got the start for the Oilers but was given the hook after surrendering four goals through 17 minutes of the second period. He made 20 saves before getting the hook.
“We addressed it at practice to make sure we’d try to be ready, but obviously, it wasn’t enough,” Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. “We were off three days for Christmas and we didn’t come with the mindset to prepare to play a hard game. We were loose. When you haven’t skated for three days, you have to show up with the purpose to prepare, prepare the right way. We were loose the whole practice. We didn’t prepare well enough to win and it showed right from the drop of the puck.”
Mike Smith made six saves, yielding a a goal 57 seconds into the third.
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