In Edmonton, the Philadelphia Flyers ended the Oilers’ perfect start t the season with a 5-3 decision.
Cam Atkinson scored twice for the Flyers who improved to 3-1-1.
“He is a real smart player that plays that 200-foot game,” Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said. “He plays power play for us, he kills penalties, he’s a big part of our team right now.”
Carter Hart made 34 saves in the win.
“[Hart] was great,” the Flyers’ Keith Yandle said. “Against a team like that, they’re super explosive and they can make plays out of nothing. You always have to be on your game defensively and the goaltender is a big part of that. He made a lot of big stops for us and it was a big team effort.”
Tyson Barrie and Connor McDavid each scored once and had two points on the night.
“I liked parts of our game. I thought we played real quick,” McDavid said. “We had our looks. Maybe we could have defended a little better, I guess, but it is hockey, and they are going to get chances. I thought we did a pretty good job, just obviously not enough to win.”
Claude Giroux and Nate Thompson scored for the Flyers to give them a 2-0 lead in the game.
The Oilers’ Zach Hyman tied the game, 3-3, with less than a minute gone in the middle frame.
“That could be some of the best hockey we played all season,” Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said. “Our second period was arguably our best period of the year; a couple of mistakes, a couple of bad bounces and we’re chasing the game. And once they got the lead in the third, they shut it down pretty good.”
Sean Couturier added a late empty-net goal to seal the win for the Flyers.
Mikko Koskinen made 29 saves in the Oilers loss.
“There are probably games that we played that we didn’t deserve to win, or the goaltending was spectacular,” Barrie said. “Tonight, I thought we played well. There are a couple we would have liked to have back. It would have been nice to go 6-0 to start the year, but you are not going to win them all.”
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