Oilers dominate third period to win game

PENTICTON, B.C. – The 2015 Young Stars Classic continued Saturday at the South Okanagan Events Centre with an evening game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Calgary Flames before a full house.

AndrewMangiapane scores a goal past Oilers goalie Jordan Papirny – Photo by Jack Lima

The game got off to a chippy start. Good hits at both ends of the ice. And a couple of shots on the Calgary Net that Mason McDonald handled easily. These traded by a few shots on the Oilers net that Jordan Papirny had to perform some acrobatics to get to, but they were saves nonetheless.

Jordan Papirny makes a save – Photo by Jack Lima

The first goal of the night came just under 14 minutes into the first period. The puck was shot from behind the net by Pavel Karnaukhov to Hunter Smith, who was waiting on the doorstep to wrist the shot to the back of the net.

Kyle Platzer (71) and Bill Arnold (46) face off – Photo by Jack Lima

“ It started off with a good fore check from [Kenny Agostino] and we poked it away from the guy, and [Pavel Karnaukhov] was pretty patient with it; just gave me a gift on the back door. You’ve got to put those away every time,” said Smith.

Sam Bennett skates in on goal – Photo by Jack Lima

With just over four minutes remaining in the first, Sam Bennett was sent to the penalty box on a hooking offense, and then Greg Chase followed for unsportsmanlike conduct to allow a four on four skate. Bill Arnold skated down the boards towards the Edmonton net, and slipped the puck across the crease through traffic to Andrew Mangiapane for the goal.

Ryan Lomberg takes a shot – Photo by Jack Lima

The players left the ice for the break with a 2-0 Calgary lead.

The Flames clearly dominated this period, stopping the Oilers from getting more than nine shots on the net for the period, while the Flames had 19.

Ryan Lomberg (56) checks Oilers Darnell Nurse into the boards – Photo by Jack Lima

The second period got off to a better start for the Oilers as Josh Winquist was able to beat McDonald in the net from the right circle. His goal was assisted by Kyle Platzer. But the Flames answered back quickly with Bill Arnold’s goal. He took the puck to the doorstep, hesitated, throwing off Papirny in the net, and then making the shot for the goal on a power play. Rasmus Andersson was credited on the assist.

Oilers Braden Christoffer (C) fights for position in front of the net as Brett Kulak (61) and Ryan Lomberg (56) defend – Photo by Jack Lima

“We had the man advantage, so I knew I had a second. So I just took my time and made sure I had my head up and I was actually kind of surprised how wide the net was open,” said Arnold. “It was a great pass by [Andrew Mangiapane]. “

Oilers Braden Christoffer (61) tries a tip a shot past Flames goalie Mason McDonald – Photo by Jack Lima

Late in the period, Joey Laleggia fired off a shot from the blue line through traffic for the Edmonton goal to close the gap to 3-2 going into intermission.

The Oilers came back fiercely in the third period, when Braden Christoffer scored a power play goal from just outside of the crease. His goal was assisted by Leon Draisaitl. The period became physical, with some extracurriculars near the Oiler net. Darnell Nurse and Rasmus Andersson both received five minutes for fighting.

Mason McDonald blocks a shot from Oilers Darnell Nurse (25) – Photo by Jack Lima

Coach Ryan Huska talked about the Andersson’s fight.

“I thought it was great. He stuck his nose against a bigger guy. It shows a lot about his character and what he’s willing to do on the ice. For me he went up more again tonight the way he’s capable of playing and on what he’s willing to do for his teammates.”

Marco Roy (44) takes a shot on goal – Photo by Jack Lima

A few minutes later, on a breakaway, Draisaitl was moving towards the net, when Ryan Lomberg was called for interference, giving Draisaitl a penalty shot. Draisaitl skated towards the net, stick handling the puck, and then made the quick wrister that went through McDonald’s five-hole for the go-ahead goal.

Mason McDonald – Photo by Jack Lima

After that the Oilers developed more momentum. The Flames pulled McDonald from the net for the man advantage but Josh Winquist caught a loose puck and scored an empty net goal with 1:14 remaining on the clock, followed by the final empty net goal credited to Connor Rankin with only six seconds remaining to seal the 6-3 win over the Flames.

Flames goalie Mason McDonald gets a snow shower – Photo by Jack Lima

Despite the score Huska said of Mason McDonald, “I don’t think the score was a great indicator of how well he played. He made a lot of big saves for us. It’s nice to see him come a long way this year. He’s done a good job.”

Mason McDonald follows the puck in the corner – Photo by Jack Lima

The Oilers were effective at shutting down the Flames after the first period, leading the shots on goal 23-14 for the second and third period combined.

Jordan Papirny – Photo by Jack Lima

Arnold commented on the penalties, “There are a lot of young guys here and Coach talked about it between periods. We’ve got to stay out of the box. We gave the refs too many opportunities with our sticks to make those calls. I think that’s a real learning experience. It’s something that everyone on our team, though out the entire lineup, can learn from, and it came back to bit us in the third period. We just have to make sure and not do that Monday.”

Flames goalie Mason McDonald makes a toe pad save on Caleb Jones – Photo by Jack Lima

Sometimes, according to Huska, a loss can be a good way to gauge the character of the players and their capabilities.

Flames Bill Arnold (46) fights for the puck along the boards with Greg Chase (L) and Braden Christoffer (R) – Photo by Jack Lima

“This is all evaluations and you really see who continues to push. And [Mason McDonald, Andrew Mangiapane and Ryan Lomberg]; they are not the biggest guys on the ice. But they were the hardest working guys for us. And they were the guys that were moving their feet. You want other guys to step up in that situation and you’re happy to see stuff from them. It’s a good evaluator for us. It gives a good assessment of what people are like in certain situations.”