Oilers edge Calgary, 3-2

In Edmonton, the battle for Alberta remains firmly in the gloved hands of the Oilers.

On Saturday night, the Oilers withstood a pesky Calgary Flames team in a 3-2 win.

Mike Smith made 34 saves to get the win.

“Anytime there is a coaching change, you know there is going to be emotion in the game, but we felt the same emotion was needed from our group even though it didn’t show in the first,” Smith said. “I thought, just to stick with the game, it’s not always easy, but it’s the way you finish the game off. It’s not how you start but how you finish, so it was nice to come out on the right side of that one and get a huge two points for the group.”

Connor McDavid potted his 15th of the season as the game-winner in the third period.

“It’s a big win,” McDavid said. “When you’re sliding like we were, you have to find a way out of it, and I thought we did a great job as an entire group of just staying with it, sticking with it, holding on to that game even though we probably didn’t get off to our best start.”

Johnny Gaudreau opened the scoring on a power play for a 1-0 lead in the first period.

“I thought we gave up a little too much room as the game went on and we allowed them to get into our zone too easily,” Flames assistant coach Ryan Huska said. “That’s really how they got their three goals, in my opinion.”

Jesse Puljujarvi tied the match up at 1-1.

Noah Hanifin restored the Flames’ lead, 2-1, with a goal in the middle frame.

“I thought we had a really good start, and it was a pretty back-and-forth game after that,” Hanifin said. “It’s a rivalry game and it’s always going to be competitive. It stings as a loss, but I think we competed. I think if we play that way and compete that way, we’ll have success more often than not.”

Kailer Yamamototied the game again, 2-2, early in the third period.

“We knew it was going to be a competitive game with their situation in changing their coach and our situation needing to get our game back in order,” Edmonton head coach Dave Tippett said. “I thought we got better as the game went on; you knew they were going to push early. They dumped a lot of pucks at the net in the first period, and we kind of got our legs under us, and I like the way we worked in the second and third period, and Connor, Leon and [Yamamoto] gave us a big period in the third, and we ended up getting the points.”

Jacob Markstrom made 30 save in the loss.

“I think the biggest difference tonight was goaltending. I think (Smith) made a couple of saves, and I didn’t when we needed to,” Markstrom said. “It [stinks] feeling like you didn’t bail out your teammates, but I thought we played a great game over 60 minutes, and there are obviously things to improve, but I think it’s a step in the right direction. It [stinks] getting a loss out of this game when the guys played so well in front of me.”