In Calgary, Evander Kane hit for a natural hat trick in the middle frame on Sunday, and the Edmonton Oilers downed the Flames, 4-1.
“It was a lot of fun, it was good to come back home and play these guys on our home ice,” Kane said. “I thought we came out with a really good start and it was a good win for our group.”
The Game 3 win gives the Oilers a 2-1 series lead.
Game 4 is Tuesday in Calgary.
Mike Smith made 31 saves in the Oilers win.
Smith left the crease near the midway point of the third period after being hit by Calgary’s Milan Lucic behind the net, Lucic was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for the hit.
Mikko Koskinen did not have to make a save on the in just under five minutes of ice time.
“I think we had a lot of our younger guys that haven’t been in this situation before, were a little bit intimidated by the atmosphere,” Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said. “[The Oilers] haven’t played at home in this round yet and they were going to come out hard and really play with a lot of purpose in their game, a lot of speed, and they did. And I thought ‘Marky’ [Markstrom] in the first period, probably made three or four saves that kept it at no score. But I just think give Edmonton credit the way they played in [the neutral zone], and it fed [McDavid’s] game for sure.”
After a scoreless first period, Zach Hyman scored off the power play with less than a minute gone in the middle frame for a 1-0 lead to Edmonton.
Kane then added his hat trick for the 4-0 lead heading to the third period.
Edmonton’s top line of Connor McDavid, Kane, and Leon Draisaitl accounted for 10 points on the night.
“Obviously they made some plays on those goals and were spectacular, but I would go to their checking, though,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “I’d talk about their checking, the way they defended. That line, I think Connor and Leon both finished plus-4. When our best players are leading the way defensively and setting the tone for what’s expected for the full 200 feet of the rink, I think it makes us a better team.”
In the final period, Oliver Kylington scored for the Flames in the 16th minute to break up the shutout bid.
“We lose the second period 4-0, we let one guy dominate the game and unfortunately our second period wasn’t good enough,” Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson said. “We just have to stop [McDavid] with all five guys that are on the ice, six including Marky. We have to stop him as a unit. One individual can’t stop him. We just have to stop him together.”
Jacob Markstrom got the start for the Flames but was given the hook in the second intermission after yielding four goals in the second period. He made 29 saves.
Dan Vladar made six saves in the third stanza.
“They’ve got one player that plays half the game and is playing some great hockey right now,” Calgary forward Matthew Tkachuk said. “We’ve got to find a way to stop that. When we get in their zone, we’ve got to hold pucks, nothing blind, and get shots to the goalie. That’s where they can have some trouble, with rebounds and loose coverage with that. (We) just have to have consistent O-zone shifts and not throw anything blind where they can feed their transition.”
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