The Edmonton Oilers dominated the “Battle of Alberta” with a 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames Sunday night at Rogers Place.
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The team led by Conor McDavid led 2-1 in the second round series between the two clubs in Alberta. The obvious inspiration appeared by being in front of their fans, Oilers started the match with great force, and remarkably dominated the first half 21-7 with shots on goal.
But the winners opened the scoring in the first minute of the second half. Zach Hyman took advantage of the power game to put the puck behind goalkeeper Jacob Markstrom.
The rest of the middle period was the work of Evander Kane. The striker scored a hat-trick in six minutes. So he raised his total to 10 goals since the start of the playoffs.
Leon Drysittel, who was a partner in all four of the Oilers’ successes, was not left out. For his part, McDood amassed three assists. The 97th talented player became the first player in National League history to accumulate more than one point in nine of its first ten playoffs in a single year.
In front of the Edmonton cage, Mike Smith woke up at the right times in this duel. He stopped 28 shots before he was forced out of the match just over 11 minutes ago in the final period. The 40-year-old veteran was hit by a header from Milan Lucic behind his net and had to go through concussion protocol. However, he came back to play the last seven minutes of the match and succumbed to Oliver Killington’s shot. After he felt comfortable for four minutes, Mikko Koskinen faced no blows.
Additionally, Lucic was kicked out of the game for his gesture and Oilers had a solid five-minute play, without being able to capitalize on it.
The Oilers and Flames meet on Tuesday night for the fourth game in the series.
