CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Evan Bouchard scored the tying goal midway through the third period and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Calgary Flames 4-2 on Saturday night.
Leon Draisaitl, Connor Brown and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored for Edmonton, which is 5-1-1 in its last seven games. Calvin Pickard stopped 33 shots and improved to 12-6-0.
“We played well in the third period, and at the end we got a big goal on the power play,” Edmonton coach Chris Knoblauch said. “(Picard) was outstanding. I thought he made some big saves, especially late in the game when the goalie was taken and the game was on the line.”
Draisaitl reached 40 goals for the third consecutive season and fifth time in his career. This puts him in third place behind Wayne Gretzky (nine) and Jari Kurri (seven).
The Oilers are now three points behind Vancouver, taking first place in the Pacific Division. They have a game remaining against the Canucks, a 6-3 loss to Los Angeles.
Egor Sharangovic and Nazem Kadri scored for Calgary, which has lost eight of its past nine games. Andrei Kuzmenko recorded two assists, extending his scoring streak to five games (4 goals, 5 assists). Jacob Markstrom made 23 saves.
“We fought hard and I thought we deserved better tonight,” Flames left wing Jonathan Huberdeau said. “This shows they have a good power play and they took advantage of it, but we fell short. But I thought we were the better team tonight.”
Calgary tied the score at 2-2 with its second power-play goal at 7:13 of the third. Kuzmenko sent a pass to Sharangovich, who fired a shot, but Kadri deflected it.
However, Edmonton scored its second goal on a power play less than three and a half minutes later, regaining the lead for good. Bouchard received a pass from Nugent-Hopkins and scored her 17th point on a shot from the blue line with 9:24 left.
Connor McDavid also had an assist, recording two assists on the night and scoring a career-high 99 points on the season. This is the most assists in an NHL season since Gretzky had 122 in the 1990-91 season. McDavid is trying to become the fourth player to have 100 assists in a season. He will join Gretzky (11), Mario Lemieux (1) and Bobby Orr (1).
Nugent-Hopkins sealed it with an empty netter with 43 seconds left.
Draisaitl took the lead on a power play with 16 seconds left in the first period, flipping a pass from Nugent-Hopkins just under the crossbar.
Edmonton doubled its advantage with 3:13 to play. He didn't get a shot on goal on a 2-on-1, but the puck popped out to Brown, who was trailing, and he fired his fourth. After not scoring in his first 54 games, Brown has scored four goals in his last 11 games.
Just 44 seconds later, the Flames were on the power play, and Sharangovich took a pass from Kuzmenko and fired a slap shot into the top corner, his 30th of the season.
“It's a bit of a tough loss. We could have won this game. We had chances to score more goals,” Sharangovic said.
Sharangovic, acquired from New Jersey in the offseason, becomes the Flames' sixth player to score 30 goals in his first year with the Flames. He is Kent Nilsson (40 years old in 1979-1980), Mike Cammalleri (39 years old in 2008-2009), Lanny McDonald (34 years old in 1981-82), Bob McMillan (1977-78) 31 years old), joining Hakan Loeb (30 years old in 1983-84). ).
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Oilers: Host Las Vegas on Wednesday night to open a four-game homestand.
Flames: Begin a three-game road trip Tuesday night in San Jose.
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