Power play goals from Erik Cole, Lubomir Visnovsky, and Robert Nilsson in the second period lead the Edmonton Oilers to a 4 – 3 road win against the Calgary Flames.  It is the first of 6 meetings in the battle of Alberta and the Oilers pick up 2 of a possible 12 points from the season series in a division that is expected to be tight all season long. I’m going to do something now that I really don’t enjoy, I’m going to compliment the Calgary Flames, although it will be backhanded:

Todd Bertuzzi looked very dangerous all game long and scored his fourth goal of the season in the 3rd period to give Calgary a chance.  The good news for flames fans is that Bertuzzi could very well be a 70+ point guy this season, the bad news of course is that he’ll most likely finish with more points than the Calgary Flames and won’t have an opportunity to play in the playoffs.

Game Notes:

The NHL debut of Oilers rookie goaltender Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers was an impressive one, he did look a little shaky at times but made some key save late in the 3rd to secure the victory.  This doesn’t bode well for Dwayne Roloson as I expect he may be moved sooner rather than later based on the play of Garon and Deslauriers.

Ales Hemsky is starting to look like the dynamic player we all know and love, while he still didn’t look as dangerous on the ice as I would expect he did collect 2 more assists and led all Oiler players with 5 shots on goal.

The Oilers outplayed the Flames and for the first time this season outshot their opponents (35-29). I think the key to out shooting the Flames was faceoffs, as the Oilers who have struggled to this point in the season in the faceoff circle won 56% of their draws.

The most dangerous player on the ice in this game was Robert Nilsson. He was all over the place in the offensive zone and back checked effectively as well.

Sheldon Souray who picked up 2 assists in the game left in the second period with what is reported as a knee injury and did not return.  This is a scary situation for the Oilers who have had to deal with so many key injuries the last couple of seasons.

The Steve Macintyre experiment took a hit tonight as he only played 1 minute and 55 seconds but was a -1. I’ll be very surprised if Stortini isn’t in the line up Saturday in Edmonton

These 2 teams play again Saturday in Edmonton and we’ll see if the Oil streak will continue.

I’m going to leave you all with a  The Voice original quote.

“There are 3 types of people in Alberta, Oiler Fans, Newfoundlanders, and Flamer fans (not that theres anything wrong with that)”

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