CALGARY – Down 2-0 midway through the most heated episode of the Battle of Alberta in years, David Rittich looked up to see the third Oilers player of the night coming in on a breakaway.
This time it was a short-handed chance by Jujhar Khaira that could have salted things away for the visitors.
“When he’s coming in on me it’s a couple swear words,” smiled the Flames backup goaltender when asked what went through his mind.
Rittich punctuated his profanity with a kick save that turned the game on a dime.
Minutes after the save, and “another swear word” he screamed out to try motivating his bench, Derek Ryan shovelled in a power-play rebound late in the second to kick-start what would be four unanswered goals in a 4-2 Flames win.
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Yes, it was another third-period comeback – their league-leading sixth, for those keeping track at home.
What was new was the huge saves this team has been sorely missing when Mike Smith is in between the pipes.
It seems so shockingly routine for the 26-year-old Rittich, who moved to 6-1 with a 24-save performance that made him the game’s second star.
“It’s a great feeling but it’s why I’m in the net, for making some saves,” smiled the personable Czech.
“It’s my job.”
It is for now, as the goalie “controversy” dominating the Calgary sports landscape has been silenced by a goalie who did the same to a talented Oilers squad that pressed hard early in a first period that included an early 1-0 Oilers lead and plenty of Battle of Alberta hijinks.
It also included stellar performances from all three of the Flames acquisitions from the Hurricanes, whose only exposure to rivalries like this in Carolina would likely have included NASCAR racers.
Elias Lindholm had Calgary’s last two goals and played his best game as a Flame, as did Noah Hanifin (two assists) and Ryan.
All showed tremendous grit in a game that required plenty of it.
The squads wasted little time building hostility in the first as Sam Bennett rocked Darnell Nurse with a clean hit that would spark a fight between the two later in the frame. But not before a Leon Draisaitl slew-foot on Matthew Tkachuk set the tone for a night that would revolve around the two until the third period.
Tkachuk hit the ice awkwardly and left the game briefly for a check-up before returning to a 10-man scrum that had Mikael Backlund wrestling Connor McDavid to the ice as Tkachuk tried getting at the Oilers captain as well.
Just prior to the first intermission, Zack Kassian woke from his two-year slumber to try fighting Tkachuk off the draw.
Tkachuk declined despite having his helmet ripped off and was eventually attacked by Kassian, who was handed a triple roughing call and ten-minute misconduct for the same sort of thing that got Max Domi suspended for the balance of the pre-season. Tkachuk refused to fight back.
Of course, that’s not to suggest Tkachuk didn’t play his part. After all, he does lead the NHL the last two seasons in drawing penalties.
This was his kind of game.
This was a night he relished. Ditto for linemate Bennett.
“It was awesome – that’s the kind of hockey I love to play – I had a lot of fun out there tonight,” said Bennett, who even found himself wrestling with his old pal McDavid at one point.
“That was one of the most intense games we’ve played with them. It’s a bit of a taste of what playoff hockey is like. And I’d expect our next game with them will be the same.
“It’s frustrating being behind but our team has so much belief and confidence in ourselves – no one was hanging their head in the locker room between the second and third.”
Down 2-1 after two, Sean Monahan slapped in a long rebound to solve a red-hot Mikko Koskinen three minutes in to give Dome faithful cause to stand once again.
Lindholm’s go-ahead goal midway through the period set the tone for a clinic in cycling that also included several key saves that were missing two nights earlier when Smith whiffed on a Montreal game-winner.
The best chance the Oilers had at tying the game 3-3 came with 48 second left when Rittich kicked out a point blast that was rolling right to former Flame Alex Chiasson net-side. However, Travis Hamonic managed to slap the puck away just in time to set Lindholm’s empty netter seconds later.
“They did a very good job in the third period and deserved the win,” said Oilers coach Todd McLellan.
“Our first two periods however set them up well in the third. We took too many dumb penalties and did not make it difficult for their top players to produce. By the time we get to the third, they had gas still in the tank and took it to us.
“I thought it was a very emotionally charged game with a playoff atmosphere. I thought we came out of the gates strong, some of the team penalties we killed off but it was the sloppy penalties we took that got to us. It’s too many and definitely would have changed the game had we taken less and capitalized on a couple of those breakaways.”
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