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The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers met each other twice on Saturday night for their home opening preseason games where each team walked away with a win. The two teams were split into two squads and two games on Saturday night; one held in Calgary and the other held in Edmonton.
The first game played between the two squads was held in Calgary at the recently rebuilt Saddledome. Both teams came out the gates rather quickly as players tried to get their nerves in check. The game started a little sloppy but would come together as the Oilers took a 2-0 lead on the Flames. As it might be a common trend for this Flames team this year, Calgary battled back to tie the game at 2-2 going into the third period and would even come close to getting a lead with a shot from Poirier which rung off the post.
Unfortunately for the Flames, shortly after ringing it off the post, Oilers Marincin would squeeze one by Joni Ortio for the game winning goal. Both teams battled hard and there was an apparent physical edge from each side, though the Flames seemed to have a few extra bigger hits at bigger moments than did their counterparts. It was a fast paced game with several rookies in the lineup for both teams. Calgary for me seemed to take longer to get organized than did the Oilers, but would eventually get some chemistry going with some nice passing in both the neutral and offensive zones.
As mentioned, there were a lot of nerves and cobwebs between each squad for their first preseason game, and as a result there wasn’t a ton of highlight reel plays. With that being said, Emile Poirier was one player who really stood out for me. Aside from some expected strong play from a few players, Poirier was one player who I suppose I didn’t hold high expectations for coming into the preseason as most focus is on Monahan trying to make the team.
Poirier was one of the stronger players out on the ice for the Flames during their first home game and it wasn’t just fans that noticed, either.
"I saw him finding pucks out there. He seemed to be in the right spot at the right time and that's not always necessarily lucky. If it happens more often than not, it's usually because the player has a knack for that and he showed that kind of hockey sense tonight," Cammalleri said. "He was able to bury a nice goal. He created another chance where he hit a post, showing nice patience to get to the middle and make that play." - CTV News
For the second contest held between the two rival teams in Edmonton, there was much more dominance shown throughout the game. The Edmonton Oilers must have received notice that they were in the lead over in Calgary because they had a strong start at home against the Flames. The Oilers took a 4-1 lead which would later be extended to a 5-2 lead in the second period. Despite being down by 3 goals, twice, the Flames battled hard and came back to tie the game 5-5 in the third period after some nice work by Josh Jooris who is looking to earn a spot.
The game would eventually make it to a shootout as neither team could take advantage of an extra period of play during OT. Calgary Flames Sven Baertschi and Roman Horak would put the game away scoring in the shootout while Edmonton Oilers potential new captain Taylor Hall was denied by the big pad of Reto Berra for a shootout goal of his own.
In terms of goaltending for both games, I was impressed with Joey MacDonald the most, while I felt that Karri Ramo had a decent showing despite some rough scrums in front of the net where he fell out of position. Ortio played well, but I suppose I was looking for a real strong game from him as he displayed in the rookie tournament. His competition on Saturday was certainly stronger than the YoungStar Classic, though he didn’t appear to be 100% from what I saw. First game of the preseason – shouldn’t read into it too much.
The other goalie looking to play his way into a starting role was Reto Berra who had a strong game as well. Although things started off rather poorly for his debut, he helped his team fight back with big saves late in the game which allowed for a comeback shootout win.
"It was really a tough start,” said Berra. “First shot, then rebound goal. But I kept focus and everything” — here he tapped his forehead — “and I knew it was going to be a long game.”
“For me, that was perfect,” said Berra. “Every minute is good for me, to get used to the ice and everything. It was a great game today.”
“I set a goal in my mind (about) what I wanted to do this game and in every game,” said Berra. “And in the end, I did that and I’m happy.” – Calgary Herald
The Calgary Flames take to the ice for their first full squad game against the Ottawa Senators tonight in Saskatoon. I will provide updates throughout the day concerning tonight’s game through the blog and via Twitter.
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