Playoff contender
The December nine edition of the Battle of Alberta will be a noteworthy entry into the annals of history as the Edmonton Oilers executed with excellence Coach Ken Hitchcock’s philosophy of “for each other” with a 1-0 win over the Calgary Flames at Rogers Place. The two points put the Oilers firmly among the playoff contenders including their games in hand.
After tonight’s game, Edmonton sits ninth in the Pacific Division with six points separating first and ninth place. The Oilers are one point behind the Las Vegas Golden Knights for the last playoff berth but have two games in hand.
“The message was, until the…teams around us won, is we thought we were going to be in the playoffs as of today. That was two points, that was the whole focus, whatever we got to do for two points, we’ll do,” said Edmonton Oilers coach Ken Hitchcock on Oilers TV.
Goaltending leaders’ showdown
In the Edmonton Oilers’ corner, Mikko Koskinen has the best home GAA in the NHL at 1.07 before the game started and has yet to lose a game at Rogers Place. At the other end of the ice, Flames goaltender David Rittich leads the league with a GAA of 1.82 on the road. On any given night stopping 29 out of 30 shots for a .967 save per0centage is a win. On any night but this night as Mikko Koskinen stopped 24 shots playing to 1.000 perfection in winning by a goal.
Koskinen picked up his third shutout of the season, tying him for second place in the NHL with Keith Kincaid of the New Jersey Devils. Leading the league with five is Golden Knights puck stopper Marc Andre-Fleury. He also improved his save percentage to .929 keeping him in the top 10 among league leaders. His GAA dropped to 2.06 where he remains among the top five in the league.
Connor for the win
The game-winner came at 12:18 in the first period courtesy of a nifty four-way passing play that started and ended with Connor McDavid. While invoking coach Ken Hitchcock’s process, McDavid collected the puck in his own end before turning on the afterburners and crossing both blue lines in less than a negative second.
Stepping over the blue line into the Flames’ zone, McDavid flips a backhand saucer pass to Leon Draisaitl, who in turn dropped it to Alex Chaisson. While goaltender Rittich squared to face the shot, Chiasson returned a cross-ice pass to McDavid who one-timed past Rittich for the only goal of the game.
For now, the Edmonton Oilers are in playoff contention.
“This was a playoff game played by both teams. I thought it was a really sound, well-played hockey game. We had lots of scoring chances and they had lots of scoring chances…overall it was a playoff game.” Hitchcock said.
He said playing against teams like Calgary and Colorado will be tough.
“But when you win with experiences such as this you win as a team.”
By Verhomme