Flames look to slow down Connor McDavid in Game 3
The Calgary Flames know the recipe they want to follow in their Western Conference second-round playoff series with the Edmonton Oilers.
When the Flames hit the road for Sunday's Game 3 of the best-of-seven series that is tied 1-1, their plan is to skate in more five-on-five play instead of the special-teams battles seen in the first two games, especially in the Oilers' 5-3 victory on Friday.
"A four-on-four goal, a five-on-four goal, a short-handed goal for them," Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said. "If you're not playing five-on-five, that's definitely to their team's advantage."
The Flames have roared out of the gates in both games only to see multi-goal leads disappear in both outings. They blew a 6-2 lead in Game 1 before claiming a 9-6 victory, and then lost 2-0 and 3-1 leads en route to Friday's loss
Granted, Oilers superstar captain Connor McDavid has taken his game to a new stratosphere, but the Flames are hurting themselves with too many penalties and more.
The easy path is to blame goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who has posted a 4.24 goals-against average and .868 save percentage against the Oilers between regular-season and playoff games, but a 2.07 average and .927 save percentage against the rest of the league. Markstrom has not been at his best in the first two games, but his teammates have struggled, too.
"I think since I've been here, we've done a really good job of playing our type of hockey," said trade-deadline acquisition Tyler Toffoli of the Flames. "The past two games, we haven't been playing to our foundation and it's been getting away from us and (we're) giving up too many scoring chances."
McDavid, especially, has been on the other side of those chances, and masterful at creating and converting them. With another goal and assist on Friday, he has collected six points in the series, but that's just the tip of the iceberg of his achievements.
He became the fastest active player to reach 20 points in a single playoff year, reaching the mark in nine games -- and the fastest since Mario Lemieux needed just eight games in 1992. McDavid, who has six goals and 14 assists, has posted five consecutive multi-point games and is only the second player in NHL history to record multi-point games in eight of nine outings to start the playoffs (the other being Darryl Sittler in 1977).
If that's not enough, McDavid also leads the Oilers in hits this series with nine and is a key player when the game is on the line.
"What I saw was a leader, who when the game was on the line was prepared to be in a shooting lane," Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said of McDavid's game. "When the goalie's pulled and we're killing a penalty, he was out there for a reason and he put his body on his line so that we would win. That type of self-sacrifice is what it takes to win come this time of year."
In turn, the Oilers are confident they can upset the Flames in the series, proven by how they've overcome early deficits.
"It's an emotional roller coaster," said forward Zach Hyman, who scored the game-winning goal in Game 2. "You've got to try to stay off of it as much as you can and stay even-keeled because it's hockey, and some nights bounces are going to go your way and some nights they're not. We've had kind of a roller-coaster season where our backs have been against the wall, and our ability to push back has been second to none on any team I've been on."
--Field Level Media
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.
Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned by N.Y. appeals court
New York's highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era in determining the trial judge improperly allowed women to testify about allegations against the ex-movie mogul that weren't part of the case.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that is banned at Queen’s Park.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
CTE: Researchers believe widespread brain injury may contribute to veteran suicide rate
Researchers are working to better understand if some Canadian military veterans may be suffering from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, also known as CTE -- a disorder previously found in the brains of professional football and hockey players after their death.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.