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."
U.S. President Joe Biden arrived Thursday evening in Ottawa for a whirlwind 27-hour visit expected to focus on both the friendly and thorny aspects of the Canada-U.S. relationship, including protectionism and migration on both sides of the border.
Canada and the United States are negotiating a deal that could see asylum seekers turned back at irregular border crossings across the border, including Roxham Road in Quebec.
As the federal government looks to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S., an eastern Ontario mayor says his city needs more help from Ottawa to deal with the influx of asylum seekers arriving through irregular crossings like Roxham Road.
Amid renewed questions over the pervasiveness of alleged interference by China in Canadian elections and affairs broadly, opposition MPs voted Thursday afternoon to affirm a parliamentary committee's call for the federal government to strike a public inquiry.
A majority of Canadians have seen a mistake on their grocery receipts in the last year, according to a new survey conducted by Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.
An asteroid discovered just last week will pass closer to the Earth than the orbit of the moon this weekend, an occurrence so rare it happens only once in a decade, according to NASA.
The number of Canadians receiving employment insurance benefits are at record lows and down 44 per cent from last year, new figures from Statistics Canada show.
Two Kanien'keha:ka (Mohawk) sisters from Montreal are on a mission that is close to their hearts: to save their ancestors' first language by developing video games young and old can play.
The Alberta Energy Regulator has cited an energy company for causing a series of earthquakes, including the largest recorded tremblor in the province's history.
An alleged victim of a former staff member of Legacy Christian Academy can now be identified after she successfully petitioned in court to have a publication ban lifted.
In the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s provincial budget, school divisions in Saskatchewan were expecting funding levels to increase, with the province repeatedly touting its $1 billion surplus.
A recent report from the province’s privacy commissioner says the Métis Addictions Council of Saskatchewan Inc. (MACSI) failed to take appropriate steps after patient treatment files were discovered in a recycling bin.
The Tim Houston PC government remains firm in their promise they'll fix the health-care system by spending more taxpayer money on health than any previous government before.
Potato farmers on Prince Edward Island are taking the federal government to court due to the decision to restrict the movement of P.E.I. seed potatoes.
An Ontario man said he was shocked when his truck was stolen not once but twice, and the second time it was taken he was surprised to discover he was no longer covered for theft.
For the first time, the owner of a building in Old Montreal has responded to questions about the fire — through his lawyer — addressing allegations that the building was unsafe.
The political class at the National Assembly has condemned the 'violent' and 'hateful' remarks that columnist Gilles Proulx allegedly made about Quebec solidaire MNAs during Richard Martineau's show on Qub radio in recent weeks.
U.S. President Joe Biden arrived Thursday evening in Ottawa for a whirlwind 27-hour visit expected to focus on both the friendly and thorny aspects of the Canada-U.S. relationship, including protectionism and migration on both sides of the border.
Emergency crews responded to a call for a stabbing on Hartsmere Drive, off Stittsville Main Street, at approximately 7:45 p.m. Thursday. Two police cruisers guarded the parking lot of the Trustee M. Curry Park late Thursday evening.
The Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est has announced plans for a four-day school week pilot-project this fall, becoming the first school board in Ontario to offer families a shortened school week schedule.
The ‘Catch the Ace’ jackpot is still up for grabs in Hagersville. There was no winner Thursday night so the total prize money is now an estimated $1,526,067.
The resurrection of Zellers is officially underway with the Cambridge location opening its doors to eager shoppers who lined up ahead of the store's official reopening.
The co-owners of a new liquidation store in North Bay, Samuel Quesnel and Chloé Boivenue, say they want to bring a treasure hunt shopping experience to the city.
Manitoba First Nation police have arrested a man connected with a shooting on March 19 on Long Plain First Nation that resulted in the community going on lockdown.
Manitoba’s labour force is growing at a rate to supply enough workers for available positions into 2026, according to the province’s labour market outlook.
Following a court appearance Thursday, a B.C. woman facing more than 20 charges – including manslaughter – in connection with alleged druggings of men who used escort services was remanded into custody.
The man killed in West Vancouver earlier this week was a retired urologist who was involved in several legal disputes over valuable real estate, CTV News has learned.
A Victoria man’s life of crime has turned into one of survival, hope and advocacy amid ongoing conversations in the community about how best to tackle public safety matters.
