Flames Game Recaps

Flames Visual Recap R2G3: Edmonton pummels flat-footed Flames to take series lead

Game 2 in Calgary didn’t go the Flames’ way, despite having an early lead in the game. Game 3 shifted back to Edmonton and the Oilers looked to take control of the series on home ice. Jacob Markstrom started for the Flames, and Mike Smith for the Oilers.

Game recap

The Oilers came ready to play.

Their first game on home ice this series was all the motivation they needed to come out flying from the opening puck drop. They dominated the first period putting 21 shots on Markstrom to the Flames’ seven, though couldn’t break through. The game was scoreless after 20 minutes, but definitely in the Oilers’ corner as they were clearly the better team.

The second period was exactly the same, except that the Oilers scored.

First, Zach Hyman finished a nice passing play from Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid to give the Oilers a one goal lead. Then, Evander Kane scored three times, all on odd-man rushes, to effectively put the game out of reach. The four goal period was rough for the Flames, but they were completely off their game in this one and looked lost right from the get go.

In the third period, Milan Lucic was skating towards the goal and collided with Smith behind the Oilers net. Smith was pulled briefly by concussion spotters but was fine, meanwhile Lucic was given a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct. The five minute power play was all the Oilers needed to kill the clock in the third.

Oliver Kylington scored late to put the Flames on the board, but the Oilers were the better team from start to finish and deserved the win 100%. This sets up a huge Game 4 on Tuesday night that the Flames will have to be better in to win.

Data visualisations from the third playoff bout of the Battle of Alberta are below.

Game events

All situations corsi

Check out our tutorial on how to plot an NHL rink using R with the full code and customisation options included!

5v5 corsi

Shifts

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