McDavid picked up his first career assist at 2:59 of the third, stripping the puck from Flames captain Mark Giordano and setting up a tic-tac-toe passing play that was finished off by Yakupov, who one-timed Benoit Pouliot’s set-up.
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“We are excited to name our head coach and management team for our World Cup squad”, Chiarelli said in a statement.
Hall also had a three-point game for Edmonton with a goal and two assists.
Jones got a power-play goal at 10:14 to get the Flames back to within two but that’s as close as they could get. I think most of it stems from the lack of goals scored early on in the season. “I mean, it’s only been five games”, he said, perhaps the only voice in Calgary that wasn’t gushing over the caliber of his game. “They won a lot of battles, they put pucks to the net and they basically deserved to win that game and we didn’t”. Edmonton has a much better team than their record indicates but if they’re going to be a playoff contender this season they need to win this type of game and I think they have the personnel to do it.
Calgary coach Bob Hartley expressed his frustration after the game. “Get them excited when we get back to Rexall Place”. “Our compete level is not there”. Tonight we got outplayed, we got outworked, we got outhustled.
While Cam Talbot continues to give Edmonton steady, accountable goaltending, Hiller made a few highlight reel stops that kept this from becoming a true blowout.
Miller is 12-0-0 with a 2.23 goals-against average lifetime versus the Oilers, winning all five games between the teams last season.
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Notes: McDavid’s parents were in attendance… The Oilers made one line-up change at forward with Rob Klinkhammer drawing in for Russian rookie Anton Slepyshev… It was about getting our first look at the star we’ve been told so much about – and an Oilers team that might finally be on the right path – on a night where the flashes of McDavid’s brilliance we’ve seen thus far played out over entire shifts.
