The Calgary Flames went into Edmonton on Thursday night needing a win to stay alive in the North Division playoff race. Well, mission accomplished. The Flames weren’t perfect, but were good enough to win a tight-checking 3-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Rogers Place.
The rundown
The Flames opened the scoring off a nice little sequence of smart plays. Kris Russell bobbled a clearing attempt at the blueline and it was captured by Johnny Gaudreau, who made the simple play by throwing the puck around the boards to Matthew Tkachuk. Tkachuk, from behind the net, fed Elias Lindholm for a one-timer that beat Mike Smith to make it 1-0 Calgary.