For the second straight season the Flames opened on the road and come away with the two points after a come from behind victory. Trailing for just over half the game, a 19-year-old rookie in his first National Hockey League game, Matvei Gridin scored a lucky one for his first career NHL goal. Just happened to start the fire under the Flames feet.
The first 30 minutes of the game were, quite frankly, unwatchable for the Flames. Lifeless with no answer to the speed the Oilers were playing with, and some sloppy play in the defensive zone, and most importantly, zero forecheck. The tide shifted in the Flames favour after applying copious amounts of pressure on the forecheck and causing issues for the Oilers breakout.
The Flames got a couple lucky bounces to go their way, with Gridin's goal going off the skate of an Oilers defenceman, Connor Zary's goal bouncing in off a stick that was an inch from being over the bar, and a miscue by Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner and defenceman Evan Bouchard allowing Blake Coleman to poke the puck past Skinner and tie the game at three.
I saw some issues with the penalty-killing units, going from the aggressive style diamond to more of a passive box at times that allowed the Oilers to score a few power play goals, when they went back to that diamond they've been implementing this season, it was much more effective against one of the most dangerous power plays in recent NHL history.
Matvei Gridin
Gridin was outstanding in his NHL debut, with his positioning and poise, including a couple nicely timed stick checks in overtime. Overall a very impressive outing from one of the stronger performers in camp and preseason, and not once looking out of place in the league so far. Welcome to the NHL.
A slow start of the game for the Flames but ended strong to walk away with the two points, and if it wasn't for Dustin Wolf providing timely saves consistently when the Flames were down, and an awakening of the forecheck and hard to play against style the Flames are known for, this article would sound very different. On to the next one.