Oilers shut out Flames 4-0 to end road trip with snap to two-game skid

The Story

The Edmonton Oilers closed out their five-game road trip with a 4-0 win over the surging Calgary Flames on Wednesday, snapping a two-game losing skid.

Jarry earned the shutout with 24 stops as Edmonton improved to 9-2-2 for the season. Mathieu Joseph, Mattias Ekholm, Kasperi Kapanen and Alex Formenton scored for the Oilers, while Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each recorded two assists.

Edmonton finished the road trip with a 3-1-1 record and collected its ninth shutout victory in the “Battle of Alberta.” It was also the first such shutout win since Dec. 9, 2018, and it was Jarry’s 24th career shutout.

McDavid extended his season-starting points streak to all 13 games with two more assists to reach 36 points, and he also extended his season-starting assists streak to 13 games, setting a new NHL record by surpassing Sebastian Aho, Ken Linseman and Wayne Gretzky.

Joseph opened the scoring 7:46 into the first period, scoring his third of the season after Calgary focused on McDavid, who sent the puck across. Bouchard also picked up an assist.

Ekholm made it 2-0 at 4:52 of the second period with a wrist shot through traffic past Dustin Wolf, in his return to the lineup after a concussion. In the third, Kapanen scored 55 seconds in on the power play, taking a pass from McDavid for his fourth goal of the season. Edmonton then stretched the lead to 4-0 just 21 seconds later when Jason Dickinson stole the puck in the Calgary zone and fed Formenton, who scored his second of the campaign.

Oilers head coach Mike Babcock said the team played a “good team game” and that Jarry “didn’t give up anything,” calling it a “really good night” for his goaltender.

After the win, the Oilers moved to 7-0-1 when scoring first and 7-0 when leading after 40 minutes. By comparison, Calgary entered the game at 5-7-0, saw a four-game winning streak end, and had struggled when conceding the opening goal, going 1-6 in those games, and 0-5 when trailing after the second.

Calgary also faced concern after Cooley was run over in the crease by Oilers forward Colton Dach late in the first period and did not return to start the second. Dustin Wolf said, “You don’t want to see anyone get hurt,” and added that the team would have to respond as a group. Dach said he had “no intent to injure,” and said he was “just trying to take it to the net and create a chance.”