Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his second goal of the night with 3:27 left to finish regulation when the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Calgary Flames 5-3 on Tuesday to take a 3-1 lead in the playoff series of the second round of the teams.
Evander Kane, with his best 11 and 12 of the NHL postseason, and Zach Hyman had the other goals from Edmonton, who got 29 stops from Mike Smith. Leon Draisaitl added three assists.
Connor McDavid also had two assists to give him 25 points at the top of the league in 11 playoff outings this spring for the Oilers, who kept their footing on track with a third straight win over their provincial rival.
Elias Lindholm, Mikael Backlund and Rasmus Andersson, with a short goal from their own end in the third period to tie the procedure 3-3, responded for Calgary, who will seek to avoid elimination in the first post-season Alberta Battle. in 31 years Thursday at home in match 5.
Jacob Markstrom stopped 21 shots.
“The most important thing was that we had to keep pressing,” Nugent-Hopkins said after Rasmus Andersson scored short from 150 feet away to catch the visitors all the way from the 3-0 disadvantage. “Things like that happen, it’s hockey. Bounces happen.
“There was no echo.”
Edmonton interim head coach Jay Woodcroft credited Nugent-Hopkins, who was playing only the 32nd playoff game of his 11-season career, to stepping up his effort with the shattered team. .
“It’s inspiring,” said Woodcroft, whose Oilers are now a victory after making the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2006. “There is room for greatness on the part of all members of our team. .
“Tonight was Ryan’s time.”
After losing 3-0 after the first period and 3-2 in the 40th minute, Calgary knotted things in the third in an Edmonton power play when Andersson fired a 150-foot clean-up attempt from his own end that somehow fooled Smith at 10:56. and surprised Rogers Place.
TARGET | Andersson, of the Flames, scores a short goal from distance:
Andersson de Flames scored from a distance of 132 meters
Calgary defender Rasmus Andersson fired a shot from his defensive side and outscored Oilers goalkeeper Mike Smith to tie the game at 3-3 in the third period.
But with the Oilers swaying, Nugent-Hopkins took home his playoff quarter from Markstrom’s gate to get the nervous crowd excited.
Andersson then took a four-minute penalty for a high hit with 2:40 from the end to effectively end the game before Kane froze him in an empty net.
“I can laugh now, can’t I?” Smith said relieved as crowds of Edmonton fans cheered on the street outside the Oilers Hall of Fame, where the team makes its availability for the media. “I don’t think there was a time in my career when I lost the record, where I have no idea where it went.
“You don’t want that to happen … ever. It was an incredible goal from Nuge in the end … a win is a win.”
TARGET | Nugent-Hopkins leads Oilers to great victory over Flames:
Oilers 1 game ahead of Flames with Nugent-Hopkins winner
Edmonton takes a 3-1 lead over Calgary in its second round with a 5-3 win in Game 4, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scoring two goals including the winning goal.
Edmonton also had a 2-1 first-round lead in the first round against the Los Angeles Kings only to play what the Oilers described as their worst performance of the month in a 4-0 loss.
They will not be happy with this game 4 either, but they got the victory to dominate the series.
“We all believe in this group,” Andersson said. “We’ve been a good team all year and we’ve been strong with the ice at home. We just have to go home and focus on winning a game and picking it up from there.
“Obviously we are in a difficult situation.”
The struggles of Markstrom, the initial leadership of the Oilers
Markstrom, who had allowed 14 goals in the series before retiring after two seasons with Calgary ahead of Sunday’s 3rd game by a 4-0 scoreline, played the record behind his own net in the first turn, but put it right in Nugent-Hopkins. ” hit him to bury his third in a deafening setting.
The goal was the third fastest in the history of the Oilers playoffs, just ahead of McDavid (19 seconds in 2020) and Fernando Pisani (16 seconds in 2006).
Markstrom, one of the three finalists for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie, bounced back to deny Darnell Nurse a chance a couple of minutes later before Smith was at his best with a unique chance from Johnny Gaudreau.
Calgary winger Tyler Toffoli was given a penalty kick and the Oilers made the visitors pay when Hyman overtook a Chris Tanev, who returned to the lineup for the first time since the sixth game of the first round. despite a suspicion of an upper body injury. bury his fifth goal of the series and seventh of the playoffs at 9:53 p.m.
The Flames, who led the Pacific division in the regular season, came back with a couple of decent changes, but Kane, who came from a natural hat-trick in Game 3, made it 3-0 with 66 seconds to go. at the end of the period. a shot that cut the blue liner Nikita Zadorov.
Calgary finally showed some life in the cunning power play in the second with Kane out to cut, and Lindholm finally picked the top corner for his fifth at 9:04 after the Oilers failed to clear the defensive zone. twice.
Backlund beat the Flames 3-2 just 36 seconds later when he passed Duncan Keith and shot Smith in the fourth.
Smith made a good save with a chance of Lindholm’s power play early in the third before the locals got their second man advantage with 11 minutes left in regulation.
Markstrom kept his team at bay with a fantastic stoppage time over Draisaitl, who became the first player in NHL history to score more than three points in four straight playoff games with an assist on the Oilers’ empty net. .