The battle of Alberta took place Saturday Jan 26. 2013 at the Scotiabank Sattledome between the Calgary Flames and the Edmonton Oilers.
After a rough start, the Flames got back to their game by scoring 2 goals relatively early in the first period. Mikael Backlund scored his second goal of the season to open the scoring which was followed by Jay Bouwmeester’s first of the campaign. However, The Oilers would not not leave the period scoreless as Justin Schultz potted his second of the year with a shot from the point in the last minute of the period.
The second period began with Curtis Glencross putting home a gorgeous cross crease pass from captain Jarome Iginla. Although the Oilers would answer back with a nice wrist shot goal from Jordan Eberle on the power play. Lee Stempniak added a tap-in goal near the end of the period to put the Flames up 4-2.
The third period was not as intense as the first two, having only one goal scored with .3 seconds left in the game by Sam Gagner.
The Flames were more than happy with their win as it was the first one of the season. The Flames handled adversity pretty well as both of Edmonton’s first two goals were scored on the power play off of VERY debatable calls.
Jay Bouwmeester was the first star of the game and it was well deserved. Not only did the the veteran posted one goal and one assist in the game, but he set up multiple scoring chances and was constantly joining the rush. The Flames have been waiting to see that Jay Bouwmeester for quite some time, hopefully he can keep it up.
Lee Stempniak also had a strong game finishing with one goal and two assists.
(Photo by Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Getty Images)
It should be noted that this was the first game of the season where key players Jiri Hudler and Roman Cervenka joined the lineup. Hudler had been on a leave of absence after the sudden death of his father, and Cervenka had been out because of a blot clot. Hudler picked up his first point as a Flame assisting on Stempniak’s 4-2 goal. Cervenka got better as the game went on and showed some flashes of greatness. It normally takes time for European players to get used to North American sized ice rather than Internationally sized ice.
The Flames are looking to build off their first win with their next game against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, Jan 31, at the Sattledome.
Dawson Drolet
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