Eberle scores twice as Oilers defeat Flames
CALGARY, Alberta -- Jordan Eberle had two goals and two assists and goaltender Laurent Brossoit picked up his first NHL win as the Edmonton Oilers blasted the Calgary Flames 7-3 on Saturday.
Brossoit made 38 saves in his first NHL start this season and seventh career game. Anton Slepyshev, Mark Letestu, Connor McDavid, Oscar Klefbom and Ryan
Nugent-Hopkins, into an empty net, also scored for Edmonton (26-15-8).
Matthew Tkachuk, Sean Monahan and Lance Bouma replied for Calgary (24-22-3).
It was a big night for Brossoit, who was Calgary's sixth-round selection in the 2011 draft but was traded to Edmonton in 2013 without playing an NHL game for the Flames. He was summoned from Bakersfield of the American Hockey League on Jan. 10 but watched Cam Talbot start five straight games. Talbot played his
43rd game of the season Friday in a shootout loss to Nashville.
Monahan, with a goal in his fifth straight game on a shorthanded breakaway early in the third, and Lance Bouma on a tip in with 4:11 left, brought the Flames close in the third.
Brian Elliott came off the bench and stopped 23 shots for Calgary.
The Oilers chased Calgary goaltender Chad Johnson by scoring on three of their first four shots. Slepyshev's wrister off a faceoff got past Johnson 1:17 into the game.
Letestu took a nice cross-ice feed from Zack Kassian and snapped a shot by Johnson at 5:22 and Eberle made it 3-0 when he broke in on his right wing and beat Johnson to the glove side 36 seconds later.
McDavid made it 4-0 at 3:57 of the second when he picked the corner with a wrist shot from 20 feet out and Eberle got his second on a redirection at 12:24.
Tkachuk's deflection got the Flames on the board on the power play at 15:55 of the second period but Klefbom scored with a slap shot from the point -- also on the power play -- at 16:53 to give the Oilers a 6-1 lead after two periods.
NOTES: Flames D Dennis Wideman played his 800th NHL game on Saturday while Oilers LW Matt Hendricks suited up for his 500th. "I got my first game at 27 years old and to be 35 now and looking at 500, it's a feather in my cap," Hendricks said. ... C Sam Bennett was back in the Calgary lineup after being a healthy scratch Thursday against Nashville, the first time the 2014 first-round draft pick sat out as a professional. "We're making a huge deal of this. He's 20. He's going to go through tough situations in his career. ... It happens," Flames captain Mark Giordano said. The Oilers entered the night with 12 road wins in 24 games, which already matched their total away from home all of last season. ... The Flames' lone injured player is RW Garnet Hathaway (upper body). Calgary's healthy scratches were C Freddie Hamilton and D Brett Kulak. ... Out with injuries for Edmonton were C Jujhar Khaira (wrist), RW Tyler Pitlick (knee) and RW Iiro Pakarinen (knee). Edmonton's healthy scratches were C Anton Lander and D Eric Gryba.