Flames at Oilers
The Calgary Flames look to snap out of their doldrums Saturday when they visit the Edmonton Oilers for the second installment of this season's Battle of Alberta. Calgary's losing streak reached four games (0-3-1) Friday with a 6-2 home loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
The Flames battled back from a pair of one-goal deficits before yielding the final four tallies and falling to 1-5-0 at Scotiabank Saddledome. Edmonton has been extremely streaky thus far this season, beginning the campaign with a four-game losing streak and following with three straight victories before enduring another three-game skid. The Oilers snapped that slide Thursday as they handed Montreal its second straight loss following a season-opening nine-game winning streak. Edmonton struck first in the season series against its provincial rival, posting a 5-2 triumph at Calgary in which rookie phenom Connor McDavid scored two goals and set up another.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CBC, TVA
ABOUT THE FLAMES (2-8-1): Johnny Gaudreau has had trouble scoring goals this season, but he's had no problem setting them up. The 22-year-old has gone nine games since netting his only tally of the campaign, but he has notched at least one assist in five of his last six contests. Gaudreau leads Calgary with 12 points and is first in the league with 11 assists.
ABOUT THE OILERS (4-7-0): McDavid is living up to the hype in the early going, recording five goals and seven assists for a team-leading 12 points. The 18-year-old center enters Saturday's contest witih a seven-game point streak that began in the first matchup with Calgary. Leon Draisaitl had a stellar season debut Thursday, scoring two goals — including the game-winner — to match his total in 37 contests as a rookie last campaign.
OVERTIME
1. Flames RW David Jones has gone six games without a goal since scoring two against the Oilers on Oct. 17.
2. Edmonton continues its four-game homestand against Philadelphia on Tuesday and wraps it up versus Pittsburgh three nights later.
3. Karri Ramo is expected to start in goal for Calgary.