The first Battle of Alberta playoff series in 31 years got off to a flying start Wednesday with the host Flames outscoring the Oilers 9-6. This Western Conference second-round opener tied for fifth-highest scoring game in NHL playoff history and it tied a Flames record for goals in a playoff game.
A game like this naturally produces lots of other unusual stats and numbers. The Sporting News picked out four of the most interesting ones:
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51
Calgary led 2-0 after 51 seconds in the first period, the fastest two-goal start ever in the playoffs, per NHL.com. Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane scored 25 seconds apart in the first minute, in the first clue that this game would look far different than the Flames' first-round defensive struggle against the Stars.
"We were told that it was a boring series last time, so I told the players yesterday we've got to score seven to 10 goals today, knowing full well that they'd probably score five to eight, and then we could win, so that's what we did," Flames coach Darryl Sutter deadpanned after the game.
10
Ten of the 12 Flames forwards recorded points in the game. Only Milan Lucic (9:46 time on ice) and Dillon Dube (13:52 TOI) failed to get on the scoresheet. Matthew Tkachuk scored his first playoff hat trick, Blake Coleman had his first two goals of the postseason and Johnny Gaudreau chipped in three assists.
"Overdue," Coleman said of finally getting into the goal column. "There's a lot of different ways to contribute in the playoffs and I try to find different ways to do it if I'm not scoring, but obviously on a night like tonight it's a good thing that the pucks are going in because we needed every goal we could get."
.786
The save percentage of winning goalie Jacob Markstrom. The Flames stalwart allowed six goals on 28 Oilers shots, including four on 11 shots in the second period as Edmonton rallied to cut Calgary's lead to 6-5 after 40 minutes. He bounced back to stop nine of 10 in the third and turn back the Oilers after they tied the game 6-6.
"He gives us tons of confidence," Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "He said before the third, he was like, 'You guys keep doing your thing, I'm going to shut the door for you,' and that's exactly what he did. He's been our MVP all year. It's on us for pretty much every goal that went in earlier, whether it was turnover, just not working or just mental mistakes."
In contrast, Edmonton goalies Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen posted an .830 percentage (39 on 47 shots; Calgary's final goal was an empty-netter).
1
Of the 15 total goals, just one was scored on the power play. Tkachuk scored it in the second period to put Calgary up 6-2. The Flames were 1 for 3 with the man advantage while the Oilers, led by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, went 0 for 4.
"We really didn't get any momentum going on our PP," Draisaitl said. "That's another thing that we're obviously looking to improve and be better next game."
And that next game, Game 2 in the best-of-seven series, will be Friday in Calgary.