Flames score early to earn Battle of Alberta win over Oilers

Michael Stone had a goal and two assists and Nazem Kadri added a goal and an assist as the visiting Calgary Flames jumped out to a 4-1 first-period lead and then held on for a 4-3 Battle of Alberta victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.

It was the first career three-point game of Stone's career. Mikael Backlund and Andrew Mangiapane also scored for the Flames while Dan Vladar finished with 24 saves in his first career start against the Oilers.

Connor McDavid, Cody Ceci and Ryan McLeod scored goals and Leon Draisaitl had two assists for Edmonton. Stuart Skinner stopped all 31 shots he faced after replacing starter Jack Campbell, who allowed four goals on 11 shots, midway through the first period.

It took just 73 seconds for Calgary to take a 1-0 lead when Backlund jammed in a rebound of a Stone point shot.

Edmonton tied it at the 3:18 mark when Ceci whipped in a wrist shot from the high slot past Vladar's glove side.

The Flames then answered with three goals in the span of 5:44. Stone made it 2-1 with a slap shot through traffic from the top of the right circle. Kadri followed with his first goal in a Calgary uniform when he blew past an Oilers' defenseman at the blue line on the right wing and beat Campbell five-hole. Mangiapane then chased Campbell when he fired in a wrist shot rebound from the left doorstep of a Kadri shot at the 10:18 mark to make it 4-1.

It marked the first time since Oct. 4, 1991, that the Flames, who were eliminated by Edmonton in five games in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs last season, scored four first-period goals in the Battle of Alberta.

Edmonton cut it to 4-3 with a pair of goals in the second period. The first came on a power-play goal by McDavid off a backhand cross-crease pass by Evander Kane. The second came when McLeod tapped in Murray's behind-the-net feed from the left side of the net.

Calgary missed a chance to extend its lead early in the third period when Tyler Toffoli rang a close-in shot from the bottom of the left circle off the goal post.

The Oilers had a couple of chances to tie it in the final seconds after pulling Skinner for an extra attacker but Vladar deflected a Draisaitl backhand shot from the slot with the top of his stick and then made a sprawling save of a Zach Hyman shot near the left post as the buzzer sounded to seal the win.