Evander Kane had a goal and two assists as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the rival Calgary Flames 5-2 in the Heritage Classic outdoor game at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton on Sunday in a battle between two teams that have had less than stellar starts to their NHL seasons.
Brett Kulak, Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard and Vincent Desharnais also scored for the Oilers (2-5-1) who snapped a four-game losing skid.
A.J. Greer and Nazem Kadri replied for the Flames (2-6-1), who have now lost five games in a row.
It was much warmer (3 C at puck drop) than at the original Heritage Classic 20 years ago which reached -30 C with the wind chill in 2003, much to the relief of Edmonton fans.
Those same fans were also pleased when Edmonton started the scoring four minutes into the opening period as Flames’ netminder Jacob Markstrom allowed a big rebound on an opportunity by Kane and defender Kulak was down deep to sweep in a backhand shot.
Edmonton made it 2-0 midway through the first period right after killing a two-man disadvantage as Leon Draisaitl came out of the box and waited for Hyman to catch up on a two-on-one before dishing it to him for his third goal of the season.
Calgary got one back with five minutes to play in the first frame and just one second remaining on yet another two-man advantage as a high Kadri shot deflected off of goalie Stuart Skinner’s blocker and into the net. It was Kadri’s first goal of the campaign.
Edmonton regained its two-goal cushion a minute later as Bouchard scored on a long slap shot through traffic. Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who was a game-time decision to return from injury, picked up an assist to extend his home scoring streak to 24 games.
Calgary got another power-play goal 8 1/2 minutes into the second period as Mackenzie Weegar split the defence for a point-blank shot, with the rebound deposited by Greer.
Edmonton got a big goal six minutes into the final frame as a Desharnais point shot took a high bounce off of the ice and past Markstrom.
The Oilers put the game away for good in the final minute on an empty-netter by Kane, his second of the season.