Monahan scores shootout winner, Flames edge rival Oilers 4-3

Sean Monahan scored the shootout winner and the Calgary Flames snapped a two-game skid with a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night. Andrew Mangiapane had a pair of goals and Elias Lindholm also scored for the Flames, who improved to 27-19-6. Kailer Yamamoto, Alex Chiasson and Matt Benning scored for the Oilers (26-18-6), who won their previous two games.

In the last meeting between the teams on Jan. 11 in Calgary, Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk delivered a pair of crushing hits on Zack Kassian, prompting the Oilers winger to jump Tkachuk, a move that earned Kassian a two-game suspension that he returned from on Wednesday.

Tkachuk and Kassian squared off for a brief fight during a faceoff late in the first period.

The Flames scored just 61 seconds in with a bit of a gift goal as a sharp-angle shot by Lindholm hit defender Adam Larsson’s stick and deflected past Oilers goalie Mike Smith.

Less than a minute after Calgary goalie David Rittich made a point-blank save on Connor McDavid with five minutes to play in the first, a Flames shot trickled past Smith and sat on the goal line before being cleared to safety with a millimeter to spare by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who then got into a rare fight with Monahan on the next shift.

Edmonton tied the game six minutes into the second period when Yamamoto scored his fourth goal in nine games up with the big club this season on a rebound.

Calgary regained the lead with seven minutes left in the middle frame as Mangiapane fired a one-timer to the top right corner.

The Oilers evened things up again less than two minutes later when Chiasson scored on a rebound in tight on the power play.

Mangiapane scored his second of the game with 45 seconds left in the second, waiting out Smith before lifting in a backhand shot.

Edmonton made it 3-all with eight minutes left in the third when Benning, a defenseman who had missed the past 20 games with a head injury, made a great move to get past Noah Hanifin and beat Rittich for his first goal of the season. That sent the game to a thrilling overtime session when both goalies were forced to make five-alarm saves to send it to the shootout.