Flames comeback falls short as they lose to the Oilers

Jesse Puljujarvi scored twice in the first period as the Edmonton Oilers held off a wild third period Calgary rally to beat the Flames 7-5 on Saturday night.

The Oilers had a 6-1 lead in the third period before Calgary scored four in a row to come within one.

Jujhar Khaira, Mark Letustu, Milan Lucic, Patrick Maroon and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored for Edmonton (11-14-2). Going back to the start of last season, the Oilers have won six straight against Calgary, outscoring them 31-16.

Sam Bennett, with a pair, Mikael Frolik, Micheal Ferland and Johnny Gaudreau scored for Calgary (14-11-1).

Laurent Brossoit made 29 saves for the win in net. Mike Smith kicked out 22-of-27 shots through two periods before giving way to David Rittich, who made four saves on six shots.

The 19-year-old Puljujarvi opened the scoring 10:29 into the first period when the puck caromed to him off the end boards after Drake Caggiula missed the net on his slapshot.

Four minutes later, Eric Gryba’s shot went through the holder of Mark Giordano’s skate then changed directions again off Puljujarvi’s leg before trickling through Mike Smith’s pads to make it 2-0.

Puljujarvi spent the first five weeks of the season in the AHL before being called up from Bakersfield on Nov. 10. He had been a healthy scratch in back-to-back games before drawing back in on Thursday against Toronto and leading the team with seven shots.

It looked like the Flames were on the verge of getting back into the game when Mikael Backlund set up Frolik for a short-handed goal at 16:21 of the first to narrow the deficit to one.

However, just 1:23 later, Khaira converted Kris Russell’s pass to restore the Oilers two-goal lead.

Edmonton surged in front 4-1 at 3:40 of the second when Letestu scored on a short-handed breakaway. It was the first of three second period breakaways for the Oilers. While Smith stopped the other two, the Oilers took a 5-1 lead to the second intermission on Lucic’s deflection with 22 seconds remaining.

Rittich’s appearance didn’t start well as 1:29 in, a miscommunication behind the net resulted in an easy wrap-around goal for Maroon that made it 6-1.

Earning his first win of the season was Brossoit, who was also making his second straight start with Cam Talbot on injured reserve.

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