The Flames quench the Oilers

Kadri strikes with 43 seconds left

Forty-three seconds left

The Calgary Flames had their goalie on the bench and a goal to find. Nazem Kadri found it at 19:17 of the 3rd with a wrist shot, 0:43 left in regulation. That goal kept a candle lit that had finished 24th of 32 last season, and it beat one that had finished 9th.

This was a virtual match on qualification night. Each team played its own game, and the one that scored more went through. Both clubs knew the cost of losing: each had gone dark on qualification night in 2023-24, the Oilers beaten by the Minnesota Wild and the Flames by the Seattle Kraken.

McDavid's two, then nothing

In Edmonton, Connor McDavid scored a wrist shot at 3:34 of the 1st and poked in a power-play goal at 2:30 of the 2nd. Those two were all the Edmonton Oilers got. The Carolina Hurricanes came back on a Shayne Gostisbehere slap shot, Martin Necas tied it with a tip-in at 13:29 of the 3rd, and Sebastian Aho won it 4:53 into overtime.

Calgary claws back twice

Rasmus Andersson opened with a snap shot at 11:48 of the 1st. The Pittsburgh Penguins answered through Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell. MacKenzie Weegar tied it with a slap shot at 7:46 of the 3rd, then Noel Acciari's wraparound put Calgary behind again until Kadri struck. Dustin Wolf made 35 saves. Justin Kirkland ended a six-round shootout. The Oilers' flame was snuffed, and 18 still burn.