First-round pick Bourgault scores, adds assist in Oilers pre-season win over Flames
Derek Ryan and first-round draft pick Xavier Bourgault had a goal and an assist each on Sunday night as the Edmonton Oilers opened the pre-season with a dominant 4-0 win over the Calgary Flames.
After a scoreless first period, Edmonton blew the game open with four straight in the second.
The 2021 first-rounder Bourgault set up Ryan's goal at 6:20 on the power play, which made it 2-0. Eight minutes later, Ryan returned the favour and set up Bourgault to make it 3-0.
Colton Sceviour, the third member of that line who is at camp on a professional tryout, had two assists.
James Hamblin and Brendan Perlini also scored for the Oilers.
Edmonton outshot Calgary 49-15 in the first game with fans at the Saddledome since the Flames played Vegas on March 8, 2020. But there were plenty of empty seats with the estimated crowd size around half of the normal capacity of 19,289.
In the first pre-season game for both teams, there was a lack of star power dressed from either side.
Calgary scratched its top two lines in camp, top defence pairing, and No. 1 goaltender Jacob Markstrom. The Oilers line-up - without Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl among many other regulars -- boasted even less experience.
Flames veterans who did dress included Mikael Backlund and Milan Lucic. The latter was in the penalty box serving a four-minute roughing penalty for punching Devin Shore in the head twice, when Ryan walked out of the corner and beat starting goaltender Dan Vladar.
Ryan, 34, signed with Edmonton this past off-season as a free agent after playing the past three seasons with the Flames.
The Oilers made it 4-0 at 17:42 of the second when Perlini scored on his own rebound as he broke in off the left side.
Both teams split their goaltending. After Vladar was beaten twice on 23 shots, Adam Werner finished up for Calgary, making 24 stops.
For the Oilers, starter Stuart Skinner was perfect in his half of game action, stopping all eight shots he faced. Ilya Konovalov made seven saves in relief.
Another first-round pick with a strong game for the Oilers was defenceman Evan Bouchard, who led both teams with six shots while logging 22:05 in ice time and finishing a plus-2.
Selected 10th overall in 2018, the 21-year-old got into 14 games with Edmonton last season. He looks to make the jump to being a fixture in the line-up this year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2021
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.