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
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.