Flames blow-four goal lead, recover to defeat Oilers in Game 1

CALGARY --Matthew Tkachuk scored a hat trick for the Calgary Flames, who blew a four-goal lead before recovering for a 9-6 win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Second Round at Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday.

"Probably our worst game of the playoffs so far," Tkachuk said. "We got super lucky. That's just not the recipe for success. Maybe we win this one, but we're not going to win many more if we're going to play like that. We've got to be better with the lead. We had a four-goal lead twice. That should be enough in the playoffs. We'll be better next game."

Blake Coleman scored two goals, and Andrew Mangiapane and Rasmus Andersson each had a goal and two assists for the Flames, who are the No. 1 seed from the Pacific Division. Jacob Markstrom made 22 saves.
Connor McDavid had a goal and three assists, Zach Hyman scored twice, and Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists for the Oilers, the No. 2 seed from the Pacific. Mike Smith allowed three goals on 10 shots before being replaced in the first period by Mikko Koskinen, who made 32 saves.
"Just a couple of mistakes, collectively, individually, that ended up right on their tape and back of our net," Draisaitl said. "Lot of things we obviously need to clean up."
Game 2 of the best-of-7 series will be here Friday.
"It's just one game, that's how we look at it," Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft said. "We'll go back to the drawing board and address the issues that showed up."
After Kailer Yamamoto scored Edmonton's fourth straight goal to tie it 6-6 at 1:28 of the third period, Andersson put Calgary back in front 7-6 at 2:57 when he chipped in, received a pass from Mangiapane, and shot short side over Koskinen's left shoulder from the right circle.

Tkachuk shot five-hole on a partial breakaway to extend the lead to 8-6 at 8:55.
"We played probably the worst 15 or 20 minutes of hockey we have all year, definitely in the playoffs, and it's still a tie game," Tkachuk said. "Wasn't the end of the world. Still got to go out there. Can't roll over and let them win. It was big to get that seventh goal from 'Ras,' and we went from there."
Tkachuk scored into an empty net at 17:49 for the 9-6 final.
"We got to 6-6, then turned over some pucks and it ended up in the back of our net," Woodcroft said. "Like I keep saying, we scored six goals on the Calgary Flames in their building, that should be enough to win a game."
Elias Lindholm gave the Flames a 1-0 lead 26 seconds into the first period when his shot went in off the glove of Smith, and Mangiapane scored 25 seconds later off a pass by Mikael Backlund from behind the net to make it 2-0.
The two goals scored in 51 seconds are the fastest to start a playoff game in NHL history.
"When you're down 2-0 before for it hits the 19-minute mark on the clock, it's obviously not a good start," Draisaitl said. "Clearly, we weren't ready."
RELATED: [Complete Flames vs. Oilers series coverage]
Brett Ritchie extended the lead to 3-0 at 6:05 after stealing the puck from Evander Kane in the Oilers zone.
McDavid cut it to 3-1 at 7:41, stickhandling at the top of the crease and shooting five-hole after the puck popped out to him from below the goal line.
Coleman scored on a rebound 45 seconds into the second period to make it 4-1 before pushing the lead to 5-1 at 6:10 when he redirected in a slap pass from Noah Hanifin in the slot.
"There's a lot of different ways to contribute in the playoffs, and I try to find different ways to do it when I'm not scoring," Coleman said. "Obviously, on a night like tonight, it's a good thing pucks were going in, because we needed every goal we could get."
Evan Bouchard made it 5-2 at 7:10, but Tkachuk batted the puck past Koskinen on the power play at 8:24 to make it 6-2.
Hyman scored from the outer edge of the left circle to make it 6-3 at 9:38. He then cut it to 6-4 at 14:06 when he skated out from behind the net and shot glove side on Markstrom.

Draisaitl scored with 39 seconds remaining in the second to pull Edmonton to within 6-5. He shot glove side again on Markstrom after Hanifin's clearing attempt in the neutral zone deflected off McDavid.
"We made some mental mistakes in the second period, got away from our checking game a little bit," Coleman said. "The good news is it's correctable. We can go back to the drawing board tomorrow, and as long as guys are willing to look in the mirror and take some responsibility for what happened in that period, we're going to be fine. We're going to regroup, get back to our game. That's not our style of game, 9-6."
NOTES:McDavid extended his goal streak to four games. He also became the fifth player in NHL history to get multiple points in seven of his first eight games in a single postseason, joining Glenn Anderson (1987), Denis Savard (1985), Tony Currie (1981) and Darryl Sittler (1977). ... Tkachuk's hat trick is the sixth by a Flames player in the playoffs and first since Theo Fleury had one in Game 4 of the 1995 Conference Quarterfinals.