The Edmonton Oilers rookies recovered from an early deficit to beat the Calgary Flames rookies 4-3 Saturday night at Rogers Place.
The Flames took control before the game was five minutes old. Walker Duehr banged his own rebound past Olivier Rodrigue, then Ryan Francis made it 2-0 only 21 seconds later. The Oilers potted one on the power play when Henry Rybinski tapped in a pass from Yanni Kaldis. Martin Pospisil came back with a goal late in the first to make it 3-1 Calgary.
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Rybinski struck on the power play again 6:34 into the second period to bring Edmonton within a goal. Philip Kemp would tie it five minutes later when his bad angle shot deflected in off the stick of a Flames defender.
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Kemp blasted home a sharp angle slapper to give the Oilers their first lead of the night four minutes into the third.
With just over four minutes left, Rodrigue came up with a clutch save on Mathias Emilio Pettersen, who had a shot from point blank range.
Oilers 2021 first round pick Xavier Bourgault was drilled from behind late in the third by Francis. After being down on the ice for a couple of minutes, Bourgault was able to skate off the ice. Francis was penalized for checking from behind.
Oilers defenceman Dmitri Samorukov left the game early in the first period after being involved in a big collision at the blue line.
The two teams meet again Monday night in Calgary.