The Edmonton Oilers finished their preseason in style Saturday, rolling past the Calgary Flames 4-1 at Rogers Place and completing a perfect exhibition run.
Zach Hyman, Kasperi Kapanen, Connor McDavid and Ryan Shea all scored for Edmonton, while Matt Coronato had Calgary’s only goal. Devon Levi made 23 saves on 24 shots for the Oilers, and Dustin Wolf gave up four goals on 28 shots for the Flames.
Edmonton also handled the special teams battle, cashing in on its lone power-play chance while Calgary went 1-for-3. The Oilers were up 1-0 after the opening period and carried a 3-0 lead into the third, extending what became their fourth straight win. It was the first perfect preseason in franchise history.
What stood out most was how complete the performance looked. Edmonton won 61.4% of the faceoffs, a category that had been a problem earlier in the preseason, and controlled the game in just about every other area as well.
That was true whether the Oilers dressed more established players against Calgary or leaned on a heavier AHL-style group in Thursday’s 2-1 win over Vancouver. The structure has been sharp, the details have been clean, and the mistakes have been few.
That trend has shown up all month. Saturday marked Edmonton’s third consecutive game allowing only one goal, and the club closed preseason play with just five goals against. The competition wasn’t the toughest - all four exhibition games came against teams that missed the playoffs in 2025-26 - but the Oilers still did what good teams are supposed to do: limit chances and avoid sloppy hockey.
Mike Babcock deserves a share of the credit for that. The Oilers have looked like a group taking the preseason seriously, and they’ve clearly responded to the new coach’s approach.
The power play, meanwhile, picked up right where it left off last season. Edmonton’s top unit needed only 23 seconds together on its lone advantage before striking. Leon Draisaitl won the draw, Evan Bouchard worked the puck to McDavid, and McDavid drove toward the net before feeding Hyman in the slot for the opening goal.
That was the only time in the preseason that Bouchard, Draisaitl, Hyman and McDavid shared the ice on a power play, and the result looked familiar. Edmonton’s man advantage led the NHL at 30.6% last season, and nothing about Saturday suggested that strength is going anywhere.
Kapanen also made a strong case for a bigger role. He was bumped from the third line to the second with Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, replacing Isaac Howard, and the move paid off.
Kapanen used his speed to run down an outlet pass from Nugent-Hopkins and tuck the puck past Wolf midway through the third period. He finished with two points and a plus-2 rating in 15:31 of ice time.
After the game, Babcock said Kapanen had been Edmonton’s best player in practice on Friday.
With Matthew Savoie expected to miss the early part of the regular season, Kapanen may have done enough to earn a spot on Edmonton’s second line when the Oilers open the 2026-27 schedule at home against Vancouver on Tuesday (Sept. 28).
Game time is 8 p.m. MDT.
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Flames Opening Night Roster Sends An Early Message About This Team
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There is also a clearer picture of the veterans the Flames trust to help set the tone. Joel Hanley and Brayden Pachal are on the roster, while Aydar Suniev was assigned to the American Hockey League, trimming one more young option from the mix. Jonathan Huberdeau is on injured reserve, which adds another layer to the early-season puzzle as Calgary works through its first lineup decisions without one of its most established names. [Read more 🡒]
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Wranglers Scoreless Debut Raises An Early Concern Up Front
The Calgary Wranglers first pre-season game in team history ended the way no new club wants to start, with a 3-0 loss to the Abbotsford Canucks and an offense that never found a breakthrough. Abbotsford grabbed control early with two first-period goals, while Calgary had to lean on goaltender Arsenii Sergeev, who made several key saves to keep the score from getting worse as the game went on.
Even with the puck spending plenty of time in the Canucks end, the Wranglers could not convert their chances and left the ice looking for answers up front. The late empty-net goal only added to the frustration, but the bigger concern was the same one that lingered from the opening period: Calgary generated looks, yet never managed to turn pressure into a goal. [Read more 🡒]