NHL’s Battle of Alberta is great sports entertainment

Oilers, Flames run it back in “old school” series

Hockey cards of Connor McDavid and Matthew Tkachuk.

After two games of the Battle of Alberta, we’ve learned Connor McDavid can skate on water and Matthew Tkachuk is working his way to sainthood.

On the ice, McDavid, who is the captain of the Edmonton Oilers, seemingly has the ability to turn water into wine filling highlight reels with the two goals and four assists he has collected in two outings. Tkachuk, who is the high-scoring agitator of the Calgary Flames, showed he does have a heart of gold during a hat trick performance offering to give Oilers pest Evander Kane a few bucks after hearing Kane might be having some money problems.

In an era of sports where rivalries are really lackluster and just rivalries in name only, the Oilers and Flames are seemingly turning back the clock to the 1980s with their best-of-seven NHL Western Conference semifinal series.

Over the first two games of the set at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, the Oilers and Flames have done their best to shoot out the lights on the scoreboard. The Flames took a wild Game 1 on Wednesday by a 9-6 final and the Oilers rebounded with 5-3 come-from-behind victory in Game 2 on Friday.

The two sides combined for 23 goals and were one tally shy of equaling the NHL record for most combined goals in the first two games of a playoff series at 24 set in the 1981 post-season by the Boston Bruins and Minnesota North Stars in a first round tilt.

There have been four other post-season series that have opened with a combined 23 goals in the first two games, and all of those sets were played in the 1980s with Wayne Gretzky’s high-octane Oilers being involved in three of those series.

There have been hard hits, scrums, heated exchanges and one-on-one personal rivalries are developing right before the eyes of all onlookers.

With Oilers and Flames meeting in the NHL post-season for the first time since 1991, fans of both teams were hoping to get a rivalry series that lived up to the five playoff encounters the teams had between 1983 and 1991, but there was probably a guarded expectation of realism that likely wouldn’t happen. To the surprise of supporters of both teams, the Oilers and Flames are giving them a Christmas gift in May.

Game 1 of the series has the feeling of chaos. The Flames built a 6-2 advantage only for the Oilers to even the score a 6-6 early in the third period.

A Johnny Gaudreau card.

Calgary closed things out scoring the final three goals of that contest, which included Tkachuk scoring his team’s eighth and ninth tallies to complete a hat trick night. Flames star left-winger Johnny Gaudreau had three assists in the win as well.

On top of the goals, Game 1 of the series had so many side plots happening you could miss something with a blink of an eye.

One of those included Tkachuk trying to get under Kane’s skin regarding reported money troubles the Oilers’ left-winger was facing. In January of 2021, Kane filed for bankruptcy after accruing more that US$26-million in debt.

In Game 2, the Flames took a 3-1 lead early in the second before the Oilers closed the contest scoring four straight goals. McDavid had a goal and an assist, while his high-scoring partner in centre Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists.

Like McDavid, Draisaitl has two goals and four assists after the first two games of this series.

In the Game 2 win, the Oilers received a key goal by veteran defenceman Duncan Keith and timely singles from defenceman Evan Bouchard and left-winger Zach Hyman.

As far as personal battles go, Tkachuk is having his aforementioned clash with Kane. Power forwards Zack Kassian of the Oilers and Milan Lucic of the Flames appear to like crossing paths and exchanging pleasantries.

Lucic played for the Oilers before being traded to the Flames before the start of the 2019-20 campaign.

Kane also appeared to have his with issues Lucic too. Near the end of the first period of Game 1, Lucic laid a massive hit on McDavid, and Kane immediately skated in to confront the Flames aggressor.

Overall, this series has been the overall tonic needed to pull in the casual fans. Even here in Saskatoon, the Oilers and Flames jerseys are seemingly popping up everywhere as closet fans continue to emerge.

Often those fans will be sporting jerseys that done of the names of Oilers and Flames players from years gone by.

So far, the Oilers and Flames are delivering great “sports entertainment,” and their games have become must watch television. Concerns for normal strategies and tactics of the game have been thrown out the window.

Instead, we are getting jokes from Flames fans about how difficult it is for Oilers fans to count to nine with regards to Calgary goals scored in Game 1, and Oilers fans joking back they are surprised Flames fans can count past one referencing how many Stanley Cups the Calgary side has won. The Oilers have won the Stanley Cup on five different occasions.

A Leon Draisaitl card.

Now the series shifts to Rogers Place in Edmonton for Game 3 on Sunday, which will on CBC at 6 p.m. Saskatchewan time.

Even people that don’t cheer for either team are going to be tuning in to see what happens next.

In the current day, the Oilers and Flames are showing sports rivalries can still be fun and colourful. That is important to remember, because too many people involved with professional sports forget that pro sports are a part of the entertainment industry.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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