On Tuesday, the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers played for the second time this season, the first time since the season opener. Despite being on Festivus, two days before Christmas, the two teams weren’t very festive.

After a rather tame first period and an Oilers’ goal to make it 3-1, the Flames were trying to get stuff going with their fourth line. Nothing happened that shift, but after Kevin Bahl’s high hit on Zach Hyman, you just knew that the game needed a spark.

As the Oilers continued to dominate, the Flames got increasingly frustrated, leading to defenceman MacKenzie Weegar getting a game misconduct for banging on the glass. Bahl fought Frederic to answer for the hit, and things settled down from there, at least until the third period.

Midway through the final frame, Flames’ defenceman Rasmus Andersson stuck out his leg as Hyman was trying to get around him, leading to an Oiler power play, which made it 5-1. On his next shift, Andersson drew a penalty as Darnell Nurse was attempting to get him to drop the gloves.

That penalty ended with five minutes on the clock, and on Nurse’s final shift, the spark finally came. Nurse and Adam Klapka were talking in the dying seconds of the game, two players that were looking for a fight all game. Ryan Lomberg came over, gave Nurse a cross-check, and the dogpile ensued. Nothing major happened, everyone on the ice (including Matthew Savoie) received a 10-minute misconduct, but it does set up some intrigue ahead of Saturday’s rematch.

While it’s not the first time the Battle of Alberta has been hot, it has been a while. The last time it was as chippy as it was on Festivus was back in the 2022 playoffs, It was the first time the Flames and Oilers had matched up in the playoffs since 1991, as the Oilers won in five games.

However, this edition of Flashback Friday will be about the 2019-20 season. On Dec. 27, 2019, the Flames and Oilers matched up for the first time that season, with the Flames soundly defeating the Oilers 5-1 in a game that featured just six penalty minutes. The same cannot be said about their next matchup.

Just over two weeks later, the two teams played in Calgary on Jan. 11, 2020. Shortly after Connor McDavid scored to make it 2-1 midway through the first period, Matthew Tkachuk laid a massive (and questionable) hit on Zack Kassian, which didn’t get much of a reaction. Late in the second period, Tkachuk laid a second hit on Kassian, and all hell broke loose. Kassian ragdolled Tkachuck, got 14 penalty minutes, and the Flames scored on the power play to win 4-3, and Kassian would be suspended two games.This was the precursor to what was to come in their next matchup and the matchup after that. You knew it was going to be a feisty game, and late in the first period, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Sean Monahan dropped the mitts after a kerfuffle at the bench, with the longest-tenured Oiler handedly winning.

Less than a minute (of game time) later, Kassian and Tkachuk buried the hatchet off a faceoff. Once again, the Oiler player won handedly, throwing a few lefts and dropping Tkachuk, with a few more follow ups once Tkachuk was on the ice.

That was it for the fights in that game, and aside from a slashing battle between Tkachuk and Leon Draisaitl, as well as a flying poke check in the shootout from David Rittich capped off by a celebration reminiscent to José Bautista’s bat swing, there wasn’t much else in this game.

The Oilers may not have liked Rittich’s celebration, because just three days later, the two teams matched up for the fourth time in a little under a month. Kailer Yamamoto scored on Rittich just 29 seconds into the game, and Kassian scored less than a minute later in what was an 8-3 victory for the Oilers. Late in the first, Jujhar Khaira fought Buddy Robinson, but the main event was still to come.

Late in the second period, former Oiler Cam Talbot stopped a shot, and Sam Gagner poked a little too hard when it was covered, leading to Talbot landing a few punches on him. With Talbot involved, Oilers’ netminder Mike Smith skated to centre ice, and the two goaltenders battled in what is a rare sight nowadays. As you can imagine, the Oiler won.

At the same time, Tkachuk fought Ethan Bear of all players. It was overshadowed by what was going on at centre ice, but Bear got the better of Tkachuk, at least according to HockeyFights voters.

Forget the 2022 playoffs, this was when the Battle of Alberta was at its best, at least in recent memory. What’s sad is that there was a possibility that the two teams were going to meet in the playoffs. On Mar. 11, the final day of the 2019-20 regular season, the Oilers sat second in the Pacific Division thanks to a 37-25-9 record (83 points). Just below them were the Flames, who had a 36-27-7 record.

With only 10 or so games left in the season, the standings were far from decided, as the Oilers sat three games out of first and the Vancouver Canucks were just a point behind the Flames with a game in hand. Still, it’s sad to think back to what might have been if the Battle of Alberta happened in the 2020 postseason when it was at its hottest in recent memory.

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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