It seemed like a dreamy bit of scheduling — a holiday home-and-home between the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers.
After this world-class performance from Connor McDavid, the Flames may be wishing their next game was against … well, anybody else.
McDavid racked up five assists Tuesday, helping his pal Leon Draisaitl to a hat-trick and leading the Oilers to a 5-1 rout in a one-sided edition of the Battle of Alberta at Rogers Place at Edmonton.
After a three-day festive break, the two teams will rematch Saturday at the Saddledome.
That promises to be a fun and feisty affair after these provincial foes combined for 154 penalty minutes in their latest matchup, most of those doled out as the result of a spirited scrum with 6.6 seconds remaining.
You know the Flames will be rarin’ to respond Saturday. Thing is, they will need an answer for McDavid and Draisaitl or Saturday’s follow-up could be another ugly one.
Here are three takeaways from Calgary’s final outing before Christmas …
Calgary Flames’ Joel Hanley (44) chases Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid (97) during second period NHL action in Edmonton on Tuesday, December 23, 2025.
How do you stop these two?
McDavid has rocketed to the top of the league scoring race with a dynamite December, including back-to-back nods as the NHL’s first star of the week.
With a handful of helpers, he hit the holidays on an especially high note.
And Draisaitl?
He’d somehow gone eight straight without finding the back of the net, although you never would have guessed that Tuesday as he scored his 18th, 19th and 20th of the season.
Each of Draisaitl’s three markers came on the man-advantage. The prettiest was a nifty give-and-go with No. 97 for his second of the evening.
“I don’t think that was a very good night for us,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska told reporters after his team dipped to 15-18-4, going into the break with the third-worst points percentage in the overall standings. “I feel like we gave them way too much room, through the neutral zone in particular.
“And I thought their top players did a really good job, and I don’t think we handled them all that well.”
McDavid was also a table-setter on singles by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman.
It’s just the second time in the past decade that the Flames have surrendered five assists to an opposing star.
Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov had a handful of apples at the Saddledome last December. Before that, you’d be going back to a monster night by Ryan Getzlaf in November 2015.
“They’re great players. I mean, they’re one of the top in the world,” said Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau when asked about McDavid and Draisaitl, now first and third in the Art Ross Trophy race. “I think we have to find a way still. I mean, it’s possible. Some games we’ve played against them, we’ve kind of been able to shut them down a little bit. So forget about this one and get ready to go next one.”
The Edmonton Oilers’ Vasily Podkolzin (92) battles the Calgary Flames’ MacKenzie Weegar (52) during first period NHL action at Rogers Place, in Edmonton Tuesday Dec. 23, 2025. Photo by David Bloom
What was Weegar thinking?
You don’t often accuse MacKenzie Weegar of being selfish. Ask around the locker-room at the Saddledome, and you’ll hear him described as one of those ultimate team guys.
But Weegar may wind up on Santa’s naughty list after he short-circuited during Tuesday’s second period, turning a two-minute sit in the sin-bin into an early shower after what could only be described as a temper tantrum. After he was tossed with a game misconduct, his squad was left to play the final 34 minutes with only five defencemen, including a couple of of rookies.
Weegar, who had scored on a friendly bounce in the first, simply snapped.
The 31-year-old was initially whistled for two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct after he swatted Darnell Nurse’s stick out of his hands at a stoppage.
The Flames’ alternate captain protested that call by slapping his own stick on the glass inside the penalty box.
Connor Zary, who was already serving a minor, gave him a tap on the pants in an attempt to calm him down, but it didn’t work. When Weegar resumed banging his stick, he was shown the exit by referee Cody Beach.
Whether or not you agree that he deserved a heave-ho, it wasn’t Weegar’s finest moment.
Something to look forward to?
Not including that bizarre bubbled campaign, the Flames and Oilers haven’t hooked up twice in such a short span since Jan. 29 and Feb. 1 of 2020.
You might remember that rematch featured a goalie fight.
We doubt you’ll see Dustin Wolf and Connor Ingram duking it out at centre-ice, but there will certainly be some animosity in Saturday’s late date on Hockey Night in Canada.
There was plenty of hostility Tuesday.
Kevin Bahl belted Hyman, then later chucked knuckles with Trent Frederic.
The Oilers were irked after Rasmus Andersson clipped Hyman in the neutral zone in the third. He served his penalty for tripping, then absorbed a bunch of cross-checks from Nurse on his next shift.
Adam Klapka and Nurse were jawing in the final seconds when Ryan Lomberg inserted himself in that chit-chat. Soon, a crowd of 10 had gathered and while it didn’t escalate to a gloves-off brawl, it resulted in 100 minutes worth of misconducts.
Saturday should be fun, but the Flames can’t afford to spend all night shorthanded.
“We have to be a lot better, a lot to learn from there,” Bahl told reporters after Tuesday’s loss in Edmonton. “If we can shut down their power-play, I think we can give ourselves a good shot in that game.”