Can you remember the last time the Flames played the Oilers in front of a full capacity Scotiabank Saddledome?
Let’s go back to February 1, 2020.
Before we proceed, be warned. These memories may be repressed, erased— even expunged from your memory.
Let’s start with the score.
8-3 Oilers.
Sorry. Should have put a trigger warning ahead of that.
This happened.
And this.
Which was actually a pretty good fight. The bout ended with Matthew Tkachuk and Ethan Bear still standing. Bear lost his lid, but it wasn’t shown how it came off.
Most of the fight was missed due to the two net minders meeting at center ice.
The game prior, Tkachuk had “answered the bell… against the much larger Zach Kassian. Tkachuk lost the fight, but didn’t seem any worse for wear.
Why do you surface these memories, you ask?
Well, because a lot has changed since then. With the likes of Nick Ritchie, Nikita Zadorov, Erik Gudbranson, and Trevor Lewis; the Flames don’t need their top scorer (which Tkachuk was on February 1st, 2020) dropping the gloves with any given player. No matter how much that player complains to the media.
Tonight’s game between the 33-14-7 Calgary Flames and 30-22-4 Edmonton Oilers presents a few prime opportunities.
Establish physicality Can you imagine the response if Zach Kassian tried horse-collaring a top six player on the Flames from behind in the 21-22 campaign? Fans with a sharper memory will recall that Bear vs. Tkachuk and Smith vs. Talbot was sparked by Oiler Sam Gagner jamming at the glove of the Flames goalie. What if, say, Warren Foegle tried that tonight? Would the response be different?
The Calgary Flames have a prime opportunity to play to their strengths tonight. Their 21-22 identity has been being one of the toughest teams in the league.
The two prior meetings between these teams this season have been quiet. 32 penalty minutes between both games. A meagre ten PIMs in the latest game. Zero majors, zero misconducts, two Oilers wins.
One has to wonder what Darryl is saying to his team prior to this one.
Standings and tale-of-the-tape courtesy of NHL.com.
Shake the trend The Calgary Flames have faced adversity trying to solve the Edmonton Oilers this campaign. The most obvious statistic would be their penalty kill failing to deliver. The Oilers have been 4/7 on the power play in the last two matchups.
Trying to stay out of the box has led to a reserved Flames team. One has to wonder if there will be a change in approach to this game. The Flames need to play their style of hockey and the penalty kill needs to establish that they can be relied on. A 43% PK is both unsustainable and far above the Oilers’ 25.6% power play conversion rate over 56 games.
The Flames PK has averaged 84.4% over 54 games. Something has to give.
Bury a divisional rival The Edmonton Oilers of late have found themselves in hot water.
A win tonight would have them at least tied with Nashville at 66 points. On top of that, they would be two points behind the Vegas Golden Knights with the same amount of games played. Given the Predators have two games in hand after tonight, catching Vegas might be their only hope.
A loss would have the Edmonton Oilers in a very tough spot. Four points back on Vegas. Dallas and Nashville could easily be 5-6 points ahead of Edmonton. By the time all teams have played the same amount of games. The two wildcard teams above Edmonton play each other tomorrow night.
Love triangle The Flames play tomorrow night as well. The Washington Capitals are in town and will have accumulated three days of rest by the time the puck drops.
Tough situation for the Flames. They also are only a day and change off of an absolute war with the Colorado Avalanche that took overtime to solve.
Two days before that it was another OT game against the Montreal Canadiens.
Fatigue may start to show. The 21-22 Calgary Flames have proven they can sweep back-to-backs, but four wars in five days is asking for a lot.
The Washington Capitals then finish a back-to-back in Edmonton a night after their game in Calgary. What the Oilers accomplish in the next three days could be the difference between making the playoffs or falling just short.
Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk Coleman-Backlund-Lewis Mangiapane-Ruzicka-Toffoli Lucic-Monahan-Dube
Hanifin-Andersson Kylington-Tanev Zadorov-Gudbranson
Markstrom
That is the question Take a look at that bottom six. Ruzicka gets his first look on the third line. With Mangiapane and Toffoli no less. You may as well call that the 2B line. This will be an incredibly interesting game for the Flames rookie. One that he has no choice but to show up for.
His fellow player’s box attendee Dillon Dube returns to the lineup as well. Albeit in a more comfortable spot; the line he has been on for most of the season.
Both players risk drawing back out of the lineup. Ruzicka gets his first look on a legitimate scoring line. Who’s excited for this game to get going?
Puck drops around 7:36pm mst.
Trevor Neufeld
Follow me on Twitter @Trevor_Neufeld