Happy one-year anniversary to when the Oilers extinguished the Flames

May 26, 2022 — The day the Edmonton Oilers extinguished the Calgary Flames.

The Oilers had edged out the L.A. Kings in the first round of the playoffs while the Flames made their way past the Dallas Stars in seven games to set up the first playoff Battle of Alberta that the NHL had seen since all the way back in 1991.

Edmonton and Calgary had split their regular season series with both teams winning their two games on home ice, but the Flames finished seven points higher than the Oilers in the standings so they came into the playoff series as the favoured team.

The Flames came flying out of the gates and had a 3-0 lead over the Oilers six minutes into Game 1. The Oilers battled back to tie the game in the third period but the Flames scored three unanswered goals to win the game by a score of 9-6.

It was all Oilers after that. They won Game 2 in Calgary by a score of 5-3 and then pulled off commanding 4-1 and 5-3 wins back in Edmonton in Games 3 and 4. Back in Calgary for Game 5, the two teams went back and forth during regulation play, setting the stage for Connor McDavid to be the hero in overtime.

Losing the Battle of Alberta on home ice was just the beginning for the Flames. Not long after, Johnny Gaudreau left the team as an unrestricted free agent to join the Columbus Blue Jackets, while Matthew Tkachuk requested a trade to an American team.

The Flames appeared to make the best of a bad situation, as Tkachuk was moved to the Florida Panthers for Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri joined the team in free agency. Calgary’s new-look team never managed to hit its stride, as the Flames went 38-27-17 during the 2022-23 season and missed the playoffs by two points.