Throwback Thursday: On this day in 1991, Edmonton Oilers rally from 3-0 deficit to beat Calgary Flames in last playoffs BoA

On this day in 1991, Esa Tikkanen scored three goals, including the game winner in overtime, as the Edmonton Oilers erased a 3-0 deficit to beat the Calgary Flames in game seven of the Smythe Division semi-finals.

It was the last time the two clubs met in the playoffs for a Battle of Alberta. Edmonton had a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Flames, but struggled to close out games five or six suffering a 5-2 loss and a 2-1 OT loss, respectively.

In game seven, things weren’t looking good for the Oilers. Robert Reichel, Joe Nieuwendyk and Theo Fleury all scored goals in the first 16 minutes of period one, before Tikkanen got his first of three goals a minute later.

For Edmonton, it gave them a spark heading into the rest of the game. Glenn Anderson scored a powerplay tally at the 4:57 mark, before Tikkanen’s second goal came at 10:06.

All of a sudden, the Oilers were back in the game. Anatoli Semenov scored for Edmonton, while Ron Stern found twine for Calgary in the third ths sending the game to overtime.

That, my friends, is where Tikkanen came to play. A quick wrist shot at the 6:58 mark beat Flames goalie MIke Vernon, and the Oilers won the series.

“What do you do? He’s one of their key players, we had to shut them down,” Vernon told the Edmonton Journal’s Ray Turchansky, adding this on Tikkanen’s game winner: “It just went off one of the legs of our refenceman and redirected in.”