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Ask Wayne Gretzky. Or Mark Messier and Grant Fuhr.
In fact, go ahead and ask anyone connected with the Edmonton Oilers’ glory days about their biggest nemesis, and they’ll more than likely reply in unison:
The Calgary %#$%#%# Flames.
Indeed, the “Battle of Alberta” was the gold standard of NHL postseason rivalries in the 1980s and early ’90s, featuring five series from 1983 to 1991 that yielded countless highlights, three epic seven-game marathons and a permanent place in the minds of all who experienced it.
But just as suddenly as it gained traction, it went away.
Soon after Esa Tikkanen scored in overtime to end Game 7 of the Smythe Division Semifinals in 1991, the Oilers plunged into a generation of prime-time irrelevance that yielded just a handful of springtime appearances across the subsequent 23 seasons before Connor McDavid’s selection at the 2015 draft.
They’ve now reached the playoffs four times in his seven years in a No. 97 uniform, but Wednesday’s opener of the Pacific final will be the first time the teams have met with postseason progress on the line in 11,355 days. Edmonton won four of the five previous series but had its run of four Stanley Cups in five years interrupted by the Flames in a classic seven-gamer in 1986.
Precisely seven of the players on the current Calgary roster were alive for that last Oilers-Flames playoff game on April 16, 1991, with the oldest, center Trevor Lewis, having just turned four. Same goes for Edmonton, which has eight players of similar vintage led by starting goaltender Mike Smith, who was then a few weeks past birthday No. 9.
Now 40 and one of few NHLers who has played for both franchises, Smith could be the single most important player in determining who wins edition No. 6 and reaches the Western Conference Final against Colorado or St. Louis. He played every minute of the Oilers’ seven-game defeat of the Los Angeles Kings in Round 1, shaking off a possession error in the opener to win four of the next six—including two shutouts—while posting goals-against (2.29) and save percentage (.938) marks that were good for sixth and fifth in the league.
Still, he was outdone on both counts by the Flames’ Jacob Markstrom, who surrendered a stingy 1.53 goals per game while stopping better than 94 percent of the shots in his direction—including 26 saves in the Game 7 defeat of the Dallas Stars on Sunday night.
The margin for error is likely to remain that thin between teams that split four regular-season games, with each winning twice at home with nearly identical (Oilers 16, Flames 17) goal totals. In fact, Edmonton and Calgary shared status as the league’s best teams from February 11 to the end of the season, with each picking up 55 points in 38 games down the stretch.
Which begs the question: Who’ll be the hero in late May?
Will McDavid, now buoyed by a long-delayed first-round victory, continue the dominance that saw him produce 14 points in seven games against the Kings? Will Johnny Gaudreau continue the career year—which spiked with the Game 7 OT winner against Dallas—as he prepares for a free-agent windfall?
Or will it be another player—Edmonton’s Evander Kane or Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk perhaps—who puts a decisive stamp on the renewal of hostilities between the league’s northernmost teams?
Roll the dice. Shoot the dart. Flip the coin. Hold your breath.
Prediction: Oilers in six
– Lyle Fitzsimmons
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