Flames, Oilers combine for 15 goals as Calgary takes Battle of Alberta Game 1
After so much anticipation, the Battle of Alberta is off to a thrilling start — that’s unless you were standing between the pipes on Wednesday night.
The Calgary Flames opened Game 1 against the Edmonton Oilers poised to immediately make up for all three decades of lost time between this playoff Battle of Alberta and the one preceding it.
It just didn’t stop.
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Not when the Calgary Flames scored two times in the first 51 seconds, setting a franchise record for the fastest goals to open a playoff game in franchise history.
Or when the Flames opened the second period in almost the same way they opened the first, scoring less than a minute in, marking the first time the team had ever scored an opening-minute goal in the first and second frame of a playoff game.
Or when the Edmonton Oilers, in defiance of the early barrage, rallied back with four straight goals to tie the game 6-6 in the third period.
#Flames score the fastest 2 goals to begin a playoff game in franchise history (:51)
Previous mark was 1:20 in Game 3 of the 1995 West Q-Final vs the Sharks
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— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 19, 2022
It didn’t even stop when the Flames scored a seventh of the night, making Battle of Alberta history in the process.
Calgary’s seventh goal, scored by Rasmus Andersson early in the third period, put the total for the game at 13, eclipsing the previous playoff record between the Oilers and Flames that had been set in Game 3 of the 1983 Division Finals.
But the Flames weren’t done.
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Moments later, Matthew Tkachuk scored again, putting the total number of times the red light lit up between the teams on Wednesday night at 14.
Tkachuk’s goal came with history of its own, too, as he and Blake Coleman the first Flames teammates to each score two goals in a single Battle of Alberta playoff game.
As the clock ticked down, the goals still weren’t finished — though, as it appeared a mere minute into the game, the Oilers were.
And now for our final act…#StanleyCup | #BattleofAlberta pic.twitter.com/H9qISnRiQw
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 19, 2022
Tkachuk found the back of the net yet again, giving him a hat trick on the night, a marker that did not topple decades-long history but did ensure the game would finish with 15 total goals and a meme-worthy final score.
nice pic.twitter.com/oLeLaalngn
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 19, 2022
