Calgary Beats Edmonton 9-6 in Wild Opening to the Battle of Alberta

Edmonton scored six goals, but the Calgary Flames scored three in each period to beat the visiting Oilers 9-6 May 18th in the opening game of their 2nd round Stanley Cup playoff matchup of what is inevitably called the Battle of Alberta. It was the most goals scored in post season play in 29 years. If this 1st game of post season play between these two teams in 31 years is any indication, we will have an action packed series.

Calgary set the pace by scoring two goals in the 1st 51 seconds of the 1st period. The Flames took a 3-0 lead before Connor McDavid put the Oilers on the scoreboard. In the 2nd, Blake Coleman scored twice for Calgary before Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard scored to make it 5-2. Matthew Tkachuk scored a power play goal for the Flames, before Edmonton put on a serious run. Zach Hyman scored a pair of goals and Leon Draisaitl added one with 39 seconds left in the period to close the gap to 6-5 at the intermission.

Just 1:28 into the 3rd period, Edmonton’s Kailer Yamamoto tied it at 6-6. But at 2:57, Rasmus Andersson put Calgary back in the lead at 7-6, Tkachuk scored his second goal of the game at 8:55, and then completed a hat trick with an empty netter at 17:49 to finish the scoring for a 9-6 Flames’ victory.

Game 2 of the series is May 20th.