It wasn't just the province of Alberta who was glued to their television sets and computers on Saturday night.
The entire hockey world was fixated on the latest, and perhaps the greatest installment of the Battle of Alberta.
For the first time this year, the Oilers walked away with two-points against their rivals from the south, throwing cold water on the Flames with an 8-3 victory in Cowtown. The game was filled with emotions, as tempers boiled over late in the second period when goaltenders Mike Smith and Cam Talbot capped off a mini line-brawl, the first goalie fight since Braden Holtby and the late Ray Emery duked it out back in 2013. It was the first-ever fight in the storied rivalry.
The game was a rematch of Wednesday night in which the Flames won via a shootout up in Edmonton. Flames goaltender David Rittich, who was pulled on Saturday after allowing four goals on 16 shots, stirred the pot with an emphatic stick flip celebration after stopping Leon Draisaitl to seal the victory.
On Saturday, Draisaitl got revenge on the Calgary netminder, racking up four assists, giving him 22 points over an eleven-game stretch.
Come post-game, Draisaitl spoke out about Rittich's actions, along with Oilers goaltender Mike Smith, who was pretty honest about the hockey gods making sure Rittich felt the consequences of his contentious shootout celebration.
"It's just disrespectful. We hit two posts and he's acting like they just won the Stanley Cup."
“What goes around comes around," said Smith, who spent two seasons as Rittich's partner in Calgary.
Rittich had to come back in the game after both Smith and his back-up, Cam Talbot, were both ejected for fighting. The 27-year-old Czech was tagged for two more goals on the night in the loss.
“(Cam) Talbot gets in there and mixes it up a little bit, throws some blockers, I didn’t really like that too much," Smith followed up.
Hockey fans will have to wait until April 4th for the final regular-season battle between the two Albertan clubs, unless the hockey gets its wish in the form of a seven-game playoff series. 102 penalty minutes were dished out in a game that saw 11 goals including a successful penalty shot
According to hockey analyst Micah Black McCurdy, who goes by Ineffective Math on Twitter, the Oilers and Flames have a 12 percent chance of facing each other in the Round One of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
