Battle of Alberta game gets unhinged four years ago today

Every time the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames square off, it's a rivalry matchup between the two biggest cities in Alberta. When both the Oilers and Flames are playoff contending teams, these games could boil over to massive brawls, like this game four years ago today.

Peak Battle of Alberta pic.twitter.com/ZkimVC1Q2n— Jacob (@timminstoilets) February 1, 2024

With the Oilers up by 3 goals and just about to head to the third period, a scrum around the net started to unravel as tensions from early in the game came out. Sam Gagner started the incident with a late poke at Cam Talbot in net for the Flames, which led to Talbot really entering the scrum himself as other teammates paired off to fight.

Matthew Tkachuk and Ethan Bear were engaged in the longest standing fight near the top of the zone, as both players threw haymakers at each other. Just as Bear was getting the best of Tkachuk, Oilers' goaltender Mike Smith came to Center ice and challenged Cam Talbot to a goalie fight. Pretty clearly, Smith absolutely demolished Talbot in the fight with some hard right hands that sent him down to the ice.


This game four years ago stands up now as one of the best matchups of the Battle of Alberta in recent history. For entertainment purposes, fans will hope that this kind of unhinged rivalry game can still happen in today's NHL.