The 2004 Calgary Flames weren’t the most skilled team in the National Hockey League that season. But hockey isn’t about having the most skilled individual players, but rather the combination of players that can work together and play a style effectively.

The 2004 Flames played a grinding, physical style of game, and a good example of how the Flames utilized physicality to manage games – and even entire series – can be found via their fights during the playoff run.

Here are the nine fights the Flames engaged in during their 26 playoff games.

April 11 (first round vs. Vancouver, Game 3): Jarome Iginla vs. Mattias Ohlund

Here’s a spoiler for you: Iginla fought just three times during the 26 games of the 2004 run, and two of his fights bookend this list. First up? With the Flames losing 2-1 in a chippy game – and the first playoff game played in the Saddledome in eight years – and about to go down 2-1 in the series to the Canucks, Iginla and Ohlund dropped the gloves with 12 seconds left in the game to set the tone for Game 4.

The Flames responded – to both the loss and the fight – by winning Game 4 by a 4-0 score (their first home playoff win since 1995), and winning three of the next four games to win a playoff series for the first time since 1989.

April 24 (second round vs. Detroit, Game 2): Jarome Iginla vs. Derian Hatcher AND Mike Commodore vs. Darren McCarty

So, remember how the Flames suffered a first round loss and the game got chippy late, Iginla fought, and the team rallied in the series? Well, they basically tried to recycle that script late in Game 2 against Detroit. The Flames were down 5-2 and with 24 seconds left on the clock, Iginla and Commodore got into scraps. Iginla took exception to Hatcher taking a swipe at him and they squared off, while Commodore and Maltby battled after getting into their own shoving match as Iginla’s fight wound down.

It worked and when the series returned to Calgary for Game 3, the Flames managed to grind out a 3-2 victory.

April 29 (second round vs. Detroit, Game 4): Shean Donovan vs. Kirk Maltby

After winning in Game 3 – bouncing back after Game 2’s loss – the Flames fell behind in Game 4. With four seconds left in regulation and the Flames trailing 4-2, Donovan fought Maltby. Ville Nieminen cut through the Red Wings’ crease, knocking Curtis Joseph down. As Nieminen was being led to the penalty box, a scrum formed along the side boards, and Donovan and Maltby peeled off for a fight.

Guess what? A late-game fight provided a spark, momentum was regained, and the Flames won the next two games to clinch the series.

May 13 (round three vs. San Jose, Game 3): Chris Simon vs. Mike Rathje

With the Flames losing 2-0, Iginla gave Sharks winger Alex Korolyuk a shove after he scored an empty-netter to make it 3-0. That led to a series of shoving matches between the two teams in the corner, and then Simon and Rathje peeled off from the pack to have a fight. (Iginla was ejected from the game for his role in starting the whole skirmish, but he returned for the next game.)

For the first time during the playoff run, a Flames fight didn’t lead to a victory in the next game…

May 16 (round three vs. San Jose, Game 4): Ville Nieminen vs. Jason Marshall

Once again, the Flames engaged in a fight at the end of a period to try to stem the tide. This time, though, they fought at the end of the second period, as Nieminen clashed with Marshall with 42 seconds left and the Flames trailing 4-1. The Flames rallied back in the third, but could only score one goal, and they lost to the Sharks 4-2 to even the series at two games apiece.

But the Flames managed to bounce back in the series, winning the next two games to advance to the Stanley Cup Final and out-scoring the Sharks 6-1 in the process.

May 27 (Stanley Cup Final vs. Tampa Bay, Game 2): Andrew Ference vs. Cory Stillman AND Chris Simon vs. Andre Roy

The Flames were down 3-0 with 5:50 left in the third and the game starting to get chippy. Chris Simon cross-checked Cory Stillman to the ice, taking a penalty, and a skirmish kicked off after a pile-up around the Flames’ net after Miikka Kiprusoff made a big save. Ference and Stillman paired off.

The Lightning ended up with a five-on-three power play and scored right away to give themselves a 4-0 lead.

The game continued to get chippy. Roy tripped up Kiprusoff as he returned to his crease after playing the puck behind the net, with Simon making a bee-line for Roy and scrapping. Simon received an instigator penalty on the play.

May 29 (Stanley Cup Final vs. Tampa Bay, Game 3): Jarome Iginla vs. Vincent Lecavalier

The Iginla/Lecavalier fight is an outlier compared to every other fight the Flames engaged in during the run, and it’s also arguably the most iconic fight of Iginla’s legendary career. It’s the only fight that happened while the Flames weren’t losing and it’s the earliest in a game that they had a fight – the bout took place 6:17 into the first period with the score 0-0.

Iginla and Lecavalier clashed behind the Flames’ net while battling for a puck. Their battling turned into a bit of a wrestling match, and then a full-on fight. (For a deeper dive on the bout, we recommend checking out the recent oral history from The Athletic.)

The Flames went on to win the game 3-0, with Iginla assisting on the game-winner in the second period and then adding an insurance marker in the third period to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick – just the fourth Gordie Howe hat trick in Flames franchise history, following Willi Plett (1981), Lanny McDonald (1983) and Jim Peplinski (1986).

But Game 3 wasn’t the most impressive performance that Iginla put on during the Stanley Cup Final. (We’ll get to that.)

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