The Battle of Alberta featured some rising temperatures, solid plays, and a Calgary Flames 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

It’s a Team Game – The Flames survived enough penalty kills, took advantage of their own man advantages, and won the 5v5 battle to cross the finish line with a well-earned victory over their star-studded rivals from up north. It wasn’t an easy one, those big dogs can play puck with the best of them, but the Flames put forth a full team effort to take down their nemesis. Devin Cooley was amazing at 5v5, like he has been all year, while Zach Whitecloud and Kevin Bahl showed everyone exactly how to elevate your game against the best. Calgary got better and better with each period and the Oilers couldn’t find a way to crawl back.

Corsi King – Kevin Bahl (67.40 per cent) and Zach Whitecloud (66.45 per cent) showing up against San Jose, or Anaheim is a lot different than handling home minutes against the Edmonton Oilers. Whitecloud continues to impress, and has every single game so far he’s worn the Flaming C. He’s playing like a player you would rather extend than trade, and I’m already in that camp myself. If you open up the rest of the roster to being moved, he’s a piece you could easily keep before extending for less money than he’d be worth in the long run. The elevation of Bahl’s game since the Andersson trade is also something that should be giving people hope. Together they played their butts off and were essential in the victory.

Taken By Chance – What really helps is when your top 4 defenceman can all press up and keep the ice tilted the other direction. MacKenzie Weegar (40.60 SCF% // 49.25 HDCF%) and Yan Kuznetsov (38.85 per cent // 49.25 per cent) were able to also get up and get involved in accumulating chances. 12 high danger chances collectively vs 10 against is a huge win in my books. Especially against players that can score goals like Leon Draisaitl’s. The other defence pairing – featuring Zayne Parekh (43.01 per cent // 32.53 per cent) – went 1 for and 2 against. Numbers won’t look pretty when the on-ice events are low, but it doesn’t mean anything was particularly bad. He got some valuable experience against some of the league’s best – the rest will follow along in due time.

xGF% – Nazem Kadri (61.78 per cent) hitting a good stride as the Flames ride into the Olympic break is kind of bad timing. He is back to controlling most events that happen on the ice during his minutes, and the flood of offence is coming with it. Last time this happened it lasted around 3 weeks – of course for the Flames it starts paying off just before they shut down for three weeks. Jonathan Huberdeau (42.23 per cent) scored, on the power play, so here’s hoping that sparks something. They desperately need something more out of him down the stretch because he isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. Matvei Gridin (31.11 per cent) had a breakout game on the power play. The 19-year-old with a goal and an assist – the offence is coming and the confidence is growing. I don’t think after he gets recalled after the Olympics, he’ll ever see the AHL again. Not this year for certain, but he’s ascending quite rapidly.

In The Crease – Devin Cooley just continues to impress. No matter the opponent, no matter the situation, no matter the roster makeup in front of him – excellence. Nobody expected this, not even the Flames themselves. At the end of training camp, when they had to make the choice between him and Ivan Prosvetov, I don’t think they ever saw him being this valuable to them. Didn’t take long for management to wise up and see it though, and now they have a tandem built to win if they can get the talent to score some more consistent goals up front.