Friends, y’know how sometimes there are people that just rub you the wrong way? Even though that they may have several redeeming qualities, something about them just brings out the worst in you?

Well, over the illustrious history of the Calgary Flames, they’ve never really gotten along with the Vancouver Canucks – whose primary positive quality for many fans is that is they’re not the Edmonton Oilers – but something about the Canucks just brings out the best in the Flames.

Since arriving in Calgary in 1980, the Flames have played more regular season and playoff games against the Canucks than against any other NHL club. And perhaps because of the sheer volume of games they’ve played against one another, several of the Flames’ most defining moments as a franchise have come against the Canucks.

As we prepare for the season series finale between the clubs at the Saddledome – with huge playoff implications for both teams – let’s take a trip down memory lane.

In the history of the Flames franchise, there are four regular season teams that have the highest points percentages: 1987-88, 1988-89, 2018-19 and 2021-22. In 1987-88, the Flames won the Presidents’ Trophy as the NHL’s top regular season team and seemed primed for a run to the Stanley Cup. Except that didn’t happen, as they were swept by Edmonton in the second round.

In 1989’s playoffs, the Flames became embroiled in a fierce first round battle with the Canucks. They had a chance to eliminate the Canucks in Vancouver in Game 6, but they lost 6-3. Game 7 ended up going to overtime.

In overtime, Flames netminder Mike Vernon made a career-defining glove save on a breakaway from Canucks forward Stan Smyl.

Late in overtime, a Jim Peplinski feed went in off Joel Otto’s skate to eliminate the Canucks. The Flames ended up going to the Stanley Cup Final, beating Montreal in six games to capture the first (and to date, only) Cup.

The 2003-04 Flames were a scrappy underdog team. Boasting two superstar players in netminder Miikka Kiprusoff and winger Jarome Iginla, they had a supporting cast that committed to a style of play that allowed the Flames to grind out close games.

The Flames managed to make the playoffs in 2004 but the collective wisdom of the hockey world was that this Cinderella story would soon end. But the Flames kept up their scrappy style, battling the Canucks to seven games – heck, they probably could’ve closed things out in Game 6, a triple overtime marathon.

The seventh game of their series was not for the faint of heart, with the Canucks tying the game late in regulation to send it to overtime – giving Flames fans that had seen their team lose every playoff series since the 1989 Cup run having anxiety attacks remembering all the heart-breaking losses over the past 15 years.

But early in overtime, Martin Gelinas scored the first of three series-clinching goals during that post-season run, and a legend was born.

The Flames were defined by Kiprusoff and Iginla for years. When those two players left the club in 2013 – Kiprusoff into retirement, Iginla to chase a Cup elsewhere – the Flames seemed to lack an identity. The 2013-14 season, the first of their rebuild, saw the team take baby steps in terms of figuring out systems, structure and other questions that surrounded the team.

On Jan. 18, 2014, the team took a massive leap forward in terms of solidifying a team identity. And all it took was a game-opening line brawl in Vancouver.

The Flames left Vancouver with a bit of a chip on their collective shoulder after this game, and it set the table for a really impressive 2014-15 campaign.