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Instant Reaction: Flames grind out victory in Battle of Alberta rematch
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Dec 28, 2025, 00:39 ESTUpdated: Dec 28, 2025, 01:07 EST
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Welcome to Instant Reaction, where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Calgary Flames game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below! 
On Tuesday night, the Calgary Flames visited the Edmonton Oilers. It didn’t go all that well for them, with the Oilers winning by a 5-1 score – in a game that probably could’ve been even more one-sided. The two teams met again on Saturday night at the Saddledome, and the game was much more even-keeled than Tuesday’s clunker.
The Flames never trailed en route to a 3-2 win over the Oilers.

The rundown

The Flames opened the scoring seven minutes into the opening frame. Adam Klapka battled and chased down a loose puck behind the Oilers net. He threw a pass into the slot for Yegor Sharangovich, who fired the shot past Connor Ingram to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
A little later, though, the Oilers got a power play after Yan Kuznetsov was called for hooking. A bit of passing later, and an Evan Bouchard one-timer beat Dustin Wolf to tie the game up at 1-1.
Connor McDavid had a couple nice scoring chances in the first period, but Wolf made some big stops. (And Joel Hanley broke up another near-breakaway chance, too.)
First period shots were 14-9 Flames. Via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5 scoring chances were 14-7 Flames and high-danger scoring chances were 6-4 Flames.
The Flames retook the lead 3:28 into the second period. The game got a bit scrambly and both teams had some plays broken up in the neutral zone. On one such play, Justin Kirkland chased down a 50/50 puck and an Oilers defender swiped the puck away from him… but right to Ryan Lomberg. Lomberg grabbed the puck, went in alone against Ingram and fired the puck past the netminder to give the Flames a 2-1 lead.
The Oilers got a couple of power play opportunities later in the period, but the Flames killed them off.
Second period shots were 10-10. 5v5 scoring chances were 6-5 Oilers and high-danger scoring chances were 3-2 Oilers.
The Oilers pushed back in the third period, but the Flames did a pretty credible job keeping them to the outside and minimizing second chances.
The Flames added some insurance 12:31 into the third period off a nice passing sequence from Mikael Backlund’s line. Blake Coleman finished things off with a wrister that beat Ingram to make it 3-1.
But the Oilers kept pressing and got one back, as Connor McDavid sniped a chance past Wolf to cut the Flames’ lead to 3-2 with just 4:37 left in regulation.
The Oilers kept pressing for the equalizer. Klapka nearly scored on Ingram late in the period, but the puck took a bounce and stayed off the goal line. The Oilers pulled Ingram for the extra attacker, but the Flames held on for the victory.
Third period shots were 12-8 Oilers. 5v5 scoring chances were 15-11 Oilers and high-danger scoring chances were 5-4 Oilers.

Why the Flames won

This is the game the Flames needed to play on Tuesday night in Edmonton. Were they perfect? Nope. But they did a pretty good job at keeping Edmonton’s big guns to the outside and not feeding their cycle or rush game too much. Combined that with a nice forecheck and some opportunistic scoring, and it was enough for the red team to get two points.

Red Warrior

Man, Adam Klapka was very noticeable in this hockey game, making smart moves with the puck and crashing and banging like a whirling dervish. We’ll give him the nod.
But honourable mention to Dustin Wolf, who occasionally had to be really sharp.

Turning point

The Oilers had a pair of power plays in the second period, but the Flames came up with a pair of big kills to make it to the intermission with a 2-1 lead. This was the type of thing that didn’t happen for them on Tuesday.

This and that

This was Dustin Wolf’s 100th NHL appearance. A seventh-round pick in 2019, he’s now played more games than nine first-rounders from his draft class.
Joel Farabee went down hard in front of the Oilers net early in the first period off a hit/forearm shot from Mattias Ekholm. He left the game briefly but returned late in the first period.

After Burner

Join Jordan and Mike from the In The Dome podcast right after the game for After Burner! (Confession: I legitimately don’t remember which one is Jordan and which one is Mike.)

Up next

The Flames (16-18-4) are back in action on Monday when they host the Boston Bruins at the Saddledome.

This article is brought to you by Platinum Mitsubishi

This article is a Presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the best warranty in the business with ten year warranties available. Check out the showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca

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