Some of the most memorable moments in the history of the Saddledome have occurred during the Battle of Alberta.

All things considered, that’s not awfully surprising. After all, the Edmonton Oilers will end up tied with the Vancouver Canucks as the most frequent visiting teams in Saddledome history. And since the cities of Edmonton and Calgary have a less than cordial relationship in general, that’s also bled through onto the on-ice clashes.

We’ve delved into the 1980s history already. After a bit of a lull for a few decades, the Flames and Oilers found themselves battling in some pretty important, and heated, regular season games during the 2019-20 season. The two clubs met four times that regular season, and every game was some kind of nuts. (We’ve discussed another notorious clash at the Saddledome that season already.)

On Feb. 1, 2020, the two teams left the most chaotic game for last.

The Flames had won the first three games of the season series and had their eyes on a clean sweep. It did not turn out that way, as the Oilers were really sharp early on and made the Flames pay for their miscues.

Kailer Yamamoto scored 29 seconds into the game. Zach Kassian scored 36 seconds later, putting the Flames down two goals just 1:05 into the opening period. Buddy Robinson scored for Calgary to cut the lead to 2-1, but a late power play goal by Connor McDavid made it 3-1 after the first period.

Things continued to spiral for the Flames in the second period. The Oilers kept scoring, and starting netminder David Rittich was pulled 3:18 into the second period in favour of Cam Talbot. The Oilers led 6-3 by the 15:58 mark of the second period. The Oilers were feeling confident, the Flames were frustrated and cranky, and scrums began to form after virtually every whistle that happened near either net.

Late in the second period, Talbot tried to freeze a puck in his crease by laying on it. Sam Gagner gave the visible puck a poke, and nobody in a red jersey took too kindly to it. A crowd quickly formed around Gagner, with Talbot throwing a bunch of punches in anger at being jabbed at with a stick. Matthew Tkachuk and Ethan Bear paired off at centre ice for a fight.

During all this chaos, Edmonton netminder Mike Smith skated out to centre ice. A few moments later, Talbot skated out to meet him.

It was just the second goalie fight ever on Saddledome ice – the previous one featured Miikka Kiprusoff and Tomas Vokoun at the tail end of a Mar. 20, 2004 Flames/Predators game – but this one was arguably special because it was mid-game during a clash between two of the league’s most bitter rivals.

Because Tkachuk and Bear fought during the same stoppage, both Talbot and Smith were ejected from the game for engaging in a secondary altercation, which meant that Rittich had to re-enter the game after being pulled earlier that period.

The Oilers scored twice more in the third period and won 8-3. The season ended up being suspended six weeks later due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but at the very least fans got a complete Battle of Alberta season series before things were paused – and a few of the most unhinged moments in the rivalry’s history.