Tonight the Oilers host the Flames for the 131st time.
It will also be the final time these two teams meet at the place I always want to call Northlands.
The place we call Rexall today opened on November 10th, 1974 (as per Wikipedia) and it used to have this funny circular logo in red on the ice.
Then it became Skyreach for a while.
After that it became Rexall and on April 10th, 2016 it will become more memory than place.
Some great things happened in that building.
Some moments were just the beginning.
*I can’t watch that without getting goosebumps and a little teary-eyed.
Others, it turned out, were the only fleeting.
Tonight marks both a continuation of the ongoing rivalry between the two Alberta teams, but also an end of an era.
Overall the Oilers, at home, have a record of 64-56-10 against the Flames going back to the first time the team visited Northlands Coliseum on December 12th, 1979.
The Oilers would play that game to a 5-5 draw.
The first time the Oilers beat the Flames was on October 10th, 1980, just after the fuschia’d franchise had moved from Atlanta to Calgary was a 5-3 victory.
In their history throughout the regular season and playoffs against the team whose initials stand in readily for their academic achievements, the Oilers’ record is 112-127-19, the loss column inflated by the ill winds that have blown down our fair green fields these past years. You can read through the entire series history here.
Tonight, for the last time, the good guys will strap iron, walk to the middle of mainstreet at high noon, and, eyes narrowed against the opponent, try to hold back time for just a little bit longer.
Nugent-Hopkins still appears to be recovering from an “upper body injury” (read: concussion) although there is a slim chance he could be in the lineup tonight. Aside from him, the Oilers are also without Brandon Davidson, Oscar Klefbom, Benoit Pouliot, Eric Gryba…have I forgotten anyone? It feels like it so if I have chalk it up to injured-reserve fatigue at this point in the season.
Johnny Gaudreau will be returning to the Flames’ lineup this evening after missing the last two games with an upper-body injury from when Duncan Keith attempted to remove one of his kidney’s in their game against the Blackhawks the other night. Michael Frolik is still unavailable and Karri Ramo is out for the remainder of the season. Those are the notable injuries for the Flames and Joni Ortio, who has been providing some reliable goaltending, though not stellar, this season is the likely starter. The Flames just wrapped up a tour through California where they were outscored 11-3 in two games (8-3 by the Ducks and 3-0 by the Kings) so they’ll likely be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed coming into this match as they look to send our dear old barn into the history books with ignominy.
Outside of last season’s miracle (and it was just that) playoff run by the Flames, these two teams have been fairly closely tied the last few years, finishing next to each other in the overall standings in 2013, 2014, and within a stone’s throw of each other again this year. While they used to battle over playoff home dates and winning the Smythe, this year the Flames and Oilers are playing to decide draft order.
The Oilers have three games remaining, sit at 67 points and are 30th overall. A win tonight could, potentially, move them up to 28th.
The Flames have four games remaining, have 70 points and are in 26th place right now. If they win they would leapfrog Vancouver and move to 25th.
It may not sound like much, but there are some quarters of the Flames’ fan community who would dearly love to slide down into that bottom three spot to help increase their chances of drafting Auston Matthews. Oilers’ fans, I get the feeling, are kind of numb about the draft lottery right now and would welcome any of Matthews, Puljujarvi or Laine (although let’s be honest, winning the lottery again to take Matthews would be a great way to flip the bird to the league that seems to delight in the misery of Good Old Our Team).
For what it’s worth, I’ve begun reviewing the officiating in all the Oilers games and comparing them to other league games (mostly Flames because of my viewing options) and there appears to be a real bias resulting in the greater share of missed calls going against the Oilers. I haven’t noticed anything similar with the Flames as yet, despite the rumours of a Wideman-backlash, so don’t expect any favours from the referees tonight. I’ll have something on my results later once the games have concluded and I’ve had a chance to process all the data into a more readable format.
The lineup for the Oilers appears to be unchanged save that Adam Pardy will be replacing Adam Clendening on the blue line and Talbot will be in net. Expect to see Maroon – McDavid – Eberle, Hall -Draisaitl – Yakupov, Korpikoski – Letestu – Pakarinen, Hendricks – Lander – Kassian up front and Sekera – Fayne, Oesterle – Reinhart, Nurse – Pardy on the blueline, at least until the inevitable line changes.
The lineup for the Flames against Los Angeles was Gaudreau – Monahan – Shinkaruk, Bouma – Backlund – Colborne, Ferland – Bennett – Jooris, Bollig – Stajan – Grant. The defense combinations were Brodie – Hamilton, Giordano – Engelland, Jokkipakka – Nakladal, although Hartley moved the bottom pairings around a bit as the game went on.
Ortio will start.
Now, I know we have one more game at Northlands Coliseum against the Canucks, but in so many ways, because of the opponent and this being a Saturday and Hockey Night in Canada, this game feels like the last one. I don’t have a lot of memories of the Coliseum, but those I have I treasure.
I’m going to miss that Grand Old Lady.
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