Game 1 of the year saw the Oilers gaining a lead against the Calgary Flames, and eventually losing grasp of the game due to poor defensive play and a bad goal from Skinner. Game 38 saw Edmonton blowing Calgary completely out of the water, and it was never particularly close.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins opened scoring on Dustin Wolf off a rebound on only the fifth shot of the game. Beating Wolf early put the Oilers on a strong footing, allowing them the mental clarity to harass the Flames in their own end and prevent their star goaltender from getting a sense of composure. By the end of the game the Oilers outshot Calgary by a whopping 39 to 19.

To Wolf’s credit, if it weren’t for him the game may have very well ended up 15-1 with the way the Flames defense was leaking breakaways.

Weegar was able to tie the game in short order for the Flames, but Edmonton was able to retake the lead before the period had ended off a Leon Draisaitl powerplay goal, and the eventual game winner – but Edmonton had three more goals left in the tank.

Leon Draisaitl scored a second powerplay goal two minutes into the second period, and a third powerplay twenty minutes for his 9th career regular season hat trick. Zach Hyman scored his own goal in between to pad his own stats during the night’s rout, and Connor McDavid had his own impact – assisting on all five goals of the night. Meanwhile, Kadri and the Flames struggled to put up any sort of offence against Connor Ingram.

Ingram played well in his second start as an Edmonton Oiler, recording 18 saves on 19 shots faced, significantly lower than his counterpart Dustin Wolf, but not without effort. Both teams recorded over an hour of penalty minutes by the time the night had ended in true Battle-of-Alberta fashion. Trent Frederic held his own in a fight against Adam Klapka, and the benches erupted late in the game as Rasmus Anderson threw his knee out towards Zach Hyman on a call that would eventually get called tripping. The Oilers immediately took offence to the hit, and it took the referees handing out ten game misconduct penalties to maintain order in the court.

Unfortunately for the officials, both teams square up again on the 27th, and the Oilers are unlikely to forget about Rasmus Anderson’s slimy knee play before the week ends. Nurse spent the final moments of Tuesday’s tilt looking for a dance partner, none forthwith coming.

The Oilers finish the night with their 19th win of the year, and their 4th win while wearing their cream coloured alternate jerseys, and are still undefeated while wearing them.

Edmonton and Calgary will face off again after the Christmas break, and depending on how things play out, the game may boil over quickly.