Look, the Calgary Flames are not having a good season. But neither are the Edmonton Oilers. The two Alberta teams are in complete disarray as they have both find themselves at the bottom of the barrel. The Flames are 28th in the league, the Oilers 31st.
It’s gotten to the point where the best bits of the Battle of Alberta aren’t coming from the on-ice performances of the teams, but instead from how the two fan bases can first laugh at themselves, but more importantly, laugh at—emphasis on laugh at and not laugh with—each other.
Well, the Flames now hold another card over the Oilers. It will be a card played as a quick draw, as it will definitely not last (unless..?) so it’s best to use it now while they still can.
A double-digit number of Flames are keeping pace with McDavid
First of all, no one could have possibly seen Connor McDavid scoring just two goals over nine appearances. Yes, his injury kept him out for a couple of games and may still be hampering his offensive game since his return, but just two goals in nine games after a 64-goal campaign last year is just unfathomably bad.
At least the Flames fan base can take advantage of the opportunity to rub it in.
In yesterday’s game against the Nashville Predators, the Flames were down two goals to none. Dillon Dube opened the scoring for the Flames as they scored four unanswered goals. With Dube’s goal, he became the tenth Flame this season to score at least two goals. While that itself is not an achievement by any means, it’s the fact that ten Flames are tied with or are ahead of McDavid in goals scored in 2023–24 that is just mindboggling.
No one could have possibly had this on their bingo card at the start of the season.
Wait, there’s more: Noah Hanifin scored as well. Not only did he tie the game, but he also tied McDavid in goals. But wait, there’s still more: Blake Coleman scored his third of the season to pull himself ahead of McDavid. Wait, wait, there really is still more: Nazem Kadri potted an empty-net goal to get himself to two goals on the season too.
Here’s the full list of all 12 Flames who are ahead or are tied with McDavid in goals this season:
| Player | Goals | Ahead or Tied with McDavid? |
|---|---|---|
| Andrew Mangiapane | 4 | Ahead |
| Blake Coleman | 3 | Ahead |
| Yegor Sharangovich | 2 | Tied |
| Elias Lindholm | 2 | Tied |
| Jonathan Huberdeau | 2 | Tied |
| Adam Ruzicka | 2 | Tied |
| MacKenzie Weegar | 2 | Tied |
| Mikael Backlund | 2 | Tied |
| Rasmus Andersson | 2 | Tied |
| Dillon Dube | 2 | Tied |
| Noah Hanifin | 2 | Tied |
| Nazem Kadri | 2 | Tied |
You can go to all the luxury furniture stores in the world, yet nothing will cost more than the 12.5 million dollar table above.
Too much to handle
Like I said, this is trash talk for the sake of trash talk, and finding fun while a team struggles makes a long season more bearable. While there are too many twos to count here, there’s a bigger two that the Flames currently hold over the Oilers on the season so far. The Flames have won two games in a row—something the Oilers have yet to do.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
