Flames-Oilers holiday doubleheader? ‘That’s a Christmas present in itself'

Back-to-back instalments of the Battle of Alberta, a home-and-home on either side of the holiday break?

Yup, the NHL’s schedule-makers got this one right.

The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers renew hostilities Tuesday at Rogers Place, then rematch on Saturday at the Saddledome.

“That’s a Christmas present in itself,” beamed Flames forward Ryan Lomberg. “My son was asking me about our schedule after the Christmas break and I told him it’s the Oilers and he said, ‘Well, we play them before.’ I said, ‘We get ’em both, buddy. We get ’em both — one there and one here.’ ”

His reaction?

“Oh, he’s excited,” Lomberg replied with a wide smile. “He loves the Battle of Alberta. Obviously, they have two of the best players in the world, so it’s cautiously excited. But yeah, it’s going to be exciting.”

Who doesn’t love the Battle of Alberta?

The Flames faithful were already getting in the mood Saturday. Toward the end of a 6-3 home victory over the Vegas Golden Knights, which included an epic shift where Lomberg scored a goal and then dropped the mitts at the ensuing faceoff, the Saddledome crowd started an ‘Oilers suck!’ chant.

After an early faceplant, highlighted only by a shootout triumph over their provincial foes on opening night, the Flames have found another gear of late. Over their past 15 games, they’re 10-4-1.

Their northern neighbours have also been gaining momentum, although their new No. 1 netminder is now on the shelf until the new year.

The Oilers own a spiffy 7-2-1 record in their past 10 or, if you prefer to go by an identical measure, are 9-4-2 over a 15-game span. They are suddenly just two points out of top spot in the Pacific Division.

Connor McDavid has now vaulted to the top of the NHL’s scoring race, while Leon Draisaitl sits fourth.

“They’re playing good hockey right now, and we feel like we’re playing good hockey right now,” said Flames forward and shorthanded sniper Blake Coleman. “So it should be entertaining.”

“I think you’re going to get the best out of the other guys over there and you’re going to get the best from our team, as well,” added defenceman MacKenzie Weegar, who had a milestone night Saturday with his 200th career assist. “It’s always exciting, the Battle of Alberta. You hear the noise around the cities and all the chirps and the excitement. The players love it. The media loves it.

“It’s going to be a good game going into the holidays. And I know a lot of guys like the holidays here, so we’ve gotta have a big game going into Christmas.”

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Not including the bubbled campaign, the Flames and Oilers haven’t hooked up for a pair of regular-season showdowns in such a short span since Jan. 29 and Feb. 1 of 2020.

And while there will be a chance for revenge Saturday, when supporters in both red and blue will be debuting whatever merch was under the tree, the squad that prevails Tuesday will enjoy their eggnog and shortbreads a little bit more.

NHL teams are not permitted to meet, practise or travel between Dec. 24-26.

“When you’re sitting around for three or four days, it’s a lot better when you’re thinking about how good of a team you are and the possibilities of what could be if you piece things together,” Lomberg said. “It’s almost, I don’t want to say the opposite but if you lose going into the break, you’re a little bit more stressed. You want to right the ship right away and those days are long when you can’t do anything — no practice, no skating, no games.

“You sit there and just think, and it’s a lot better when your thoughts are positive and encouraging.”

A lot better, surely, if you’re thinking about completing a Battle of Alberta holiday sweep.

The Flames have lately managed to climb a few pegs from dead-last to 28th overall. While fans will be begging Santa for some draft lottery luck, the coaches and players are focused on salvaging this season.

With a positive result against their arch-rivals, they’d sled into Christmas on a three-game winning streak.

“I think I do a pretty good job of separating life and hockey, but it’s more when you first get back to the rink, you’re quickly reminded of where you’re at,” Coleman said. “So that last game, it’s nice to go into it with a win. And then when you come back, it’s nice to be like, ‘Oh yeah, we did take care of business and we’re in a better spot because of that.’

“We just want to go into the break feeling good about our position in the race. And three wins would go a lot further, obviously.”

wgilbertson@postmedia.com