One team showed up ready for a battle. The other was in danger of losing it before a full minute had come and gone.
The Calgary Flames opened Game 1 poised to immediately make up for all three decades of lost time between this playoff Battle of Alberta and the one preceding it, scoring on their very first shot of the game, a mere 26 seconds in, from Elias Lindholm.
It was the sixth time this season the Flames scored on their first shot of the game. Which would have been remarkable by itself, but, as Edmonton soon found out, the Flames were just getting started.
Twenty-five seconds later, they did it again.
The second Flames goal came courtesy of Andrew Mangiapane, prompting Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft to call a timeout — to diffuse the nerves, perhaps, or at least to pause the game before the second minute proved worse than the first.
For Calgary, the rapid-fire scoring earned this team a place in their franchise’s history. The 51 seconds separating the goals marked the fastest two scored to begin a playoff game, eclipsing the previous record of 80 seconds set back in 1995 during the Western Conference quarterfinal against the San Jose Sharks.
The Flames weren’t done, either.
Five minutes later, Brett Ritchie scored, chasing Oilers goaltender Mike Smith from the crease altogether.
Edmonton mustered its counter-punch shortly after, with Connor McDavid scoring to cut the lead to two after the first period.
The second period reflected the first, at least in how it began.
The puck dropped. The Flames got possession. The Oilers found themselves shovelling the puck out of their own net a couple blinks later.
This marker came off the stick of Blake Coleman 45 seconds into the period, a tally which he followed up with another goal to extend the Flames’ lead just over five minutes later.
Calgary’s fourth goal of the game added another layer to the history they were writing. It marked the first time the franchise had scored an opening-minute goal in both the first and second periods of a playoff game.
