The Battle of Alberta reignites Everything to know about the

Posted by seestyle on August 4th, 2022

Alberta's two NHL clubs have been locked in a close battle for the Pacific Division title all season, making every "Battle of Alberta"a high-quality contest, but an incident between Oilers forward Zack Ka sian and Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk on Jan. 11 brought tensions to a season-high and caught the rest of the league's attention in the proce s.

Ka sian was suspended two games for instigating an altercation with Tkachuk after Calgary's chief instigator laid multiple aggre sive body checks on him during the Jan. 11game, which the Flames won 4-3.

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The first gameKa sian waseligible to return for happenedto be the next time the Oilers and Flames played: Jan. 29 at Rogers Place in Edmonton. Calgary ; Ka sian and Tkachuk put on a show by dropping the gloves against for a fight.

Even though both sides appear satisfied after, Wednesday nightmay not Manny Ramirez Jersey haveendedthe saga. Edmonton and Calgary play again on Feb. 1 in Calgary.

Here's everything to know about the whole situation since the moment Tkachuk threw that body check on Ka sian on Jan. 11:

The original incident

All this started during the Flames' 4-3 win over the Oilers on Jan. 11, in which Tkachuk enraged Ka sian after he threw two controversial hits on the Oilers forward throughout the game. Ka sian viewed those hits as predatory and dropped the gloves for a fight after Tkachuk streaked down the ice to hit him behind the net the second time but Tkachuk wasn't interested in a brawl.

Zach Ka sian UNLOADS on Matthew Tkachuk after taking 2 big hits

Hockey Central (@HockeyCentraI)

Ka sian ultimately served a double-minor penalty for roughing Tkachuk and a 10-minute misconduct for his beat down. Tkachuk, who made no Corey Kluber Jersey attempt to engage Ka sian in a fight, got off without any penalties. The Flames used that power-play opportunity to take the lead, contributing to theirwin.

Ka sian and Tkachuk's postgame comments

We lost the game, it sucks, but all in all hes just a young punk who has to figure that aspect out," Ka sian said after that game (). "Hes a pretty good player, but hes a p. Hes the definition of it. He wouldnt fight me two years ago, said I was a fourth-liner. Now I have 13 goals. Whats the excuse now?

"If youre going to throw hits like that, youve Danny Salazar Jersey got to answer the bell once in a while," he added. "Im not the first guy to say that."

Zack Ka sian and Matthew Tkachuk continue the hatred in the post-game

Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett)

If Ka sian doesnt want to get hit, then stay off the tracks, Tkachuk told reporters. (I) caught him three times there, so you think hed learn after the first one, but if he wants to react like that, well take the PP, well take the game-winner and well move on to first place.

Ka sian implied that he might personally seek retribution in the future knowing full well the teams would play again soon.

Its going to be one of those games where I know hes not going to fight," he said. "But maybe its my turn to deliver something, to follow him around a little and wait until he gets in a bad situation. Simple."

On after that Jan. 11 game, Flames defenseman Rasmus Ander son called Ka sian's decision to fight Tkachuk one of the"biggest coward moves" he has ever seenand said the Oilers .

Ka sian is suspended; Tkachuk's hits ruled clean

On Jan. 13, the league's Department of Player Safety announced for his alteration with Tkachuk. Ka sian in the league's eyes violated Rule 46.2 of the NHL rulebook as an aggre sor for his role in the incident. The rulestates that the "aggre sor in an altercation shall be the player who continues to throw punches in an attempt to inflict punishment on his opponent who is in a defensele s position or who is an unwilling combatant."

The league noted that Ka sian never granted Tkachuk an opportunity to square up or drop his gloves for a proper fight. While former NHLers Scottie Upshall and Teemu Selanne , the league that it viewed both hits in question as "legal, full-body checks delivered to a player carrying the puck."

While we acknowledge Ka sian's frustration, players are not excused from gro sly violating league rules in retribution or retaliation for hits thrown on them, legal or otherwise," the league's player safety department advised in a video .

Ka sian's post-suspension commentsKa sian again on Tkachuk down the road after his suspension had been announced.

Zack Ka sian isn Brandon Guyer Jersey 't going to forget about what Matthew Tkachuk did. Circle your for January 29th.

Sportsnet (@Sportsnet)

"I'm not crying about the hits, it's hockey. It's a game of hockey. It's rough," Ka sian told reporters. "You play with fire, eventually you're going to get burned. He me sed with the wrong guy and I don't think he realizes that we are in the same division and I have a great memory."

In particular, Ka sian seemed miffed that Tkachuk would not just fight him to resolve the incident, saying "if you're going to play big boy hockey, you've gotta answer the bell every once in a while." Tyler Naquin Jersey

What other Edmonton Oilers had to say about the incident

Two days after the initialmeeting, Oilers winger Leon Draisaitl was asked about potentially playing with Tkachuk at the All-Star Game as part of the Pacific division's team. Draisaitl

James Neal who played for the Flames just last season called Tkachuk's comments about Ka sian "staying off the tracks," stupid. He said that Tkachuk should not leverage such heavy hits if he does not plan to answer a challenge to fight and that the whole sequence shows that Tkachuk has a lack of respect for Zach Duke Jersey his peers on the ice.

"He targets him, he targets his head, he chases him into a battle he's not in and takes him out," . "You don't see anyone else in the league doing that because they know they'd have to fight Ka sian ."

Flames GM Brad Treliving defends Tkachuk

Flames general manager Brad Treliving that his organization has no qualms with how Tkachuk conducts himself on or off the ice and that they want him to continue to play the same way.

Whats bothered me about a lot of it , Im not a big fan of the talk in the media and all the rest of it, some of comments that have been made towards Matthew,. Number one, weve got his back. I think theres 30 other teams other than ours who would take him on their team in a New York second. And some of the crap, I gue s would be the best way to put it, written or tweeted or talked about, I think is just that."

NHL trying to calm waters ahead of next matchup

Also on Jan. 16, that NHL Department of Player Safety head George Parros and the leagu