READY FOR BATTLE

EDMONTON - Drop everything, grab the kids and get to a TV.
You won't want to miss this.
Round 2 of the Battle of Alberta goes tonight at Rogers Place in Edmonton, and if the first meeting back on Nov. 17 was any indication, we're in for a dandy up north on the QEII.

"It's always exciting when we play each other," Travis Hamonic said. "Everybody gets into it, the province is buzzing. When I look back on that first game, I think the boys did a good job staying together as a team. We had each other's backs.
"Most importantly, we stayed in the game. We got down, we fought back and came out with the win. ... Tonight, they've been playing well; we've been playing well, too. It's a big game. It's a big game in the standings, a big game at this time of year, and it's always a big game against a provincial rival.
"There's going to be a lot of emotion out there."
The last time these teams went face to face, they combined for 37 penalty minutes in a fiery, physical first period - including 27 to the Oilers, and 16 alone to tough-guy Zack Kassian. Matthew Tkachuk was of course at the centre of it all, first drawing a penalty on Leon Draisaitl before getting involved in a pair of scrums later in the period, all the while being a thorn in the side of the talented Oilers captain, Connor McDavid, throughout the evening.
Old-time hockey, baby.
No matter how the two teams are trending, Tkachuk gets up for these games like no other.
The fact that they're both in the mix for divisional supremacy only stokes his enthusiasm.
He lives for the excitement, the drama and, yes, the uncontrollable passion a date with a rival in front of a national television audience offers.
It's the Battle of Alberta.
And there's nothing else like it.
"These are the games that you circle on the calendar, but even more so this year," he said following a meeting at the team's downtown hotel. "The history of the two teams, everything that's on the line…
"For us, we want to send a message that the first 30 games haven't been a fluke for us."
The Flames, of course, are riding a wave after beating the Nashville Predators 5-2 less than 24 hours ago to claim sole possession of the top spot in the West, while the Oilers are heating up, too, and are on a 6-2-1 run with interim coach Ken Hitchcock at the helm.
Under 'Hitch,' McDavid is playing big minutes, north of 24 minutes most nights, but spooled a flabbergasting 28:01 in Wednesday's win over the St. Louis Blues. He co-leads the Oilers in goals with 15 - tied with his triggerman linemate Draisaitl - and has the outright authority in points with 40, including four (1G, 3A) in Friday's nosh-up over the Minnesota Wild.
As usual, talk of defending the abled assassin was the talk of the town Sunday, with Tkachuk describing him as the "best player in the world."
But, as the old saying goes, the best defence is a good offence, and the Flames are hoping to make it a long night for No. 97.
"For a guy like him, I think the last thing he wants to do is be in his defensive zone for most of the game," he said.
"They're playing really well under Hitch right now. I think it was expected that he was going to come in and make a change with their team and they've responded really well. We know this is going to be a different Edmonton team than the one we faced earlier in the year, and we're ready for it."
With last night's over the Preds, the Flames are now in a position they haven't found themselves in in decades.
They hold outright conference lead for the first time this late in a season since Jan. 5, 1993.
To put it in context: Johnny Gaudreau, the Flames' leading point-getter, was still seven months from being born.
"We have a team of guys that love to play for each other, and I think that's pretty evident," Hamonic said. "Guys that really want to play, and win, and lay it on the line for one another. It's still early in the season and we've got a long way to go before we get to our goal, but we believe in each other, in our team, and in the players in that dressing room that we can keep trucking along here."
With that comes a different challenge, of course. Hamonic concedes that their success is no longer a secret, so instead of potentially catching teams off guard, they're getting their opponents' very best, nightly.
"In my nine years in the league, this is the closest the teams are," he said. "Every night's a dogfight. Things can happen and the game can go one way or another. Just goes to show how close the league is and how good the teams and the players are.
"To be competing and be pushing for that spot toward the top at this time of the year, it's good, it's encouraging, but like I said, we've got a long ways to go for our team and we know that but we're trending in the right direction."