As wild as their series opener was, neither the Calgary Flames nor Edmonton Oilers are expecting anything close to a repeat when they resume their Western Conference second-round clash Friday in Calgary.

The 9-6 Flames victory — which not only set a record for the fastest two goals by one team to start a Stanley Cup playoff game, but was the highest-scoring affair in Battle of Alberta in history — was light-years from the game plans drawn up by either squad.

“You can’t take back what’s happened in the past,” said Oilers goaltender Mike Smith, who is scheduled to start the game despite being pulled after surrendering three goals in the first 6:05 of Wednesday’s game. “I could sit here and boo-hoo myself, but there’s nothing I can do about it now. All you can think about is what’s going to happen next … and be ready.”

The game tied for the fifth-highest scoring playoff game in history, and was the first since 1993 to boast 15 goals, ironically a 9-6 Flames loss to the Los Angeles Kings. By comparison, Calgary managed only 15 goals in its seven-game, opening-round series win over the Dallas Stars.

The Oilers are not as strong defensively, but allowed only two goals in their final two games of their first-round series win over the Kings.

“We scored six goals on the Calgary Flames in their building. That should be enough to win a game,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “We’re capable of (starting better). I don’t think we’re frustrated at all. We’re capable of it. … We know it needs to be better there in Game 2 and we’ll worry about taking care of that.”

The Oilers have some aspects to build on, especially the performance of captain Connor McDavid.

It’s a strange coincidence that the Oilers have lost all three playoff games this month in which McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have both scored a goal, but Edmonton will take more four-point games from the captain, who has posted five goals and 18 points in eight playoff tilts this postseason.

Then again, the Flames know they can’t allow McDavid to continue that trend.

“He’s the best player in the league. He was the best player on the ice (Wednesday) night. Not even close,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “So at the end of the series if Connor McDavid gets four points a game, ‘Have a good next series, Connor.’ ”

Therefore, expect the Flames to focus more on their defensive game after blowing a 6-2 lead before regrouping and pulling away.

“We played probably the worst … 15 or 20 minutes of hockey we have all year, definitely in the playoffs, and it’s still a tie game (6-6 early in the third period),” said forward Matthew Tkachuk, who collected his first career playoff hat trick.

Calgary also will expect a better performance from goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who allowed six goals on 28 shots in Game 1. He certainly expects it of himself.

“It’s easy to move on, since we got the win and we’re up 1-0, but it’s going to be tough and I need to raise my game,” said Markstrom, who surrendered 11 goals in seven first-round games. “You bear down and see what you need to feel better, get better, and get it done.”

The Flames are in the better position of having won such a bizarre game. They know what must be improved upon with the benefit of not suffering a defeat.

“Amongst the chaos, I really thought we had some composure in the third,” forward Blake Coleman said. “It was ugly, but when your team can rely on each other and trust each other … it’s a good sign going forward.”

–Field Level Media

Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone underwent lumbar discectomy on his lower back and will be ready for the start of the 2022-23 season, the team announced Thursday.

The surgery was performed by Dr. Robert Watkins IV at Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey (Calif.) Hospital.

Stone, 30, was dogged by injuries throughout the season. He finished with nine goals and 21 assists in 37 games, and he had four stints on injured reserve.

“Definitely take positives from a negative season and that’s I’m going to have time to heal,” Stone said during his final media session on May 3, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“It’s never easy rehabbing injuries during the season. You always want to try and rush yourself back, to get back in. I think I made a couple mistakes throughout this season trying to get back too quick.”

The dropoff in production was stark for Stone, who had 20-plus goals in each of his previous seven seasons. He has 179 career goals in 541 games with the Ottawa Senators and Vegas.

–Field Level Media

The Carolina Hurricanes will look to continue to feast on home cookin’ in the playoffs Friday when they host the New York Rangers in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

The Hurricanes have won all five playoff games this spring in Raleigh, N.C. They have outscored the opposition by a 20-7 margin and killed off 92.3 percent of their foes’ power plays.

Sebastian Aho scored late in the third period and defenseman Ian Cole tallied 3:12 into overtime to lift Carolina to a 2-1 victory over New York in the series opener on Wednesday. Cole scored his second career NHL playoff goal after his wrist shot from above the right faceoff circle caromed off the stick of Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren and past Vezina Trophy finalist Igor Shesterkin.

“It’s not necessarily about this game,” Cole said. “It’s about building toward that journey, going forward. We’re not here to win one game in the second round and say ‘OK, that’s it, mission accomplished.’ We’re here to win a Stanley Cup. This is a great step forward and I think it showed our resiliency as a team to be able to check ourselves and fix our game during the game and not have to wait until after the game.”

The Metropolitan Division-champion Hurricanes answered a 14-shot total over the first two periods by registering the first seven in the third.

“We obviously raised the level of intensity in our game. We played with a little more desperation, which we needed,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We were lacking a little of that for two periods. It doesn’t always work out, but we had a real good third period and that got us back in the game. Then it carried into overtime.”

Aho has totaled eight points (four goals, four assists) in five games versus the Rangers in 2021-22 (regular season and playoffs). His 17 career playoffs goals are tied with Kevin Dineen for third place in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers franchise history behind former captain Eric Staal (19) and Brind’Amour (18).

Carolina’s Antti Raanta, a former Rangers backup goaltender, stopped 27 of 28 shots to record his fourth win of the postseason in which he yielded two goals or fewer.

Raanta’s lone blemish came after Filip Chytil scored at 7:07 of the first period. Fellow “Kid Line” member Alexis Lafreniere notched an assist, marking the fifth point of the postseason for the top overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft.

While the Hurricanes won Game 1 for the second straight series in these playoffs, the Rangers find themselves trailing after the opener for the second consecutive time. New York fell in triple overtime in Game 1 of its first-round series to Pittsburgh and overcame a 3-1 deficit in games to eliminate the Penguins.

“We’ve been in this position,” Chytil said. “So we just have to keep our heads up and we got a day off (Thursday), we practice, good meetings and just get ready for Friday’s game. I think we can take a lot of positives from this game. I think (for) two-and-a-half periods we play (how) we want to play and we dictated the tempo of the game.

“Unfortunately, they scored a goal. We have to build on this game and take all the positives to another game.”

–Field Level Media