Calgary Flames goaltender David Rittich made headlines for his Jose Bautista-like bat flip celebration in last week's 4-3 shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday. Many fans enjoyed Rittich's fun way of celebrating the victory, but others thought that it was over the top.
Rittich defended his stick flip in the media on Monday and it doesn't sound like he's going to apologize for the celebration, and he said that he's going to do it again.
"We're not able to celebrate in this league anymore or what?" Rittich said, according to Sportsnet's Eric Francis. "I didn't want to do anything anymore. I just celebrate. Why I should change myself? I'm going to do it (again). I'm that guy who is showing emotions, who is celebrating goals and wins."
Oilers players weren't fans of the celebration, but thankfully the two teams were meeting up again on the weekend, so they didn't have to wait too long to get a little revenge.
Edmonton was quick to get a couple goals past Rittich, Kailer Yamomoto and Zack Kassian each found the back of the net just over a minute into the first period. Connor McDavid then went on to score later in the first and added another one in the second period.
After allowing four goals on 17 shots, Rittich was pulled and replaced by Cam Talbot, but that didn't last long, because shortly after Talbot joined the game all hell broke loose and they broke out into a line brawl.
Matthew Tkachuk fought Ethan Bear, Sam Gagner and Mark Giordano were going at it, but the main event happened at center ice when we watched Talbot and Mike Smith throw a couple hay makers—this marked the first ever goalie fight in the NHL since 2013 and it was a first in Battle of Alberta history.
Talbot and Smith were ejected from the game so Rittich was forced to go back in the net for the third period. Sam Gagner and Gaetan Haas added a goal each in the third and the Oilers went on to win the game 8-3.
There was probably nobody who wanted to score a goal on Rittich Saturday night more than Leon Draisaitl. As you may recall, it was Draisaitl who was denied by Rittich with the game on the line in the shootout last Wednesday.
Although he wasn't able to score, Draisaitl did add four assists in the win and moved past McDavid to become the league's leading scorer with 83 points.
He was asked about Rittch's celebration after the game on Saturday, and he told the media that it was disrespectful and accused him of acting like he won the Stanley Cup.
The Battle of Alberta has reached heights that we haven't seen since the '80s this season, but we will have to wait a while until the next meeting. The two teams will face off for the last time of the regular season on April 4, and then we will just have to cross our fingers that they meet up in the playoffs.
