This should be a rivalry, as much as that kind of thing has been muted in the NHL. The barbarians are fewer and further between in this league, and the blood rage isn’t as easy to express.

But it would come naturally to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers, if they didn’t play just twice a year. As coach Mike Babcock noted, these teams would have to win three rounds to meet when it matters, and that’s an idea from the other side of the moon.

That being said, the Leafs are working on it. In a 4-2 win over Edmonton in their second meeting of the year, Toronto bullied the Oilers when they could. On Toronto’s fourth goal, the following Leafs were on the ice, pinning Edmonton deep and attacking the puck: Zach Hyman, Matt Martin, Leo Komarov, Matt Hunwick and Roman Polak. Hyman in particular had one of the best games of his young career, but at that point, you’re just rubbing it in. This could be a real rivalry, right?

“I think so,” said defenceman Morgan Rielly. “I think they’re a good young team with a bright future, and I think we feel that way about ourselves as well. And when we get together there’s always a little extra going on, with the media, with the players on the ice. We only play them twice a year, but if it were a bit more, it might be a different story.”

Still, feathers were ruffled. Before the game, Connor McDavid didn’t seem terribly interested in talking about their last meeting, when he was held pointless and was beaten on the game-winning goal by Nazem Kadri, who had basically spent the evening egging McDavid’s house.

“They put a pretty big emphasis on not letting me come throughout the middle with any speed, or not really touch the puck at all,” said McDavid. “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, and something I have to figure out pretty quick.

“It’s to be expected. They’re not reinventing the wheel here. It’s not something I haven’t seen before. They did a really good job last game, and that’s good for them I guess, I don’t know. But I’m looking forward to tonight, I guess. That’s it.”

That was the end of his answering questions.

Minutes into the game, Auston Matthews had to hook McDavid as his rocket skates kicked into gear. On the Oilers power play, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hit a post. So far, so good for Edmonton.

But then their flaws came into sharp relief. Edmonton’s Milan Lucic quickly took an interference penalty, stepping into an unaware Roman Polak with all the subtlety of an elephant walking into a bar, and just after both penalties expired William Nylander raced down the right side of the ice and slid one hell of a pass past a molasses-footed Adam Larsson and onto Matthews’ stick. 1-0 Leafs, and Matthews tied McDavid with 10 goals on the season.

“Unbelievable pass,” said Matthews, who has three goals in his past two games. “It was spot-on, couldn’t have been a better pass. All I had to do was tap it in.”

On Toronto’s second goal, Edmonton off-season acquisition Kris Russell — who was, worryingly, said to have reached the Leafs radar last summer — went wandering behind the net, while Matt Hendricks went wandering out front, and James van Riemsdyk had time to negotiate all alone out front, and it was 2-0.

“We started heavy in the offensive zone in the first period in particular,” said Babcock.

Edmonton got one back on an Andrej Sekera point shot, and it was 2-1. And during all this Nazem Kadri was busy playing like Nazem Kadri, which could best be described as “I have enough friends.” He steer-wrestled McDavid in front of the Leafs net, and was called for a penalty. He skated at Larsson and smashed him as Larsson fiddled with the puck in his skates, and cross-checked him a couple times for good measure.

And after the Oilers wasted 105 seconds of 5-on-3, Kadri stripped Edmonton third-pairing defenceman Matt Benning and scored Toronto’s third goal. Kadri’s rivalry is with everybody, more or less.

Then came the fourth one. McDavid did make it 4-2, with one of those bolt-of-lightning plays that only he can produce. Toronto turned it over in the neutral zone and McDavid hit top speed the other way, as Rielly and Jake Gardiner were trying to switch sides off a change. Rielly saw it develop, and he can skate, but his highest gear still wasn’t enough. McDavid’s deke was so fast that it almost seemed like a magic trick. Earlier in the game, Nikita Soshnikov had to backcheck like a demon to break up a McDavid rush. This time, there wasn’t a demon fast enough.

“With a player as good as he is, he’s going to get his chances,” said Rielly. “He plays against the top line each night of his career for the next 20 years, probably. He’ll create room for himself. That being said, I think we did a good job. He had (a goal and an assist), so you can’t get too carried away with it, but we’re happy with a team win.”

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The Leafs had to block 31 shots, and were still outshot 24-19 at even strength, and killed six penalties, and needed Frederic Andersen to be good, and he was. It’s not necessarily a recipe for continued success, but it was just Toronto’s second road win of the year.

Meanwhile, the brand new barn that the locals say can be as habitually quiet as the Air Canada Centre was alternating between “Let’s Go Oilers” and “Go Leafs Go” chants, which were chanted back-and-forth, in rhythm. Maybe a real rivalry, one day. For now, this had to do.

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