Prior to the start of this season, the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers had very different expectations. The Oilers fan base was expecting the teams first playoff berth since the 2005-2006 season while the Flames were entering a franchise rebuild after trading cornerstone Jarome Iginla at the trade deadline the previous season and losing long-time starting goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff to retirement. On Saturday night, the Flames skated to an 8-1 romp over the Oilers in Edmonton, leaving many to wonder which team was further ahead in the race for the playoffs next season. Not surprisingly, the Flames currently sit well outside of a playoff spot with most fans showing the patience and support for the rebuild that president of hockey operations and interim general manager Brian Burke has asked for. The Oilers, on the other hand, now sit last in the Western Conference, six points behind the Flames and mathematically eliminated from the playoffs with a fan base fed up with a fifth straight losing season. President of hockey operations Kevin Lowe pronounced the team to be "poised for greatness" last season, yet that greatness remains to be seen. With both team already looking toward next season, the question in the Battle of Alberta is which team will make the playoffs first: the Flames or the Oilers? On paper, it would appear the advantage is with the Oilers. The team has three former first-overall draft picks on their roster and two other first-round picks in Sam Gagner and Jordan Eberle. Their goaltending tandem is set for next season with Ben Scrivens and Viktor Fasth and the team has their 2013 first-round pick, Darnell Nurse, developing in the OHL. However, the Oilers recent struggles has surrounded the team with question marks, including entertaining thoughts of trading one of the young stars to meet another need. The Flames appear to be on a much steadier course, trusting in Burke to put together a team that will enter the playoffs in the near future. Burkes history with rebuilding the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs inspires confidence that, with time, the team will reach the playoffs. Burke also put the finishing touches on the Anaheim Ducks that propelled them to a Stanley Cup. "I think I add a value. Ive been able to fix just about every team Ive worked for, sometimes quicker than others." Burke said when he was introduced as a member of Flames organization. Burke also inspired confidence with his 2013 first-round draft pick Sean Monahan. Monahan is second on the Flames in goals this season with 19 and fifth on the team in total points with 31. Both the Oilers and Flames will likely be in the draft lottery this season with a chance to select first overall, a disappointment for Edmonton and an expectation for Calgary. "Im an impatient guy. We have to do some bold things to move this team forward in a rapid fashion. We have to a better job arming our coaches and our core players with a group to get us to a highly-competitive level," Craig MacTavish said when he was introduced was the Oilers general manager last season. Moving forward, the Battle of Alberta may be turning into a race to see which team will make the playoffs first. Will the Flames steady rebuild pay off with a post-season entrance before the Oilers find a solution to their recent woes? Or will the Oilers embarrassment of young talent come together and deliver the playoff appearance fans are growing restless for? So, which team will make the playoffs first: the Oilers or Flames? As always, its Your! Call. 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These teams will see plenty of each other in the next few weeks as three of the Canucks next nine games are against the Wild (after today they meet February 9th in Minnesota and again February 16th at Rogers Arena).WUHAN, China -- Caroline Garcia followed up her first-round win over Venus Williams with a 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7) upset win over fifth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska on Monday at the inaugural Wuhan Open. The 20-year-old Frenchwoman went for broke, continuing to hit big ground strokes despite piling up unforced errors as she tried to keep Radwanska on the back foot. Its pretty different game between Venus and Radwanska, but I did the same game for myself, Garcia said. Against these kind of girls like Radwanska you have to do (this kind) of game ... sometime you can miss, but I knew it was the only way I can win this today. In first-round matches, No. 10 Jelena Jankovic beat Christina McHale of the United States 6-4, 6-4 and No. 11 Sara Errani of Italy reeled off the last six games to beat Heather Watson of Britain 7-5, 6-4. Ninth-seeded Ana Ivanovic, who won the title in Tokyo on the weekend, was among the four seeded players who lost on Monday. She retired with a thigh problem when Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was serving for the match at 7-5, 6-5, while No. 12 and Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova retired with a left ankle problem at the start of the third set after splitting the first two sets with American Madison Keys. Sabine Lisicki of Germany beat No. 14 Lucie Safarova 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 and Australian qualifier Jarmila Gajdosova ousted No. 15 Flavia Pennetta 6-1, 6-4. Mona Barthel of Germany beat crowd favourite Peng Shuai of China 6-2, 7-6 (1) and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic had a 6-4, 6-4 win over former U.ddddddddddddS. Open champion Sam Stosur. Among those advancing were Alize Cornet of France, Casey Dellacqua of Australia, Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain and U.S. player Coco Vandeweghe, who beat Annika Beck of Germany 6-3, 6-2. Almost all the WTAs top 20 players are in Wuhan, with the notable exception of hometown player Li Na, who announced her retirement last Friday. The strength of the field and the more than $2 million on offer in prize money reflect the importance the womens tour continues to place on the booming Asian tennis market. Wuhan is one of three new WTA-level tournaments added in China this year, along with Hong Kong and Tianjin. The newcomers bring the total number of tournaments in China to six -- behind only the United States, which has eight. The season-ending WTA Championship was also moved this year to Singapore through 2018. All the additions mean that the elite players are spending a considerable amount of time in Asia in coming months. Maria Sharapova, who was due to play her opening match later Monday against fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, credited the success of two-time major winner Li and her massive appeal in China for the WTAs push into Asia. I think she was one of the biggest reasons why there is such an international tournament in Wuhan. She brought all of us here, so I think its a little extra sad that she wont be participating this year, Sharapova said. ' ' '