travel_dude

It's hard to say how much the coaching defined last year's success. Almost 40 goals more against so far this year. A drop off of one line's overall scoring. But we did see a change to the way we play this year. We lost two 40 goal guys and changed to a style that suggests we have no skill at all. Play in the muck hockey. Maybe better for playoffs, but not a great idea for regular season. Really not great if you are down a goal or two early or entering the 3rd period.

Three back of us and they play WPG too. They do have one game in hand. They get a win in that extra game and beat us, suddenly they are past us. The harder task for them is they play 3 Central teams and 2 Pacific + CAR. We play a lot 2 Pacific and 3 central teams. I doubt that NAS was expecting to be in it this long. WPG seems to have figured out some of the issues. Schefele moved to the wing. A win against CHI and WPG and suddenly we are much more likely to make it. Two losses and it's pretty much out of reach.

It's so weird. We probably have more dispersed scoring and PP success than last year. No one player is achieving what we did last year. We don't have 130 goals from the top line. We have about 50 less goals from the combination of players that made up the top line. Right now, we are 50 goals less for as a team form the total last year. Right now, we are about 38 more goals against than the total from last year. Expect that to end up about 50 more by end of season. We know that goaltending has been crap. I can't blame the lack of excitement on goaltending directly, but it sure changes the game when down one or two early on. I would say that there is little change when down by one or up by one. Other teams play leads differently. Suffice to say, we would see better results with league average goaltending, but the game style does not make it very exciting. NJ clutch and grab era exciting.

I may sound like I have a "beef" with Lucic. His career arc is on the last part of the curve. I am amazed he can still get down the ice as fast as I have seen. That shows he is at least well conditioned. When used right, he still has game. The coach is the one putting him in position to get burned. And my anger towards coaching sometimes comes back on the player. He has bad games, as does every player. He's not the sole reason why we lose some games, but the coach is putting him out there when we need more than the voice of experience. Fans probably still remember the hit that knocked Duchene's bucket off. That meme went around for weeks. They probably remember the silver stick ceremony. Punching out a few Oilers. Good times. Classy guy. Back to Coronato. The kid will be in the NHL when he is ready. Put him with Dube for how to approach conditioning. Put him with Kylngton this summer (if he's back) to build core strength. Get him with Toffoli for shooting drills.

I think there is a difficult balance with indoctrinating young players in the mindset and play and the use of them in end of season games. If the coach feels this is too important to invest in a young player over one that has shown both good and bad, then I get it. The chance of the newer player being a difference maker in a key game are small. By the same token, the chance of a good/bad player impacting the game negatively are there. I give a lot of flack for 4th line players. Being out there against a top line and getting scored on. The coach has determined that he can get a draw out of their use, then so be it. Against VAN, Lucic was on for 2 against and one for. Against ANA, he was on for ANA tying the game, but then tied up the game. In both games, we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Shouldn't have to be there. Long story short, if the kids show they are of the 12 best F in practice, don't hold them back. Lose to CHI with the exact same lineup don't expect anyone to say we did our best.

I'm not sure I enjoy these cliffhangers. If we have this much trouble with tired, basement team, how are we going to beat the tough teams? Honestly, these wins do nothing to make me feel any different about the team's ability to win. We win 2 games where we were losing after 2 periods. Somehow, we were unable to do anything when the games meant much more to these teams or with games against teams in the hunt all season long.

In the play analogy, we have a director that watched plays from the Shakespear days. Even if they play the game to a T, they are still not going to do much to excite fans. We see Huberdeau play 20 minutes for like the 2nd time this season and we win a game. So, what I am saying is that the systems and coach define the play. If boring is your style, then we have to play it perfect to win. That's not sustainable, not with average goaltending, and we had below average. We are playing to the lowest level of skill on the team IMHO. We seem to be able to score on the rush, but are not likely to use that often. So, I would suggest this is 60% coaching, including lineup decisions, 40% players of which half is goaltending. The players that fit the coach are mostly the ones that are not going to win games. Toffoli is one whose skills allow him to play different types of games.

I'm not about to give either goalie credit in this game. First shot in. 3rd goal was deflating, 58 seconds after taking the lead. 4th even more by. My point of this all was that I don't think we have great goaltending even recently. We are just winning the games we should be winning easily. A couple wins that were one extra goal in a close game, especially the Dallas game. Only the LA and Minny games were well played. And the LA game was hanging on for life. This isn't a team ready for the playoffs. It's one that could squeak in and have the same issues it did all season.

I'll admit the finish was exciting against a team that was rarely even in the game. Wow, I just don't know what to say. Against a lesser goalie, it took us 40 shots to get a lead and keep it. Good thing for us Gibson was tired from the night before. Just need another 4 wins in 5 games to just about guarantee a playoff spot. Or just another late draft pick and a slim chance of moving to the top 6. Really we need 4 wins and WPG only gets 2 wins. Technically 3 wins and a OTL and WPG only gets 2 wins.

I won't debate the first two goals. They were saves that should have been made. Goal 3 was a rebound to a spot that should have been covered by the C, but he was roo far out. Goalie had two directions he could go and neither was ideal. Not down and out but too low on his skates. Goal 4 was a breakdown in the zone and goalie had 3 player screen. Not well angled to the shot he didn't see. Okay, I agree with you that it should not have been close, 4-1 or 4-2 at worst. And this is supposedly the best the Flames are playing. Our best goalie starting 14 out of 15. If we can't easily win these types of games why are we bothering to go for the playoffs. Memorable losses to LA, DAL and ARI. We are not about to beat Minny or Dallas 2-1. And getting there, we still have to get through CHI, WPG and NAS. 3 of 5 wins gives us a chance, if they include NAS and WPG losing. Markstrom is yet to beat CHI this year. If that's the first of the B2B, I'm not sure we would be better against WPG.

This is the first I have seen about our magic number..... #Flames magic number is down to 6.5 (CGY wins/WPG losses) #Flames tragic number is down to 4.5 (WPG wins/CGY losses)

I liked the Stone goal. I hate to say it, but he's that journeyman player you need. Comes in after missing a ton of games and does the job. No, he is no longer a 82 game player. Maybe he can give pointers to Ras, since Ras refuses to shoot.

That was much tougher than it should have been. How in the world were we ever losing to a tired bunch of Ducks?

It's not like we are playing the Bruins.

2 games streak when we are down after 2.

Stoney makes the difference.

Going for 1, can we get 2?

Oh Dube, taking advice from Backlund?

So, I must have thought Duehr was the reason why the 4th line was good. It seems like all you need to do is have Coleman there instead. Saying that, Lucic was on for 2 goals against, both even strength.

Well, it looked like an awesome shot, but it's like the instincts told him where the top coner was. Very much like a Guadreu bad angle shot from last year.

Lucic doing his part to justify his existence.

If Francis is suggesting that giving the net to Vladar is to allow Markstrom to play both B2B games..... I just don't know, man. He's looked tight in 2 games (Minny and LA). Beyond that, the Flames have outscored goaltending issues.

In the past 2 days, we are undefeated when losing after 2. Then again, 'it wasn't a regulation win.

Ritchie-Kadri-Lewis. Not exactly my first choice. Before it was Hiberdeau-Backlund-Duehr

We gotta stop the flyby's. The rebounds are right there 2 feet in front of the goalie.