IpsoFacto Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 Just wanted to point out how incredibly favourable our schedule is heading down the stretch. We have 26 games remaining. Of those 26, 16 are home games where our record is substantially better. Having only 10 road games remaining is favourable enough, but it doesn't stop there. We play teams that are not currently in a playoff spot 15 times in those 26 games. We also play another 4 against the two eight place teams. That means 19 of 26 are against teams at or below our relative level in the standings. As if all that isn't enough, we have 3 games against the 8th place team that we're trying to hunt down. Guess what? Two of those games are in our barn. Does it get any better? Actually, yes. The third game against them (in our barn) is the second night of a back-to-back for Phoenix where they will have played Vancouver the night before. Also, if you're more worried about the teams we've already passed in the standings, we play plenty of games against them to solidify our position: Dallas 4, Anaheim 2, Colorado 2, Minny 2. Still not convinced we have a posh schedule down the stretch? How about the fact that we only have 4 games remaining against "elite" teams. Two against Vancouver, one against SJ and one against Philly. Our next toughest game after that? Probably our two games against LA. Our schedule looks REALLY good down the stretch...now if only we could get healthy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kehatch Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 Just wanted to point out how incredibly favourable our schedule is heading down the stretch. We have 26 games remaining. Of those 26, 16 are home games where our record is substantially better. Having only 10 road games remaining is favourable enough, but it doesn't stop there. We play teams that are not currently in a playoff spot 15 times in those 26 games. We also play another 4 against the two eight place teams. That means 19 of 26 are against teams at or below our relative level in the standings. As if all that isn't enough, we have 3 games against the 8th place team that we're trying to hunt down. Guess what? Two of those games are in our barn. Does it get any better? Actually, yes. The third game against them (in our barn) is the second night of a back-to-back for Phoenix where they will have played Vancouver the night before. Also, if you're more worried about the teams we've already passed in the standings, we play plenty of games against them to solidify our position: Dallas 4, Anaheim 2, Colorado 2, Minny 2. Still not convinced we have a posh schedule down the stretch? How about the fact that we only have 4 games remaining against "elite" teams. Two against Vancouver, one against SJ and one against Philly. Our next toughest game after that? Probably our two games against LA. Our schedule looks REALLY good down the stretch...now if only we could get healthy... It may come down to the Phoenix games. Those will be 4-point games against the team we are most likely hard against for the 8-spot. In all likelihood we need to win two of the remaining three so we can at least split the series with them. Unfortunately our record against Phoenix isn't good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReadyForTheCup Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 I like your positive outlook, but I'd say our schedule is anything but favorable. Check out our month of March, we play 17 games, with only 14 days off in that month. It doesn't matter if your playing an easy team if your fatigued. We have 3 back-to-backs in the month, and starting March 15th is one of those back-to-backs, which is followed by playing literally every other night for the remainder of the month right up until the last two days, where we play again back-to-back. Compare that to Chicago, which is one of the teams we're chasing, and they only play 14 games in March. However, both the Coyotes and Avalanche play 16, so I guess that at least evens the playing field a bit. With that kind of schedule, I'll be very surprised if we don't lose another guy or two to injuries...especially with it being the stretch drive and play-off like intensity. We're icing a half AHL team as it is. With our schedule in March, I definitely don't think it looks favorable. That being said, I hope your right and I'm wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyDeeds Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 I like your positive outlook, but I'd say our schedule is anything but favorable. Check out our month of March, we play 17 games, with only 14 days off in that month. It doesn't matter if your playing an easy team if your fatigued. We have 3 back-to-backs in the month, and starting March 15th is one of those back-to-backs, which is followed by playing literally every other night for the remainder of the month right up until the last two days, where we play again back-to-back. Compare that to Chicago, which is one of the teams we're chasing, and they only play 14 games in March. However, both the Coyotes and Avalanche play 16, so I guess that at least evens the playing field a bit. With that kind of schedule, I'll be very surprised if we don't lose another guy or two to injuries...especially with it being the stretch drive and play-off like intensity. We're icing a half AHL team as it is. With our schedule in March, I definitely don't think it looks favorable. That being said, I hope your right and I'm wrong. Look at our home record then look at our away record. We are pretty good at home(15-8-2). We are improving on the road but have not quite got up to .500. Now count the home games left Home 16 Away 10 This is not last years schedule where every team we were fighting, had games at hand on us. If we can maintain our home record pace we should get 19-21 pts from our home games. That leaves about a .500 pace for road games. Busy March sure, but players like lots of games close together over long breaks before the next game. Whats not to like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zirakzigil Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 To me its not about March, its about the next 3 games. If we win all 3 we go for the playoffs and add. If we dont and other teams we are fighting with win, we sell assets. I think its that simple personally. If we cant win with the injuries we have we just need to call it a season, let our young guys play and trade some of our vets. Reason I say this is because I dont want to see any of our future if it doesnt add long term. Trading a couple vets and letting the young guys play could still get us in the playoffs but at least we hopefully added assets instead of trading them away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ameter Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 I like your positive outlook, but I'd say our schedule is anything but favorable. Check out our month of March, we play 17 games, with only 14 days off in that month. It doesn't matter if your playing an easy team if your fatigued. We have 3 back-to-backs in the month, and starting March 15th is one of those back-to-backs, which is followed by playing literally every other night for the remainder of the month right up until the last two days, where we play again back-to-back. Compare that to Chicago, which is one of the teams we're chasing, and they only play 14 games in March. However, both the Coyotes and Avalanche play 16, so I guess that at least evens the playing field a bit. With that kind of schedule, I'll be very surprised if we don't lose another guy or two to injuries...especially with it being the stretch drive and play-off like intensity. We're icing a half AHL team as it is. With our schedule in March, I definitely don't think it looks favorable. That being said, I hope your right and I'm wrong. We also get back about 100 injured players in March - so their well-rested legs should be able to compensate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_worthy Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 To me its not about March, its about the next 3 games. If we win all 3 we go for the playoffs and add. If we dont and other teams we are fighting with win, we sell assets. I think its that simple personally. If we cant win with the injuries we have we just need to call it a season, let our young guys play and trade some of our vets. Reason I say this is because I dont want to see any of our future if it doesnt add long term. Trading a couple vets and letting the young guys play could still get us in the playoffs but at least we hopefully added assets instead of trading them away. I agree about not wanting to mortgage the future. However, I don't agree that it is as simple as the next three games. As ipso said, there are 17 games in March. Come March, we will be getting bodies back and I believe that if we can just stay in the race until then, the schedule and the returning bodies could/should be enough to get us over the hump. Anyway, at least the games matter and we can enjoy the next two months. If we can also come out of the trade deadline with something that helps our future, all the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tachaudh Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 Sometimes it's those fringe teams that are the toughest to play against. Come March, the standings will likely cement into a clearer picture. There will be teams with players who are going to be fighting for jobs with absolutely zero pressure on them to win. It's going to be tougher than it looks and the Flames are going to have to stay on their A-game with lots of pressure on their backs. One thing we can be certain of is that the Flames destiny is squarely in their own hands, and that's definitely a nice feeling to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ring-a-ding-dong-dandy Posted February 15, 2012 Report Share Posted February 15, 2012 Our road games IMO will be what decides if we make it. Fortunately in our 10 remaining road games we 7 against non-playoff teams and are currently 15-4-2 against our remaining road opponents. If the Flames can continue 90% of that pace against those teams and maintain their home pace we are looking at a possible 13-14 road points and another 19-20 points at home. I project us getting about 33 points down the stretch which should give us 95 points, the 8th place team is currently on pace for 90 points. Basically I agree with the OP and love our sked down the stretch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zirakzigil Posted February 16, 2012 Report Share Posted February 16, 2012 I agree about not wanting to mortgage the future. However, I don't agree that it is as simple as the next three games. As ipso said, there are 17 games in March. Come March, we will be getting bodies back and I believe that if we can just stay in the race until then, the schedule and the returning bodies could/should be enough to get us over the hump. Anyway, at least the games matter and we can enjoy the next two months. If we can also come out of the trade deadline with something that helps our future, all the better. The next 3 games meaning the trade deadline. If we lost all and the teams we are fighting against won theres then I think you have to sell at least some assets. I also dont mind letting young guys play at this time of year for the Flames. They have something to prove and will play hard every shift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyDeeds Posted February 17, 2012 Report Share Posted February 17, 2012 Our road games IMO will be what decides if we make it. Fortunately in our 10 remaining road games we 7 against non-playoff teams and are currently 15-4-2 against our remaining road opponents. If the Flames can continue 90% of that pace against those teams and maintain their home pace we are looking at a possible 13-14 road points and another 19-20 points at home. I project us getting about 33 points down the stretch which should give us 95 points, the 8th place team is currently on pace for 90 points. Basically I agree with the OP and love our sked down the stretch I think your thinking is pretty close. It could be worse, just look at Yotes March: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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