Quote:
Originally Posted by IntenseFan
I know the Flames were tired last night. But between Sat's game and last night, I am now flagging team speed as an area of concern.
Not going to go ahead and say it is a problem yet. But I will be watching that area closely over the next 6 games or so.
I know Burke and Trieliving are big on size and the Flames are looking improved in that area. But last night, even when they were trying to keep up, it looked like they were standing still compared to the Hawks. Any rebuild must also focus on improving team speed, or it will be stillborn.
Again, could be they were tired in addition to being just plain out-skilled. We'll have to see.
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There's plenty of speed up front with the likes of Byron, Raymond, Backlund and Gaudreau. You forget about Raymond's goals and Byrons couple breakaways last night?
The speed on the back end is the problem and what you've been noticing.
The Hawks tied the game because Wideman couldn't keep up with his man despite being neck and neck coming back across the blue line, and forced him to take a stupid penalty. Outside of Brodie, and perhaps Russell, the rest of our D is viscously slow compared to forwards on a team like the Hawks. Which means they have to play positionally strong otherwise we get ####ed. Luckily last night few guy got caught up ice, and despite the speed disadvantage we still managed to keep the majority of shots to the perimeter.
I think fatigue played a large factor last night, though.