I am really tired of hearing Flames are too small and yet they still play like a big team with speed a lot of times this season. The topic usually comes up when the Flames lose or one of the players get manhandled once. Game in and game out our best players are not big like Gaudreau, Brodie, Giordano(he is not big but he plays big), Byron, Granlund, Russell and Hudler. These guys never really back down from physical play. It annoys me to hear Eric Francis commenting Brian Burke still thinks the team is still small. I hope he is not meddling with Brad Treliving's decision. Or Francis suggesting thinking it is still Burke making decisions on this team. I like that Burke is being quiet in the background these days and he is letting Treliving and Hartley makes the decisions which is the right thing.
Chicago wasn't too big when they won the Cup. They were skilled and fast. I don't think the Flames were manhandled by Anaheim last night in the first two periods. The only physical stuff I've seen was Jackman playing dirty on Gaudreau but when Engelland answered the bell, it pretty much stopped. Flames problem in those two periods were they tried to play the Anaheim game rather than play the in-your face forechecking and speed game that they usually have success this season. Even Gio mentioned it on the interview after the game.
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