Not sure if anyone agrees with me but a strong quality about the flames is the lack of panic in their own end. The flames are disciplined and well coached so they keep the play to the outside to limit prime scoring chances and, more importantly, they do a great job cleaning up rebounds to avoid 2nd or 3rd chances. They don't freak out cause the other team has possession in their zone... They just play smart, patient defence and don't get caught puck watching or over-commit to one guy. They use quickness, smart sticks in lanes, and shot blocking to frustrate the offence of the other teams. Meanwhile, the oilers panic and end up with 3,4, or even 5 guys trying to check one player on the boards.
Not sure if there are stats to track these things but I've watched every game this season and I will agree there are games where the other teams have more puck possession... But I would say the flames tend to create more quality scoring chances than their opponents. Especially in the last few weeks.
Even last nights game... the ducks played better than the flames in the pest two periods but it's not like they were dominating the flames with overwhelming offensive chances akin to the Chicago game. The ducks just played a good road game for the first two periods and limited scoring chances on both sides. For to he 3rd period and overtime however... Calgary dominated the play and could have scored 6 goals in that time frame with the quality chances get we're generating.
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