Interesting note about the stretch pass and forwards waiting at the opposing blueline. At home watching on TV it's hard to tell that is what's happening, but next time I'm at a game live I'll be watching for that. I'm just glad we finally have the personnel on the backend to play a style like that. For so many years we just didn't have anyone who could make a solid stretch pass and it seemed like a give away happened everytime someone tried. Now all our guys from the back can do that. Even Engelland has a decent first pass. Great to see Hartley utilizing our team's strengths and everyone is buying in.
Todd McLellan had a great quote in the Sun this morning. Great to see the Flames are finally getting the respect they deserve league wide.
Quote:
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Sharks coach Todd McLellan was asked prior to the game whether he was surprised the Flames were “kinda in” the playoff chase and breathing down his team’s neck. His response: “They’re in it. They’re breathing down a lot of necks, and they deserve to be there. Because they missed the playoffs for a few years, it doesn’t mean they can’t be a good organization now. They’ve made some changes, they’re a very focused organization and doing a good job of development and they’re pushing. They have a really strong identity that they play to. I’ve used the words ‘belief system’ a lot in San Jose and they have a strong belief system in Calgary and they can win every night. It doesn’t matter who they play against. They’ve proven it. When you use those terms, talk like that and describe a team, that’s a playoff-bound team. It’s as simple as that. I’d like to think teams talk about us like that, as well, and we want to compete with them for one of those positions.”
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