Honestly, as much as the advanced stats guys and distant observers hate the way the Flames play from a "possession" perspective, that series was on a razors edge through the middle games and could have easily gone Calgary's way, and it's reflected in the quotes from Boudreau.
The Flames were clearly getting better game by game as they were figuring out how to play this matchup. If they won Game 4, they are on an upward trajectory in a tied series. If they won Game 5, they head back home where they are very tough to play and likely force a Game 7 where anything can happen. Anaheim did NOT want either of those scenarios to play out. They knew they had to stomp on the Flames' heads to kill them, and that's why you saw them come out hard in Game 5 OT.
This Flames team is worthy of respect and I hope even the advanced stats honks can offer them that.
They were clearly able to sustain what they were doing.
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