I hate being the sky is falling type but tonight was kind of a defining game for me.
This team is pretty much exactly what I feared they were - an okay, middle of the pack team that will fight tooth and nail to get that final playoff and get bounced in round one IF they make it. The truth is they aren't really that good. This team is less than the sum of it's parts. They should be better but they're not.
These Flames are quite often unprepared to play, rarely play a solid 60 minutes and are generally not difficult to outwork and/or out-battle. That top 6 group of defensemen is wildly under performing and the coaching staff just cannot or will not adjust. Several good young players have taken major steps backwards in their development and if not for a hot goalie and one good line we'd be a lottery team and we all know that is true.
I have no doubt that we will beat Arizona on Thursday and come out flat as a pancake on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday against our bitter provincial rival. We haven't taken 2 points off the Oilers since we hired Glen Gulutzan and I'll bet 5 bucks and a pack of smokes that it doesn't change anytime soon.
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