[CorsiHockeyLeague]

The story of that game for me was the Flames' inability to capitalize on an insane amount of scoring chances in the first 25 minutes of the game. They had multiple odd man rushes, 2 on 1s down low, pucks come to them right out front, and only one goal to show for it.

The first Flyers goal was nobody's fault, really. Macdonald is pretty well covered and just flips the puck to the net into a crowd, it bounces off a leg right onto Raffl's stick and bam, in before anyone can react. Second goal is mostly on Smith; it wasn't a huge stinker but it didn't have much pace and frankly, you're usually okay to give up an off-balance half wound shot from the blue line, it's a perimeter low-threat puck. Third goal is Brodie getting caught in the neutral zone, totally his fault and put Hamonic in a terrible spot. Fourth goal is an insane skill play by Couturier to redirect the puck to Simmonds, I don't blame anyone for that, that's one where you tip your hat to a great play. Fifth goal probably doesn't matter, but it's either on Tkachuk for letting his man go to the front or Kulak for doing absolutely nothing. Either take the guy in the crease out, or you'd better be sure you get the puck before it gets to him.

At the end of the day, the shots were 45-21 Flames, and while some of that is score effects, they were winning the flow of play for the whole game, even early on. Shots were like 12-4 and 21-11 if I remember right, while it was still tied. So it's a game they should have won, and therefore (even if it's frustrating to watch) not one that should be making people concerned about the team. Play that game again and they probably lead 3-1 in the second, and it's a different game altogether.