The actual ice times I've looked at tell me that the Flames fourth line gets the same or less time than the fourth lines of other teams, including the Oilers. Especially in close games, when it supposedly matters. Look at the ice times for the last close game - the Avs. The highest fourth line guy was Stajan at kist over 10 minutes (and that includes PK time). Familton had 7 and Brouwer had 9. The Avs played their fourth about the same.
In the Oilers game (which ended up close) the "ride the top lines hard" Oilers gave more time to the fourth line than the Flames did. Against Dallas (another close game) Lazar got 8:51, Versteeg got 9:54. Brouwer had over 12 but there were 5 penalties to kill. The Stars played their fourth line between 8 and 11 minutes.
It's seriously not that difference from team to team in close games (and in non-close games the situations are different and the concept of using the top guys more isn't as important.
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