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Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus
Maybe for you but a playoff caliber team would find a way to throttle the Oiler's tonight. Especially considering they've let three games slip away due to an anemic offense and PP.
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Mmm. No. The Flames of last year—a "playoff calibre team"—managed to lose all four of their games against the Edmonton Oilers. If the Flames lose tonight, there is no good reason to believe that they will not be in the playoffs in April. Chances remain high that they will get there regardless of tonight's result.
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I'm not going to continue to be fooled by this team that is simply starting to rest on its laurels again after a hot stretch. If they can't get up and dominate this greasy turd, doormat of a team that has been, quite frankly, embarrassing them beyond belief for the last 2 seasons, how are they going to do so when it actually matters? This game will speak volumes of this groups character.
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I get it. It is emotional because of who the Oilers are and the long history between these two teams. But like it or not, most players in today's NHL are not nearly as invested in these rivalries as fans—it's not like it was in the 1980s and 'nineties, and it never will be again. That is not to say that players don't care—it is to say that they don't care a lot more about winning this game than they did about winning against the Kings last night.
In the end, if the Flames are good enough on the balance of the schedule to make the playoffs they will—regardless of how well or poorly they play in games against the Oilers. In a seven game playoff series with a team other than the Oilers—who will not be there, the Flames' performance against Edmonton will have virtually no bearing AT ALL on the outcome.
Connecting the collective fate of the team and coaches to their fortunes within this single series of games is becoming tiresome, because one really does not have anything to do with the other. This is not an acceptance of "mediocrity" as I will undoubtedly be accused of for this post. It is a sober recognition that there is a much, MUCH bigger picture here.