Originally Posted by Enoch Root
There were several things about last night's game that pissed me off:
1) Everyone in the building knew they would find a way to blow it, and yet they still managed to shock and awe everyone with a new twist that no Hollywood screenwriter could have thought up. Over the course of a season, there will be some bad plays and some tough losses. But it is almost nightly, these days. It is getting harder and harder each time to say "hey, it happens - move on", because it seems to happen every game and it is so predictable.
2) Yet again, the loss was largely influenced by something Gulutzan did - or more accurately, didn't do - that directly contributed to the key moment that cost them points.
3) The ongoing frustration with the offense and the PP, and sitting there, knowing - KNOWING - that they aren't going to get the knock out goal, and that the door will remain open for the inevitable.
4) The sheer fragility of the team.
But most of all, what really pissed me off last night, and has me feeling like it isn't worth it to get too tied up in this iteration of the team, is the fact that I simply don't like the way the team plays (on home ice). It is often boring. It is always frustrating. It's too passive, too unemotional, and they play a reactionary, try-not-to-lose style.
But what made it really hit home last night was the fact that Vegas plays EXACTLY the way I want the team I cheer for to play. They out-work the opposition, they support each other, they believe in each other, they forecheck like mad, and they GO TO THE NET.
They remind me a lot of the 2004 Flames.
When other teams play Vegas, the coaches and players will say "we have to match their intensity", "we have to work as hard as they do", etc. Really guys? Shouldn't that be a given?
Vegas plays the way I want my team to play. And Gallant coaches the way I want the coach to coach. But sadly, my team plays a passive, often boring, reactive, try not to lose style that has made this year tough on fans.
Last night was a microcosm of everything that is wrong with this team and this year for me.
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