Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Brew
So you believe the new players and the new coach are the single biggest reason for the Flames failing to show up for those three games? Or as you put it, has more to do with it "than anything else".
That is quite a bold statement so I'm prepared to listen to your rationale but at face value it sounds more like an excuse than a legitimate reason IMO.
Remember the teams the Flames play also deal with change in personnel, injuries and travel too. Have you determined the Flames are facing greater adversity in these regards than their opponents? And even if they are, why should that translate into such a poor effort from the Flames?
I fully expect a few bumps in the road, such as players being unsure of where to be occasionally during a game. But at this point I'm not of the opinion that more familiarity is going to yield better results. It is going to take a rather significant change in the performance of several players IMO.
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To date, the Flames have only played 2 teams also getting accustomed to a new coach in the Rangers and the Capitals. By that marker, you could argue that the Flames are doing fine by comparison.
I think this familiarity and new system (at least, I hope) is a pretty big factor to some of the play we've seen recently. Starting the games behind I think compounds this greatly and starts allowing seeds of doubt to be planted. We don't have the goaltending NY and Washington do, so maybe we look at teams like NYI (5-4-1), Dallas (5-5-0), and Carolina (6-4-1) as teams that could arguably be facing the same adversity.
To see if my theory is backed by any goalie stats:
Carolina (6-4-1)
Mrazek 2.58 / .887
McE 2.76 / .892
Calgary (5-5-1)
Smith 3.91 / .869
Rittich 2.37 / .933
Dallas (5-5-0)
Bishop 2.42 / .917
Khudobin 3.03 / .898
NYI (5-4-1)
Lehner 2.39 / .929
Greiss 2.20 / .934
...nope! All you can really gather here is that the Flames are the only team out of the group with a backup handily out-playing the starter