Janko is a very good penalty killer, but not so good on 5v5
Challenge with Janko since the time he was drafted was whether he was going to be able/willing to use his body and frame to help him control the puck, help with the cycle game etc... otherwise Colborne 2.0 was a reasonable comparison, though i think Janko is better than that...
Flames just didn't have guys who could raise their compete level... they have guys that are very consistent and play well within a routine... but the playoffs are a different animal.
outside of Bennett, maybe Andersson, and of course Smith, not one player raised their game so that they played better in the post season. Not one (johnny had flashes in game 5, and Tkachuk/Backlund did look good in game 1)...Maybe DAG line held up ok too. Valimaki looked very good
What makes the playoffs so hard is that its not one and done, on to the next team... players start to figure you out, take away what you're good at... IF you cannot raise your intensity level of tweak your tendencies, good teams and good staffs will expose you.
I think the Flames breakout was exposed, how to deal with smith's puckhandling was figured out, reading Johnny's face to the boards half turn backhand pass was eaten up. They made calgary play along the boards in the offensive zone, all the while, they set waves of players into the high slot with area passes...
at the end of the day everyone was exposed except for a few players.
|