All of this is very interesting.
Was the loss to the avs due to size/"meanness" or due to speed?
I really thought it was meanness.
Flames forwards shrunk and avoided physicality, leaving a useless offense. Flames defence were influenced by the heavy pressure, resulting in many turnovers, lengthy defensive zone times, and 2 last game tying goals.
You can't out talent... Acquiring talent requires rebuilding or having cap space to gamble on landing a, likely over the hill, top free agent.
That is why i miss Daryll Sutter. He's a coach who's teams rarely tried to outskill teams to win. Ironically, he only won a first round once...
The nhl, the referees in particular, have made it clear that there are 2 different games/standards/rulebooks, a regular season and a playoffs.
Treliving did a tremendous job in creating a team that is terrific in the season, but what is painfully clear is that this has almost nothing in common with what it takes to win in the playoffs.
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