Well that was a pretty classic Flames effort this season.
They definitely had their moments where they had a bit of opportunity but for the most part it was tons of perimeter play, a lot of fruitless shots from the point and, as per usual, very little generated off the rush. I see a collection of players not executing as a team.
I couldn't keep track of how many battles they lost or races to the puck they lost.
Gaudreau, Monahan, Tkachuk, Lindholm and Backlund are the ones with the lions share of the minutes and are playing a very weak brand of perimeter hockey. It seems almost game by game one of those 5 are trying to out do the other in how ineffective they can be. Tkachuk, tonight with a couple selfish plays holding onto the puck too long and making moves with the puck where I don't even think he knew what he was planning to do with it, rather than simply pass the puck to a teammate. But for tonight's most ineffective Flame it goes to #23. Honestly it's hard to even comment on Monahan tonight, 1 shot on goal and that was truly it; arguably one of the most forgettable games in his entire career. I cannot think of a single thing he did right tonight.
Their negative goal differential was going to catch up to them and their luck was going to turn at some point, I suspect this is the moment. How this team is even fighting for a playoff position in the first place is beyond me.
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