[JohnnyB]

The Flames have a lot of good players and can control the game for long stretches of time, but they don't have a forward who can dominate by force of will or being on another level of talent than the other team's best. That's fine when they're facing off against another similar team, but not when they play against a team with one of those talents that can generate goals individually, like McDavid or MacKinnon. The Flames haven't shown they have an answer to guys who in an otherwise even game have that high end talent to tilt the balance by individually doing something way outside the norm in terms of putting the puck in the net.

I love Johnny as a player, and I thought he really came to play against the Oilers, but he's not going to be putting the puck in the net all by himself. Neither is Monahan or anyone else, so for the Flames to win they need all the parts of their machine to be fully coordinated.

It's just more difficult to win by keeping many parts all firing and fully coordinated with little space for lapses without any player or goalie that can individually tilt the balance in goals scored, so my expectations for the Flames in the playoffs are pretty limited.

I could see them winning a round or two, but I think the best that can possibly be expected of them is a run to the finals where they end up losing to a complete team that also has some higher end star power.