Such a different level of frustrating from last playoffs. We won the first game then realized we were way outmatched by crybaby Mackinnon and the media darling Makar. I guess the GAF meter of bennett and the invisibility of the top line was similar to this year.
The narrative last year was you need to build a team for the regular season, then build a different one for the playoffs. So, we brought in Lucic (amazing for the playoffs), bennet has stepped up and we have Dube contributing scoring and grit. Brought in rinaldo but he hasn't been a big factor. Did we build a team for the playoffs? What would any of us say if we heard rieder was on the top line for a playoff game?!!
Dallas has the talent, no question. Heiskanen and Klingberg have been lights out. I honestly haven't seen that much of Benn and Seguin, despite the hype.
What makes me want to rip my hair out is that this seems like a winnable series. On paper Dallas is the better team. But they aren't clicking on all cylinders going into the playoffs (much like us last year).
Life as a flames fan:
Game 1- We played great, this is a winnable series!
Game 2- Lost, not a big deal. Didn't play great. Dallas bounced back, to be expected. Move on and get game 3.
Game 3- Wow, why are we playing so horrible, where is the effort? But we stole the game, that'll crush Dallas and give us momentum. Right?
Game 4- Admittedly I didn't see much of it. 960 said we played better, CP indicated otherwise. But could have gone either way until we gave up the goal with 11 seconds left. We'll come out hard in game 5, right? No excuse not to.
Game 5- Terrible in first period. Inexcusable. Have some gdamn pride. Didn't see second period. Poor play by Gio in the third late when we needed pressure. Talbot had the angle on Benn. Then Gio slides low (if anything the shot was going high) and costs us 2 min in PP time.
Not going to get into the refs, but completely changing how the game was called from game 4 to game 5 was infuriating. But, both teams had to deal with that I guess.
I am f'ing livid. Is it too much to ask for the team that showed up in game 1 (and the last minute of each game we lost) to show up!!?
Best players are not doing their job, end of story.
I'm not giving up and the series isn't over. The flames need a good kick in the *ss today and tomorrow. If the flames from game 1 and the WPG series show up we take game 6 and gain momentum. If stars win this series, game 4 will be painted as the soul crushing game for the flames.
Another performance like tonight and core changes need to be made.
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