[united]

Again, the Flames badly need Gaudreau and Monahan to show up. Broken record stuff, but seriously. Zero offence provided at even strength this series and hardly any looks generated.

They need to find a way to get inside the dots and/or get the corner on the Stars' defencemen. Far too easy to defend their predictable north-south style with Gaudreau struggling to dish and Monahan sauntering down the middle waiting for the puck to arrive at his stick - and Lindholm being on the ice apparently.

Gaudreau needs to re-develop a dual or triple threat by getting inside the dots. He is far too predictable: curl and look for a trailer who isn't there allowing him to be closed down forcing a desperation pass, or drive to the goal line with no intention of cutting across goal to shoot high and wide. Obviously he is shying from contact but he is way too easy to defend right now. I would like to see him work from behind the net some more but that equals the rough stuff, plus getting there in the first place, so not counting on it. Defensively, stay engaged and focused. Stop on pucks and stick-check with a purpose instead of half-assed one-hand window-wipers. Eat the puck and take contact a couple times a game instead of giving it away for free. And get in the shooting lane for once.

Monahan needs to either drive the middle lane with pace to open some ice for Gaudreau to dance to the middle (as someone else - SuperMatt I think - said), be available for him to hit as a trailer with speed, or move to areas that force defenders to think on the fly and get pulled out of position. Right now he's a cargo ship casually gliding through the middle of the Panama Canal waiting for the puck to show up. Defensively he also needs to be more engaged in his own end without the puck on his stick. Gliding around, kind of there, isn't enough and doesn't produce turnovers that lead to the counter-attacking and odd-man opportunities the line dominates at. Don't just sit back content with defending, defend with the goal of preventing and disrupting He's playing more physical, clearly, but most of that is coming after the opponent has already moved the puck - being physical is better than not, but it isn't physicality that is separating man from puck. Stick on puck, stick on stick, identify and disrupt attempted forced switches, fight through picks, get your stick in lanes, and most of all skate. Don't just be there, be annoying in persistence. No conserving energy for offence. Watching the off-puck movement and efforts in the defensive zone of Bergeron, MacKinnon, O'Reilly, Couturier, Point, Karlsson, Danault, Dubois, these playoffs is stark - all situations get equal effort. He has the ability and hockey IQ as we saw in his first three seasons before he fell in love with his offence, it's all about (lack of) effort and attention to detail these recent years.

Flames in 6 7