Quote:
Originally Posted by AustinL_NHL
Agreed. Hockey is funny that way.
In any other case, I would just take the 2 points, be happy and move on.
But what's concerning to me is that the game immediately following a players-only meeting, they had to rely 100% on Markstrom to steal the game for them. I expected them to come out and play an excellent, structured game. That is the opposite of what happened. They showed more emotion, yes, but in doing so they played a horribly structured game in which Markstrom had to bail them out.
I do have high hopes that they'll be able to implement the emotion they showed tonight into the quality hockey they were playing before (even during their unlucky 3 game skid), but I was just disappointed in the quality hockey they displayed after what was apparently a serious players-only meeting.
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I don't think they played a horrible game structurally. First of all, with regard to playing after a team meeting, that isn't going to magically result in more confidence and better play (that is hoping up the wrong tree). What you want to see is more compete. And we definitely got that. SO I think your criticism here misses the mark.
As to how they played, I think the game was a perfect contrast in styles, and showed exactly what I don't like about their system.
First, Montreal. They play exactly the way I want the Flames to play. Without the puck, they pressure everywhere. They attack the puck carrier, and continue to attack until they turn it over. Then, as soon as they get the puck they GO. Just like Hartley's teams (the go part).
Conversely, the Flames. Whenever they generate a turnover, they circle back and regroup, so they can move up the ice in a 5 man unit. The problem with that is that it allows the defense the time to regroup as well. So, 5 men attacking 5 men. In the NHL, that rarely leads to much. Team defense is so well structured, that 5 on 5 attacks just lead to congestion. The other problem with circling back is that, if they make a bad pass, they turn the puck back over in their own end - something they did many times last night, under the pressure of Montreal's forecheck.
That is what I saw last night. The energy was there, the drive and determination were there. But their system sucks the life out of their attack. It is exactly the same thing we watched under Gulutzan.
Having said that, the Flames still generated a lot of good scoring chances, unfortunately, they missed the net more often than not.