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Originally Posted by old-fart
Seemed like the most complete game of the season to me. This team has looked great for stretches, and looked bad for stretches. Last night they were of the "great" variety for much more than the "bad".
Having said that, they still seem to get pinned in their own zone too much, especially frustrating when they have the puck and a chance to clear only to give it away at the blue line so the opposition can continue the cycle. They also seem to give up far more odd man rushes than they get. The second goal for the Jets last night was a poor decision by Valimaki that led to another odd man rush from the blue line in.
Great continued play by Markstrom though. He's a gamer.
Overall, great progress by this team in the last 5 periods of play. Hopefully they can keep it up and build on it.
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Want to address this because it goes hand in hand with the heat map, IMO.
Defensively, the Flames have been doing a terrific job of keeping the opposition to the outside (as the heat map indicates). They collapse all 5 guys, keeping the wingers down low. This inhibits the cross-ice pass through the slot.
The downside of that, is that, because they are collapsed, the opposition can maintain possession for long periods. Also, it doesn't facilitate a good breakout. When the Flames get the puck, it's over to the boards at the half wall, where the winger tries to get it past the opposing Dman. However, they are sitting on that and can easily pinch, resulting in more zone time.
So that's the good and the bad of it, with respect to their defensively play. It is kind of like Hartley's defensive zone system - collapsing into the slot. However, I think they are better at keeping the quality chances down. It also suits Markstrom's game to a tee.
So I am very torn. The defensive zone time is so painful. But they do a fairly good job of not giving up the slot. Their goals against is 16th in the league at 2.75 - exactly the middle of the pack.