Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry Lime
They are so slow through the neutral zone, it's like fireworks go off when a player rushes from one blueline to the other without at least two players waiting to cross the line in the exact same step with him. There has not been one stretch pass all season, except for one Johnny breakaway. It's sllllloooooowwwww.
When was the last time anyone can clearly remember a two on one break for the Flames, that wasn't a broken play?
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Well what do you want? Slow players, slow team. Johnny is the quickest of the bunch so he’s the only one who can be relied on to get breakaway chances even though he stinks at them (self admitted). I wouldn’t be expecting a Milan Lucic or a Sean Monahan or a Matthew Tkachuk to be going in one on one vs the goalie on any given night. That’s usually blue moon stuff.
But regardless, the breakouts appear slow, sure. But we’re not giving the opposition enough credit here. They’re clogging up the neutral zone and forcing the team to break out slowly or worse, the Flames are turning pucks over left, right and center. They’re forcing plays rather than finding the right play. It could ironically be their skill that’s causing this problem. They believe they can make the play, but next thing you know, 20 foot pass, boom, intercepted.
This team just isn’t that skilled to play the way they want, they don’t have that big #1 center who can make it easier to transition up the ice. So really, they only have one option and unfortunately it’s going to be to slow things down. Take what the defense gives you, stop running into the pile of bodies, be patient, find the open ice and get working. Harder said then done with this personnel though.