It’s definitely handy for Sutter that he got the first decent break between games for a while to get some good practices in. I’m sure that Ward was running optionals a lot when they had only one day (or none in quite a few cases) between games.
Damn if it doesn’t feel like, even compared to the other ND teams, the schedule is against the Flames. Good start, interrupted by an unneeded week off after only 3 games, which took away the early momentum. Didn’t play Ottawa until they got over their huge slump in play and goaltending. Huge road trip, compared to other teams. Then they get stuff like playing in Edmonton and then having to play the next night against a team that rested in your own home town for 3 days (and then Edmonton gets that same tired team on the 2nd night BTB).
I’m sure someone will tell me this all evens out. But they’ve been unlucky in how it played out for them.
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