Is this the turnaround? Sure seems like it. Maybe it is just a blip on the screen, and the Flames will return to their maddeningly inconsistent and mediocre ways.
I am hopeful this is the turn around.
I will say this - this team finally looks like it can play with pace again. Say what you will about Hartley being a terrible coach - maybe he was a terrible person, but he knew one thing - a team has to play with some pace and out-work the other team. His rosters were crap, so of course they weren't going to out-play the opposition most nights.
This last set of games is reminding me of that team in a number of ways. They have looked better on the rush, and better at making passes and plays at higher speed.
I remember one thing that Hartley used to push is "Be very fit" in order to play his style. Sutter commented on this a week or two ago, pondering if the players weren't executing well because they simply couldn't keep up with the other teams physically, and getting too tired. For anyone that has trained, you will know that it takes time to ramp up. Is this the point where they are ramped up?
Giordano - I think he has been looking all young and fresh lately. Fight me, but I think he has been the best and most consistent defencemen for a stretch of games now.
Gaudreau - he is lethal when this team is playing with pace - always has been. When the team (including him) are playing slow, he doesn't have many options. Dumping the puck in became a decent option after he made a button-hook and couldn't find an open man. The team playing with more speed is opening up options for him, and I bet he is going to accumulate a bunch of points from now until the end of the season. It seems that the team overall is dumping the puck less with this increased pace, as it is giving them more options. Anyone else started to notice this? At any rate, I would bet that Gaudreau isn't going to stand out like a sore thumb in this system - he is going to be one of the primary beneficiaries.
Markstrom - He was damn elite when at the start of the season, and I think that the Flames won a lot of those games on his back. I didn't think that the Flames looked good to start the season. They had Markstrom and they had a red-hot powerplay, and together this allowed them to 'steal' games I thought. Markstrom's save percentage really took a hit for a while, and he just hasn't looked like a great goalie - I argue he hasn't looked like a bona fide starter. He has looked capable. He hasn't been terrible, but he hasn't looked like the goalie that he seemed to be. He is returning to form. Was it an injury? Maybe - it was a lingering issue that is starting to clear up. I also think that it may be a bit of Oileritis. I thought Dubynk was a good young goalie, but then he just became worse and worse. After he left Edmonton, he slowly got better, than became great. There was an article that came out explaining some of it - he was over-compensating for how terrible the Oilers were defensively, that he ended up picking bad habits. When a goalie stops trusting the players in front of them, it can often lead to bad habits - cheating on the posts because you are afraid your defence isn't going to cover the guy on the other side of the net. Stuff like that. I felt that Markstrom was being overplayed, and the Flames weren't giving him the run support while also leaving him hung out to dry way too many times. Now that they have been better lately, Markstrom has looked good without needing to be elite, but I bet he will track back to being elite (and I think he is looking much better again).
Exciting times again. Playoffs can actually be a thing again. This sure beats looking up who the best draft eligible players are and hoping they win the lottery. They are starting to track really well and are starting to look good - underlying metrics are matching-up with the eye tests.
Hope they keep this up!
|