Honestly, win one home game and on to the next. Had we lost game 5 and won tonight the situation would be practically the exact same but we wouldn't have all the edgelord drama of people questioning the heart of players, already talking about offseason changes, $10-$12 million/year for that player? rebuilds and all that crap.
When Flames fans ask why they have only been out of the 1st round twice since 1989 and never as the favorite (in 7 tries!) going into the series they should understand that the only continuity in the team between all those disappointing attempts is their fanbase that creates that 'Leafs-like' negative energy aura in the city. At best we have fans nervously twitching in the stands waiting for something bad to happen and at worst we have people already writing this season's obituary and swearing off cheering for them forever or until its fashionable to be back. Eric Francis will use this to sell papers. The Flames themselves will feel it on the ice should a bad bounce go against them in the first period in game 7 and the crowd falls silent and sits on their hands for the rest of the game making even harder to stage a comeback than it already is against a hot goaltender and a team that's trap happy and good at doing it.
So everyone who has tickets for game 7 do everyone a favor: Show up excited, wear red (leave your expensive RR Blasty, your brand new retro white, your white authentic pedestal, your 2004 vintage white Iginla jersey, your 1980s white lucky sweater or anything else not red that for whatever dumb reason you might think could be acceptable to wear to the game at home), and cheer your a$$ off right from the anthems right through to the ending buzzer or OT winner. Should Marky let a bad one in, shake it off immediately, and yell Go Flames Go as loud as you can before the next faceoff. Should a bad puck bounce in off a d man's butt and put the Flames down at a crucial part of the game, just reload, yell Go Flames Go even louder. Flames holding a 1 goal lead late into the game, don't pucker up silent, get even louder! Give this team your all, because it's not the team's fault you're traumatized by Ray Whitney scoring in game 7 OT in 1995 and other irrelevant old playoff moments from bygone eras. If you aren't prepared to that, do everyone a favor and go out to the red lot and transfer your ticket to one of those fans who will.
Should they lose you have all summer to be a complete edge lord, cuss out Gaudreau & Tkachuk as not deserving the money they will inevitably ask for, Toffoli, Treliving, the guy in the Harvey the Hound suit, Jill who works in the ticket office, that guy in IT who vetted the PORTpass system, whatever. Months and months for you to stew in that crap. Just don't go there now, let that energy out after the season's done, whenever that might be and give this team as much lift as the 2004 and 2015 teams.
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