Even though Markstrom has not been good in this series I still think he has what it takes to play well in the playoffs.
I think the issue with the Flames goes back to the debate of what this team needs the most. IMO it was and it keeps getting proven every year when they lose in the playoffs they need a 2 way norris calibre dman.
Tanev is the only dman they have that is sound positionanally on a consitent basis - but he is not going to produce any offence and is not a 25 per night type of dman
Andersson and Hanifin are very good but they have shown they are not capable of matching up against a line like McDavid - Draisaitl - Kane. Quality 2nd pairing
Gudbrannson is ok positionally but he is just a depth dman and is ok on your 3rd pairing
Zadorov and Kylington both bring good things to the table but they both are prone to unforced turnovers and under pressure more turnovers. In the playoffs the bad is more than offsetting the good. I never seen 2 dman with the puck on their stick in front of their own goalie sit and think about a pass for what seems like minutes while the other team is trying to strip them of the puck.
The Flames have had so many times where the fail to get it out and turnovers at the blue line are killing them. Getting lost in transition is also the other theme.
Turnovers at the blueline and transition goals where the goal scorer is literally standing on top of Markstrom alone account for almost all of the Oilers goals. The only even strength goals that weren't 1 or the other were ones Markstrom would like to have back.
The last time the Flames looked this bad in the playoffs they got torched by Mackinnon - Rantanen - Landeskog. They just don't have a dman that can match up against these types of players.
Sutter can take alot of blame too as refusing to match up and refusing to defend over check against the McDavid line cost us early in the series.
Last night was the first night we started sitting back when Mcdavid is on the ice and if you remove the shorthanded empty net scenario Mcdavid had 1 point and it was the least impactful game he had so far. Unfortunately we were already down 2 to 1 in the series when we finally slowed up Mcdavid and we decided to gift Nuge 2 goals on turnovers
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