I don't know what it was, but the Flames always looked sloppy and rattled this past season against the Oilers - including the regular season, and including every game they won. Same thing happened with San Jose as well. LA would be #3 on my list of teams that seem to consistently throw Calgary off their gameplan.
Calgary allowed the Oilers to dictate the style of play and they looked uncomfortable on the ice as a whole. We can point the fingers at a handful of players, but I really thought it was the entire team other than Backlund.
Hopefully the new faces is enough to put a stop to it for this season. If not, then I hope Sutter figures something out. LA knows how to keep the Oilers in check. Colorado did it very well.
I do think that not having Tkachuk is a step in the right direction, as I thought he often became a bit of a distraction for the team, but he was hardly the biggest reason I thought. No idea what it was, but the Flames didn't play their game against the Oilers, the Sharks and often against LA. Hopefully that ends this season.
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