Quote:
Originally Posted by Kasi
Or you could say the way some talk in this thread the Flames must have beat the Oilers last year. Except they didn’t and Sutter and the team need to figure out what’s going on in this matchup. Even if it is mostly the Oilers doing their usual PP bull to make up for their weak 5-5 play the reality is they’re still going to get those PP calls. I don’t think the answer is as simple as bench Markstrom for Vladar or find the magic line combination. We can all say the blueprint is don’t get penalties (ha ha even if we don’t they’ll be invented) and play good sound defensive hockey and cave them in 5-5. (until mistakes happen or the Flames stop playing their game like they did last playoffs) But it’s clearly not that easy otherwise we’d have a better record against them.
Edit: totally agree you can’t sit back against this team. You don’t want to play prevent D against a team like a Colorado or Edmonton. You need to keep the puck in their zone as that is the best way of keeping the puck out of the net. Even if you don’t score forcing them to spend energy on defending will help a lot.
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And if it was as difficult as you are suggesting, they would be the best team in the league. They aren't. Yes, they beat us in the playoffs last year. Full stop. The Flames have been the better team in the 2 games this year, but with a bit of puck luck on their side, it's 1-1 with 6 goals scored each. Hardly the mountainous hurdle you've been making it out to be.