Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
West is very spread out this year. The 8th place team (St. Louis) is on a 86 point pace, which is off about 6-7 from most years.
That can change, but if it doesn't the Flames only need to go 30-25-6 to get to 87 points and grab a wild card spot.
To me that's the starting point, and it doesn't require multiple 5 game win streaks. Get 5 games over .500 and then start aiming higher.
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Getting 5 games over .500 is certainly a tall task for a team this disjointed. This run of Huberdeau being a 3rd line player, playing with two players who just don’t have the hands to finish or contribute to chances that Huberdeau generates is not how things should be. There’s a lot of chatter about the team finding ways to lose, but I almost put it closer to “the team is choosing to lose” with the structure of its lineup. They aren’t setting themselves up for success, and as a result they aren’t having success.
Now that the team is back home I’m dying to see Huberdeau returned to Lindholm and Toffoli. I’d also really like to see Mangiapane reunited with Coleman and Backlund, as that line just worked last year. That leaves Ruzicka, Dube and Kadri to form the other top-9 line - and who knows, maybe that will click.