Quote:
Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald
I put that strictly on the Neanderthal system of playing ring-around-the-rosey on the boards and taking low percentage shots from the point or outside. You're not beating many goaltenders from those locations no matter how many low-quality shots you throw at the net. Games are won on high quality scoring opportunities from the middle of the ice or on the rush where you force the goaltender to move or make a guess. The Flames rarely penetrate the middle and their transition game isn't worth ####. How many goals have the Flames scored on the rush this season? Not many. Dump and chase hockey is from the Mesozoic era. Evolve or die out.
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The Flames are 8th for homeplate shots this season.
This isn't a perimeter issue.
They're 18th in home plate danger though, so they're not getting the home plate shots with an event to get the goalie moving.
That could be coaching, but the Flames were 11th in home plate danger last year, so it wasn't being coached out.
So I think it's partly a different team with less players that either can or are willing to take the puck into the danger areas and create chaos.
I think it's two things ...
1) a roster that doesn't have the one on one skills to create the high danger events
2) a coach that puts shot volume number one, perhaps eliminating the possibility for the high danger too often in exchange for a shot count
That and the randomness of hockey makes me think you could bring back the entire roster and Sutter next year and be 2nd in the division.
But Sutter's stubbornness has worn thin with me. I feel he's coaching to stick it to someone at all times ... the fans? the GM? the ownership?
Getting old.