[Jay Random]

Here's a thought that just crossed my mind:

Last season, a lot of teams played the Flames the same way that the 2014-15 Flames played their opponents: give up a lot of outside shots, wait for the puck, then move fast to get odd-man rushes. I don't think this is a coincidence.

At that time, hockey analytics were fashionable but primitive, and coaches were chasing good Corsi and Fenwick numbers without enough understanding of how those numbers converted into actual wins. They were focused on the wrong metric, and that gave them a weakness that Hartley was clever enough to exploit. I think Sutter, for different reasons based in his own assessment of his players, wound up focusing on the same metric, and his team got exploited the same way.