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Originally Posted by Tabaracci_31
Thanks for this epic take. That Game 7 was my first live Flames game. Nice template for what it would be like to follow the Flames. I have been fascinated by this series (and all of those first round upsets from that era) and have been too much of a wussy to ask about most of them. Anyway, thanks for a detailed write up and I am curious to learn more about those first-round disappointments.
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The Dave King era Flames are always so intriguing to me. I think a lot of it has to do it with this was the time when I first started following the Flames and hockey in general (I would have been 6 or 7). I am still convinced that if one of the 93, 94, or 95 squads makes it past the first round we'd be talking about one of those teams similar to the 2004 run we had (my money would have been on the 94 team).
Back to this series for a sec. I still cannot believe the Flames put 60 shots on goal in that Game 7 and lost. I re-watched the OT after I typed this up yesterday and it's seriously unbelievable how we didn't put one in. I think at one point that shots were 20-6 in the first OT--and most of those shots were high danger area chances. Stern and Kennedy both had like 3 chances each where they should have won it.
One last thing that was weird to me in this game was the overall vibe in the Dome. 1995 is definitely a strange time for fans and attendance (especially in "smaller markets") but there are numerous references from the announcers about this being the first home game the Flames sold out in the series, and also the crowd is sort of dead for most of the game. It feels like a Sunday afternoon game in February. I know even today we talk about the Dome being quiet, but this was just weird--being that it's a game 7 just makes it even weirder. I mean go back and watch any game or highlights from the 89 run and the Dome was a madhouse; so I am curious what the vibe was like in the city during the mid 90s right before the 'Young Guns' era.