Flames: 2-8-1, 6th in Pacific (somehow still not last), 13th in West, 27th in NHL.
Oilers: 4-7-0, 5th in Pacific, 11th in West, 24th in NHL.
No point discussing what we see on the ice as fans anymore...we all know it's a disaster. Time to discuss cold hard facts of this team:
GF/G: 29th with 2.00
GA/G: Dead f'ing last with 4.09
Goal differential: Dead f'ing last at -24
Shots For/Game: Not awful, but still bad at 28.3, ranked 22nd.
Shots Against/Game: Surprisingly good with 30.3, ranked 13th.
Shot-Attempt % (basically Corsi): 49.05%, ranked 20th.
Power-play: 12.9% ranked 22nd.
Penalty Kill: 80.0% ranked 17th.
Team Save Percentage: 29th at .865 (just .001 ahead of Columbus).
Face-off Winning Percentage: 29th at 46.9%.
So the stats tell me that the defense doesn't give up a ridiculous amount of shots, but obviously when you watch the games you see high quality chances some of the time. But honestly, tell me one team that doesn't give up a few decent chances a game due to mistakes. What this season is quickly boiling down to is poor offensive production, and awful, truly abysmal goaltending.
Here's the thing, looking at the last couple of games the offense is starting to come together, especially on the top two lines. The power play needs to start producing more, and scoring will give the group more confidence, so the only answer for having more success is to have any success at all. It will snowball from there.
The goaltending situation is 100% a confidence issue right now. Not one goaltender this year looks like they have that swagger necessary to be a goalie in the NHL. We've seen before that there is plenty of talent with these three goaltenders, but they're just suffering on the mental side of the game, which is the hardest part to fix for a goalie. Heck, even Tuukka Rask has an .889 Save % so far this year, and he's probably one of the best goalies in the league. Things get weird sometimes with goaltenders, so you either have to ride it out, or keep trying different players until someone steps up. Unfortunately, by the time that happens the season might already be over.
The Oilers are trending in the opposite direction. They're getting at least adequate goaltending from Talbot, and their top two lines are really starting to produce, but as always, their defense has been really shoddy and their bottom 6 forwards contribute very little to the team's success. However, some of their young guys are stepping up. Leon Draisaitl was recalled recently and responded with a two point effort in his first game. Darnell Nurse was recalled two games ago and has been a PPG player including his first ever NHL goal. The team no longer crumples at the first sign of adversity either, evidenced by their comeback against the best team in the NHL after being down 3-0 after 1 period of play. I have serious doubts that they will make the playoffs this year with the awful, awful depth they have in the organization, but they are at least building a better product than last year, and they're playing much better than the Flames so far.
I almost didn't bother writing anything today because I'm so miserable when it comes to the subject of the Flames, but I'll cheer them all the way to a 30th place finish if that's what it means this year. It might be an extremely long year, but I refuse to quit on this team (despite my current username). Dear Flames: Just try to play with some passion out there and I'll stick with you no matter what.
Ramo is the confirmed starter for tonight as per Hartley. Lines may be updated closer to game time.
Flames
Colborne-Monahan-Hudler
Gaudreau-Bennett-Frolik
Raymond-Backlund-Jones
Bollig-Stajan-Jooris
Giordano-Brodie
Engelland-Hamilton
Russell-Wideman
Ramo
Oilers
Pouliot-McDavid-Yakupov
Hall-Nugent/Hopkins-Draisaitl
Pakarinen-Lander-Purcell
Fayne (yes,
that Mark Fayne is playing forward)-Letestu-Slepyshev
Nurse-Sekera
Davidson-Klefbom
Ference-Gryba
Talbot
*Normally this is where I would write "Go Flames Go", but all I can muster is "Please Flames, don't embarrass your fans any further."
Flames @ Oilers, 8 pm, CBC
