"Tire fire"? It was a bad stretch of four or five games. Lots of teams go through them, but I think it is important to point out that the Flames have suffered only two extended losing streaks of four games this season, and have not otherwise lost over two games in a row. Since the bad start they have the seventh best record in the NHL starting at game #17. The Flames entered the TD day in the best position they have seen since the 2008–09 season.
This is not a "resurgence." The team has been playing great hockey for extended portions all year.
That already HAVE built a cushion. This is a playoff team. They are actually shaping into one that could make some noise and win a round or even two.
The other odd thing about the tire fire was they actually played way better than those game results.
Sometimes media can get really hung up on score and the narrative takes a life of it's own.
I thought they were solid in Edmonton, had rough goaltending against Edmonton at home, carried the play in Toronto and Montreal, then finally won in Ottawa.
Lately the team is getting more bounces and now they're points in 6 and looking dominant to most, but that tire fire stretch could easily have been 2-2-0 instead of 0-4-0 with blow outs.
Similarly they should have won in Vancouver, lost in Nashville, and probably lost in Florida.
The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to Bingo For This Useful Post:
The other odd thing about the tire fire was they actually played way better than those game results.
Sometimes media can get really hung up on score and the narrative takes a life of it's own.
I thought they were solid in Edmonton, had rough goaltending against Edmonton at home, carried the play in Toronto and Montreal, then finally won in Ottawa.
Lately the team is getting more bounces and now they're points in 6 and looking dominant to most, but that tire fire stretch could easily have been 2-2-0 instead of 0-4-0 with blow outs.
Similarly they should have won in Vancouver, lost in Nashville, and probably lost in Florida.
I'd thank this twice if I could.
Everyone was freaking out saying the Flames were one of the worst teams in the league. They didn't play great those games, but the scores made things seem worse than they were.
The problem I had with those games was the giveup factor.. They packed it in when the going got tough.. I'm seeing a HUGE difference there now which is one of the main reasons I'm back pumped for the team now.
__________________
The Following User Says Thank You to FBI For This Useful Post:
Yup. To miss the playoffs, they have to fall behind *both* L.A. and St. Louis.
Or, theoretically, one of the teams behind those could go on a tear. But Winnipeg is 10 points back with 18 games left, Dallas 12 back with 19, Vancouver 13 with 20, and none of those teams improved at the deadline. Small chance any of them can knock the Flames out of a playoff spot.
__________________
WARNING: The preceding message may not have been processed in a sarcasm-free facility.
I wish I could be all in on this resurgence, but the hot December followed by a return of the tire fire has me pessimistic that this isn't another cycle.
If you look at the season snake chart, there's a bit of a pattern.
The pattern indicates that after a hot stretch, the Flames fall off to .500 hockey for a handful of games, then go on a cold streak.
I really hope they buck the pattern and keep riding the momentum and sound system play that they've been executing of late. It's impossible to keep up this rate of winning, but I really hope this is closer to the real Flames as opposed to just a 'flow' in the season.
Location: Wondering when # became hashtag and not a number sign.
Exp:
They may be buildING for a run, but i dont think anything they did this year was done for a run this year.
No question in my mind that Stone gets re-upped after July 1. Unsure about Bartkowski as BT will be seeing what else is available for that spot. So its possible that gets upgraded.
The biggest ?? is Lazar and whether he can help in any meaningful way now, or in the future. I am of the opinion, he will be an Eric Nystrom type guy at best, which i dont think is a piece that was needed now as he really wont make a difference. Some think there is much higher upside, so this move makes sense to them. The answer remains to be seen.
This clubs biggest "add" tho IMO was MIcheal Ferland looking like he is figuring it out. If thats the case and this isnt just a nice little run, then we have something really really good cooking in Flames world.
The Following User Says Thank You to transplant99 For This Useful Post:
The media can be really hard on this team and the guys on the fan can sometimes be the worst and or the best at objectively looking at things.
Wideman out and Stone and Bart in has given a much needed injection of confidence to our forwards and goalies....we still have to play well in all three zones defensively but when we play run and fun briefly now we don't burn ourselves.
Adding Lazar.....we will see what this does but I don't think it's hard to replace chiasson as other players have stepped it up in the last 10 so healthy competition cannot hurt.
I'd rather see Hathaway in for chiasson though.
Elliot has redeemed himself I m o. Johnson is still plenty capable to win too.
The problem I had with those games was the giveup factor.. They packed it in when the going got tough.. I'm seeing a HUGE difference there now which is one of the main reasons I'm back pumped for the team now.
Yep not much acknowledgement of that by Flames fans is there? They were mailing it enough that the say nothing coach finally lost it. GM etc backed the assessment. Shamed into finally showing up and then and only then do some of the underachievers finally start to pull their weight.
Amazing the difference when they actually started to all give a crap. They are actually competing for each other now. They keep that up and they should be fine.
The problem I had with those games was the giveup factor.. They packed it in when the going got tough.. I'm seeing a HUGE difference there now which is one of the main reasons I'm back pumped for the team now.
Disagree (nicely)
they didn't give up ... but they abandoned the game plan and went all individual as a group.
very similar to the bantam team I'm coaching. there are teams that don't try, then there are teams that try too hard. you have to let the game come to you sometimes and not chase it all over the ice
Gulutzan has worked hard to get them to just ignore the scoreboard and keep on keeping on
it's starting to happen
The Following User Says Thank You to Bingo For This Useful Post:
If you look at the season snake chart, there's a bit of a pattern.
The pattern indicates that after a hot stretch, the Flames fall off to .500 hockey for a handful of games, then go on a cold streak...
The Flames have had two "cold streaks": Games 10-16 in which they earned one win, which followed a start of 4-4-1 to begin the season. They followed this up by a run of 11-3-1. Then starting in game 31 they lost two, and went 8-5-1 in the next stretch ending in game 47. They suffered their second cold streak when they lost four in a row in games 48-51, and followed this up by the recent streak of 10-2-1.
There isn't enough here to really see a pattern, except to say that the Flames have gone on a tear following their two and only +2-game losing streaks. The current streak has been bolstered by the replacement of Wideman + Jokipakka with the much improved Stone + Bartkowski, and I think that should factor into anything that we might project based on what happened prior to their acquisition.
__________________
Dealing with Everything from Dead Sea Scrolls to Red C Trolls
Quote:
Originally Posted by woob
"...harem warfare? like all your wives dressup and go paintballing?"
Location: Wondering when # became hashtag and not a number sign.
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
Disagree (nicely)
they didn't give up ... but they abandoned the game plan and went all individual as a group.
very similar to the bantam team I'm coaching. there are teams that don't try, then there are teams that try too hard. you have to let the game come to you sometimes and not chase it all over the ice
Gulutzan has worked hard to get them to just ignore the scoreboard and keep on keeping on
it's starting to happen
Completely agree.
They were trying TOO hard during that stretch. Everyone (none moreso than Johnny) was trying to do things on their own that just doesn't mesh with the team concept.
Once they relaxed a bit and just let the game unfold, they had some success which led to more confidence individually to play as a group and voila...we see a very different team. It wont last forever of course and there may even be another losing skid, but i don't think we will see the chaos that was going on for a while there.
That defence corps looks a lot better than it did 3 weeks ago. All it cost was a 3rd rounder.
Lazar is a buy-low asset who could blossom into a heart-and-soul contributor on the RW. Given his pedigree & where he was drafted I think getting him for a 2nd is pretty shrewd.
I've been very impressed with Treliving. I hope he sticks around.
The Following User Says Thank You to FlameZilla For This Useful Post:
Lazar is a character guy - well worht the 2nd IMO.
If the Flames could walk out of this draft - as said a 1,000 times, the worst in years - with whoever they choose in the first round, Curtis Lazar in the 2nd round, and Michael Stone in the 3rd round, they win the draft hands down.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Enoch Root For This Useful Post:
I wish I could be all in on this resurgence, but the hot December followed by a return of the tire fire has me pessimistic that this isn't another cycle.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
"Tire fire"? It was a bad stretch of four or five games. Lots of teams go through them, but I think it is important to point out that the Flames have suffered only two extended losing streaks of four games this season, and have not otherwise lost over two games in a row. Since the bad start they have the seventh best record in the NHL starting at game #17. The Flames entered the TD day in the best position they have seen since the 2008–09 season.
This is not a "resurgence." The team has been playing great hockey for extended portions all year.
"Playing great hockey for extended portions all year" is just as inaccurate as "tire fire".
If you're going to cherry pick / break the season into fragments, the following is the most appropriate:
Oct 12 - Nov 12: 5-10-1
Nov 15 - Dec 10: 11-3-1
Dec 14 - Feb 18: 13-13-2
Feb 21 - today: 5-0-0
So, prior to this recent stretch, you had a poor start, a red-hot spree, then a long string of mediocrity, for an overall meh record of 29-26-4. This was borne out by Bingo's stats round-up which had the Flames (through Feb 11th) being on pace for 833 scoring chances for but being on pace for 829 scoring chances against.
However, this recent 5 game stretch has struck me as a qualitatively different run... As I said in another thread, they're not just winning based on a hot goaltender or unsustainably good PP, but are looking good as a complete team. Hopefully this is for real, not just another cycle, and the team can not only make the playoffs but go in with some serious momentum.
The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Mike F For This Useful Post:
"Playing great hockey for extended portions all year" is just as inaccurate as "tire fire".
If you're going to cherry pick / break the season into fragments, the following is the most appropriate:
Oct 12 - Nov 12: 5-10-1
Nov 15 - Dec 10: 11-3-1
Dec 14 - Feb 18: 13-13-2
Feb 21 - today: 5-0-0
So, prior to this recent stretch, you had a poor start, a red-hot spree, then a long string of mediocrity, for an overall meh record of 29-26-4. This was borne out by Bingo's stats round-up which had the Flames (through Feb 11th) being on pace for 833 scoring chances for but being on pace for 829 scoring chances against.
I would disagree that your grouping of games is "most appropriate." How many of those games did you watch? I would say that a string of 15 excellent games is an extended period, and before they won their last five straight they went 4-2-1, and compiled a record of 9-2-1 in February. With the lone exception of their first game back after the NHLPA mandated break, they played great.
__________________
Dealing with Everything from Dead Sea Scrolls to Red C Trolls
Quote:
Originally Posted by woob
"...harem warfare? like all your wives dressup and go paintballing?"
I would disagree that your grouping of games is "most appropriate." How many of those games did you watch? I would say that a string of 15 excellent games is an extended period, and before they won their last five straight they went 4-2-1, and compiled a record of 9-2-1 in February. With the lone exception of their first game back after the NHLPA mandated break, they played great.
With the exception of one or two games, I've watched every minute of the Flames season.
You have to really be selective in cobbling together games to frame the Flames as playing great hockey between December 15 and February 20. Reality is that during that stretch the Flames put together more than 2 wins in a row once - a 3 game streak from Jan 26 to Feb 3. Compare that to the teams Bingo liked the Flames to earlier:
Minnessota: Won 7 straight between Dec 15 & 29 (part of their run of 12 straight), won 4 straight between Jan 9 & 15, and 3 straight between Jan 24 & 31.
Washington: Won 9 straight between Dec 31 & Jan 15, 3 straight between Jan 19 & 23, and 6 straight between Feb 1 & 11.
Columbus: Won 9 straight between Dec 15 & Jan 3 (part of their run of 16 straight). None since, and they look like they're not the top team that one streak made them appear.
Pittsburgh: 5 straight between Dec 23 & Jan 8, 4 straight between Jan 16 & 22, and 3 straight between Jan 31 and Feb 4
Chicago: Won 3 straight between Dec 15 & 18 (part of a run of 5 straight), 4 straight between Jan 4 & 10, 3 straight between Jan 17 and 22, 5 straight between Feb 2 and 11.
Bottom line: Teams playing great hockey (who deserve to claim to be top teams) put together long runs of wins. They don't start then stop then start the way the Flames did for the majority of the year.
I hope the Flames are now joining that echelon, but if they do, it will be a new level of play.
Location: A simple man leading a complicated life....
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
The Kings need to win 2/3 of their remaining games against the Flames to get the tie-breaker. And then the team that has just gone through a 3-5-2 stretch of games must gain six points on the team that has gone 7-2-1 over the same stretch. Barring that, then the Kings need a seven-point gain, not just six.
Even with a win tonight I don't see the Kings making up what has become a pretty substantial gap. Yes. The cushion is not a guarantee, but it is a pretty reliable insurance policy.
Good points on LA. The Blues are the Kings most likely targeting the Blues for the last WC spot. I just don't see the Kings catching us.
