[PGT] Flames fall 3-2 in shootout to Chicago.

[CaptainCrunch]

It was one of those nights where Emery went from terrible to God Mode

[Yoho]

Originally Posted by dino7c

if you need everything to go right in order to win a game you are in trouble...the fact that they have to dominate an entire game to even have shot at winning is a problem

I'll take my chances out shooting a team 47-19 any day.

[cannon7]

If the Flames can play the way they did Saturday every night they'd be first, not last.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

if that's true every night, yes

or maybe it was just one of those nights

just six of those nights...the flames only win they dominated the entire game and won by a goal

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

It was one of those nights where Emery went from terrible to God Mode

backup goalies tend to do that to Calgary

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by dino7c

backup goalies tend to do that to Calgary

I've noticed this too, damn our luck, most teams get a break with a back up goalie, not us we always seem to get the back up making a statement game. Curse our luck! Oh well nothing you can do about it but say poor Flames yet again.

[PeteLFan]

@BenWrightATL: Bob Hartley is 1-13-2 in his last 16 games as an NHL head coach counting playoffs and regular season.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by PeteLFan

@BenWrightATL: Bob Hartley is 1-13-2 in his last 16 games as an NHL head coach counting playoffs and regular season.

wow.

[Enoch Root]

he's due!

[Mr.Coffee]

Hartley is not to blame, yet.

We still have a few more games before people really start ragging on Iginla, which triggers the oldest CP call to arms there is:

the blame the coach defense of Iginla tactic. It's coming soon to a CP near you, this Spring, 2013.

[Budd]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Cervenka needs to move back to centre full time, stop this non-sense of Tanguay up there. I'd rather see Stajan there and Csmmy with with him and Hudler

Actually Tanguay is doing a good job at center, maybe a little lax at face offs but other then that..
.

[vektor]

Our chances are freakin slim to none, that being said this year has been more fun to watch than all of Sutter's reign. Seeing us actually generating offense and making passes, seeing us hold the puck in the offensive end for prolonged periods. This team has ridiculous flaws, but atleast they aren't last years team. This version is both more entertaining than last years 9th and better for the team if we can get a bunch of good draft picks. If we get multiple first rounders and trade some of our expiring assets, I'd say this was a better season than last.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Budd

Actually Tanguay is doing a good job at center, maybe a little lax at face offs but other then that..
.

The Flames have four legit players who can play centre. Backlund, Cervenka, Stajan and Jones. We might be the weakest team down the middle, Hartley is only making a weak group weaker taking one of those guys out and having a winger take that spot.

I bought it for a game to get Cervenka up to speed but enough already.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

The Flames have four legit players who can play centre. Backlund, Cervenka, Stajan and Jones. We might be the weakest team down the middle, Hartley is only making a weak group weaker taking one of those guys out and having a winger take that spot.

I bought it for a game to get Cervenka up to speed but enough already.

I don't mind not rushing Cervenka, especially since the guy will have a ton of pressure on him once he is deemed "ready to take his spot". And Tanguays been okay.

Although I think there was some tweet posted somewhere that they have already practiced with Glencross-Cervenka-Hudler a little.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by dino7c

if you need everything to go right in order to win a game you are in trouble...the fact that they have to dominate an entire game to even have shot at winning is a problem

Of course it is, but it is still too early to determine if this is indeed the case for the 2013 Flames. The unanswered question that this post presumes is whether the team has played above their heads or whether they were just unlucky to lose games they should have won. Either side of the issue represents a matter of perspective opinion; neither is right or wrong; neither can lay claim to "the truth" that Estrada likes to flaunt at every juncture; it is still an unsettled matter. I understand the tendency among many to be pessimistic, but what I can't stand are the preemptive declarations of certainty accompanied by too frequently off-handed disparagements of more optimistic (in my opinion, more patient?) opinions.

[gargamel]

Originally Posted by Itse

Although I think there was some tweet posted somewhere that they have already practiced with Glencross-Cervenka-Hudler a little.

A later tweet clarified that Glencross-Cervenka-Hudler were just together when practicing the power play. If they're successful in that role, though, I wouldn't be surprised to see them together as a regular line once Cervenka is ready to handle center duties. Hopefully that's soon.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by opendoor

A team's record actually is often a poor indicator of their overall strength and level of play because winning or losing close games often comes down to luck. While W/L are probably the most important metric, shot and goal differential are probably better at predicting future performance. One needs to look no further than a team like Minnesota last year. Everyone was marveling at their hot start but their underlying numbers made it pretty clear that they were in for a correction and many correctly predicted their fall in the standings. Conversely, LA finished 13th in the league last year but in terms of team Fenwick (basically 5 on 5 shot differential including missed shots) in close games they were 4th in the league and 1st in the league over the last couple of months.

Right now Calgary is top 10 in the league in Fenwick so that would suggest that their play is much better than their place in the standings. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll actually see a big jump in their position, but given their play so far they should easily be in 8th-10th place right now.

That said, 3 years of playoff misses with essentially the same team should give pause to any analysis of their start. I'd say it's just as likely that the Flames play dips to match their record as it is their record jumps up to match their play, especially given that 5 of the first 6 were at home. And that last point is key even when talking about shot differential. Virtually every team in the league maintained a positive shot differential at home whereas only a few were able to do that on the road so the positive numbers we're seeing right now could be largely due to the effect of the Flames' favorable schedule to start the year.

This is the key here. The Flames underlying numbers are excellent so far and it's easy to say that it's just an unlucky start. But when you consider we've played 5 of 6 at home, have had 3 games against opponents coming off back-to-backs (two of which were the 3rd game in 4 nights), and have had two very long breaks (allowing them to integrate their systems better with the limited training camp) it'd be pretty bad if we didn't have good underlying numbers.

This road trip is the real key here. If the Flames can keep outshooting teams (regardless of results) then they might be onto something. The problem is that we're already behind the eight ball here and the Flames are going to have one of the best records in the league to get a sniff at the playoffs from here on in. That's a big test for a team that was a bubble playoff team at best going into the season.

[EddyBeers]

Interesting that Friedman was talking about how there have been more 3 point games in the Western Conference this year and if that continues it may take 58+ points to make the playoffs. Apparently the West has double the loser points this year.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by EddyBeers

Interesting that Friedman was talking about how there have been more 3 point games in the Western Conference this year and if that continues it may take 58+ points to make the playoffs. Apparently the West has double the loser points this year.

The Flames stat/video was quoted in one of the papers saying this was something to look for this season. I guess there's OT/SO games twice as often in conference games so the lack of non-conference games was going to increase the amount of loser points handed out. In a short season, I could see teams being extra cautious as there really isn't any time to "make up" lost points by blowing a tie game late in regulation.