Just happy we get to watch an important hockey game tonight. Got the wife in the retro blasty jersey and I got on the signed Kipper 04 jersey. Let's go get that bread Flames!!
It's interesting that some posters think the collapsing strategy is a result of the Flames game plan and not a response to the stars game plan.
The Flames aren't collapsing to the front of the net because they all remember the Xs and Os from practice, they are doing it because Dallas is flooding the zone and taking the occupied space.
You can either collapse and keep yourself between the goalie and the puck or you can hold your territory and have a dallas player walk right by you unencumbered for a high danger scoring chance.
The reason the flames are playing a perimeter game is they don't have the skill or speed to break down the dallas defensive scheme is Dallas' zone.
When you don't collapse to the front of the net, you get scored on like Oleksiak did in OT when Gaudreau was no longer between him and the net.
This is where the eye test augments the possession statistics. The discrepancy in zone time or events may not appear huge but the practical application of that time and those events is.
Don't totally agree with that.
They played the same style against Winnipeg but Winnipeg wasn't Dallas.
Against the Jets they gave up the perimeter but were able to keep them from driving the play into the scoring areas, and Calgary had more time to transition to the break out when they won the puck battle against a lesser offensive and forechecking foe.
Against Dallas they set up the same way but then get run over for long shifts, get exhausted and eventually break down.
Agree on Dallas domination, but the game plan is the same with very different results.
The Jets were 53% CF% in the series against Calgary and middle of the pack of the 24 teams for shot attempts for per 60. But near the bottom in xGF and HDCF/60 because they couldn't penetrate the bubble and get shots from the inside.
Flames 3-1 victory.. Lindholm, Lucic and Giordano with the goals. Gaudreau with 2 Apples, flames control the game and puck possession only giving up 22 shots against and throw 30 at the Dallas net. Tkachuk is back and picks up the helper on Giordano goal and draws the penalty in which Lucic scores the game winner on the power play. We go to game seven with the momentum and shout-out the stars 4-0. Go Flames Go # predicting not my strongest ability lol
But I just haven't liked this team in a long time. They're annoying to watch in so many ways.
Happens though. They looked great for a season and looked to be a dangerous franchise, but the key players don't have the ability to adapt their game when the opposition keys in on them.
Will be an interesting fall regardless of when this comes to an end with the draft (they have their first!) and potentially a shake up to the roster.
The last time I genuinely liked the core was when Hartley was coaching. Even in the excellent part of last season under Peters where we were chugging along to an amazing regular season record something seemed off/ unenjoyable about them. The Gulutzan years really removed something from the souls of these players.
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They played the same style against Winnipeg but Winnipeg wasn't Dallas.
Against the Jets they gave up the perimeter but were able to keep them from driving the play into the scoring areas, and Calgary had more time to transition to the break out when they won the puck battle against a lesser offensive and forechecking foe.
Against Dallas they set up the same way but then get run over for long shifts, get exhausted and eventually break down.
Agree on Dallas domination, but the game plan is the same with very different results.
The Jets were 53% CF% in the series against Calgary and middle of the pack of the 24 teams for shot attempts for per 60. But near the bottom in xGF and HDCF/60 because they couldn't penetrate the bubble and get shots from the inside.
Last year's playoff's finished with a dismal "can't keep up with this team/have no answer for this play" face smash from the Avalanche. Bill Peters had all summer to figure it out, to come up with a game plan specifically for this type of team. This year comes, game 1, here we go against the Avs, you know it's gonna be amazing... and the Flames simply got crushed again, it was game 6 of a 5 game series.
I didn't realize Dallas had such quality skaiting defensemen, but the truth is, even Blake Comeau is looking dangerous against the Flames. Now I'm not a hockey coach, but there has to be an answer here, whether it's a neutral zone trap, or a really aggressive forecheck (not headhunting, puck hunting) I don't know. But other teams shut Dallas (and Colorado, and Vegas, and ...) down here and there through the season, so there's gotta be a way.
I guess my disappointment this year is that the Flames have a pretty good, not great but pretty good team, but they just have no idea how to win against these big fast groups. So even if they squeak out 2 wins here against Dallas, it'll be Col or Vegas who will both absolutely crush the Flames because that's the game they play.
Is it really a talent issue? Maybe it is, I just don't even know. I don't know enough to judge why the Flames can't get and keep pressure or possession the way Dallas has been doing, or why they are struggling so hard to keep up or break up the play. Reminds me of watching the Sedins playing keepaway with defenders 10 years ago.
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Is it really a talent issue? Maybe it is, I just don't even know. I don't know enough to judge why the Flames can't get and keep pressure or possession the way Dallas has been doing, or why they are struggling so hard to keep up or break up the play. Reminds me of watching the Sedins playing keepaway with defenders 10 years ago.
It certainly accounts for a lot of these shortcomings, but the only times the Flames made it past the first round was with taskmaster coaches to whip them into shape with a team almost bereft of talent entirely. How many times in the last few years have we heard this team described as "worse than the sum of its parts"? If you can't get the most out of your team then why keep saddling them with leaders who don't seem to know what they're doing in the most important time of year?
It's no coincidence that the only times we've made it out of the first round was with crappier teams with more guts and heart who had to claw and scratch for every W, rather than talented teams with a lack of fight or urgency.
Anyways I'd guess Tre basically has one coaching hire left before ownership takes that decision out of his hands entirely. Ward is literally coaching for his career here. If he loses this series I think it's just too risky to waste another year, especially after a likely retool of the core, for an 'up and comer' recycled assistant to be anointed as the skipper.
Enough of that garbage please. Go with someone proven and battle tested in the NHL playoffs.
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Unfortunately, I have no idea what to expect from this team tonight. Can go either way.
I liked how the Flames MOSTLY played the previous game (horrid 1st period), but they I finally saw them start dictating the play. Normally I wouldn't put too much stock into it - score effects and all - but it seems that these Flames don't know what score effects usually even are, and still allow the other team to dictate the play when they find themselves behind.
I also saw a top line that looked more dangerous. Didn't put anything up on the board, but in the last 2 games they looked WAY better 5on5. Will they break-through tonight? They better, or the series is over.
All I want to see is a hungry team tonight. I want to see them out-skate and out-work Dallas, and I want to see them dictating the play more. I want to see an aggressive defence. I want to see them transitioning quicker. If they lose, I want to say: "Dallas was simply the better team, but Calgary played well". I can live with that, especially knowing that there are going to be changes up and down the lineup, and very likely in the coaching department too.
I don't want to see this team get blown out, or get vastly out-played again. I don't want to spend what can be a very long off-season (who knows how long it will be really) hoping for this team to be blown up and actually wanting a rebuild.
Come out hungry tonight Flames. Play smart defence in your zone (and for a change, in the neutral zone and avoid such easy turnovers please!), and make some magic happen in the offensive zone 5on5. Dallas is a very solid team that is playing well and dictating most of the play - I want to see a response to that tonight. Win or lose, I want to see a response for a full 60 minutes.
They have it in them to win this game (and the next). I just can't even guess at how they come out tonight.
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