Quote:
Originally Posted by GioforPM
Well, he did glide all the way in. And didn't even really look for a player. Did he look engaged in the play to you?
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I think on any goal against if you look at it hard enough and long enough you can find somebody to point a finger at.
He made a mistake on the play, but to me the mistake was not reading the play properly, not that he didn’t put in the effort.
I actually hate the sports cliche of “lack of effort”. IMO it’s rare in a league of this level that an athlete isn’t giving full effort, and when they aren’t it’s usually obvious, like that Dubois shift. These guys didn’t get to this level by mailing in shifts.
This roster that supposedly lacks character and heart are the same guys that have played through serious injuries to help the team win. Monahan, Tkachuk, Bennett, Lindholm, Gaudreau, Giordano, etc have all played through bad injuries to try to help the team win, but they aren’t working hard now or don’t care enough. That’s bull#### IMO.
IMO lack of confidence and lack of hockey sense is often mistaken for a lack of effort. When a player is confident it will look like he’s giving more effort because he’s not reacting to the play, he’s anticipating and getting to pucks first. Same thing with strong hockey sense that will allow them to anticipate the play, and make the right play.
IMO that’s the issue with this Flames team right now. It’s not like they are losing the puck once they are in the battle, once they actually get in a board battle they usually win the puck, the problem to me is they are “getting beat to loose pucks” and that’s a totally different issue. To me that speaks to a team that is reacting instead of anticipating, and to a team that is not confident in themselves or this system.
Hockey is such a fast sport that if you are reacting you are done, you need to be anticipating where the puck is going to be and beat your opponent to that spot. However if you’re reacting to where the puck is going and your opponent is anticipating where the puck is going to be then you’re never going to beat them to it, doesn’t matter how much effort you’re putting in.
And that’s the problem with this ultra passive, ultra safe system the Flames are playing. When you are playing a passive system it leads to you being on your heels more, and when you are playing on your heels this means that you are reacting instead of anticipating, and it leads to what we have seen from the Flames this season and really going back to the series against Colorado.
Colorado ripped the Flames confidence and swagger away from them in the 18-19 playoffs and they have been playing passive and scared ever since.
I’ve never seen a hockey team in the last 20 years win in the NHL (or any sport for that matter) by playing a passive and safe system. You need to play aggressive and fast if you want to win in any sport and the system the Flames are playing is not meant for that. Safe is death is sports and the Flames are finding that out the hard way right now.
