We lost our MoJo when...

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Losing streaks begin before a team starts losing. Even when we were winning - and before the vets that certain so-called "fans" are so desperate to trash returned - one could see the defence was starting to crumble. There were more giveaways, more missed breakouts and more times where Brodie or Gio had to dance their way out of tricky situations during the last home stand because guys were starting to regress.

The return of the vets is coincidental to that. We lost our mojo because everyone loses their mojo at various points in the season, and because we are a rebuilding squad. That, and it would have been foolish to think players like Josh Jooris were going to stay on a 30-goal pace forever.

This is absolutely true. There were a bunch of games in which the Flames were outclassed or outplayed, but they won anyway. They could have or should have lost those games with the absence of Stajan, Colborne and Raymond.

And everyone agrees that in this road trip the Flames played well enough to win on most nights, including against two of the top teams in the Pens and Hawks, and against a Toronto team that's been on a real hot streal, and against a Sabres team that just won 6 in a row at home. So there's some mojo for you. I'd say they played better in some of those games than for example, against Anaheim in both games, San Jose in both games and the Avs.

The lineup for tonite looks very good. No Bollig or McGrattan. Bouma/Stajan/Raymond is a darn decent 4th line, and one I don't worry about being trapped in the zone like other 4th lines we've run.

[Tron_fdc]

This team has 4 components that have to be running at or near optimal levels in order for them to succeed.

- top lines are dangerous
- offense from the defense
- goaltending
- bottom 6 has to contribute from time to time

Right now we only have 3 of the 4, which is why we are losing 1 goal games (ignoring empty net goals). Add in a little puck luck and here we are.

I'm fairly certain if one of our bottom 6 scores a goal we're going to win tonight.

[GioforPM]

I'd say Glencross/Granlund/Byron could pot one, or even Bouma/Stajan/Raymond. A little bit of everything on those two lines.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

And everyone agrees that in this road trip the Flames played well enough to win on most nights, including against two of the top teams in the Pens and Hawks, and against a Toronto team that's been on a real hot streal, and against a Sabres team that just won 6 in a row at home. So there's some mojo for you. I'd say they played better in some of those games than for example, against Anaheim in both games, San Jose in both games and the Avs.

Exactly. These losses suck because they have put is in a precarious playoff position, but fundamentally, the team is playing better hockey overall. When some of these guys - including Stajan, Colborne and Raymond - come back on an upswing, that underlying performance will matter a great deal.

[Stay Golden]

I would say the Mojo took a dive when they came out flat in TO. Maybe the team started believing they are a playoff team. Even Hartley mentioned playoffs to some degree when he made a comment about trading his coaching wins milestone in for playoffs.

Maybe they took their foot off the gas so to speak and being in TO to start this road trip added to all the press was how they were are a changed team so was a perfect storm for what about to unwind.
They got away from their game. Were not rushing from the backend as much and started dumping and chasing into the zone more frequently.
Stajan, Colborne, Raymond are collectively better NHL'rs than Knight, Sven and Ferland but the chemistry was messed up and they have made several bad passes and decisions since they have come back.
Hartley has tinkered with both the PP and PK injected them automatically back into those situations.
It did not work.
Even Brodie played poorly 3 of the last 5.

That old say why try to fix what isn't broken but all HC's are guilty one time or another of doing this.
Same goes for at the end of the game why put Stajan, Raymond, Colborne out there for reg shifts.
The Johnny Hudler and Monahan lines should have been played more ice time in the last 3 mins than they dd.
Of all of the call up's I most want Ferland back, neither, Stajan, Colborne, or Raymond have proved they bring his physical or energy aspects to the game.
Ferland did rack up points but he was tough to play against and limited turnovers.
Tough road trip on paper to begin with but all these elements added just compounded their misfortune.
I have no doubt that if Hartley fixes these issues and the team gets back to listening to his game planning that has helped get them to where they were 2 weeks ago they will start winning again.

[CSharp]

Meh, you play a game where you try to win by one every night, you're bound to lose a few by one every time. If the Flames play to win by a few goals each time, I'm sure they'll win every one of those games. They've also been running around in their own zone quite a bit, especially in the second periods. No one can score 200 ft away when there's no puck possession at all.