[OOT] January 8 with eleven games.

[direwolf]

Well this turned out to be a pretty crappy OOT tonight...except for the Oilers losing of course. That's always hilarious.

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

Holy moly is McDavid ever bad defensively. He has no clue where to go or what to do.

Not his pay grade.

[krynski]

Just after the 7th goal (like right before playing the replay), the camera panned to 2 Oiler fans walking up the aisle to leave.

[The Yen Man]

Oilers look so defeated. It's great to see. And of course, you know McDavid's gonna get a couple more points near the end of the game to pad his stats when they don't matter anymore.

[dino7c]

Oilers should be totally out of the race...too bad nobody wants that second wild card spot

[GioforPM]

I don't want Edmonton in the POs. I'm just as happy for them to just miss. Especially if they possibly trade their pick to try and get in.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by dino7c

I will continue to be on it...teams biggest issue this season

Neal has sucked but he hasn't cost the Flames 8-10 points

We worry about the OOT thanks to Smith, only reason I brought it up...made my point

E=NG

There are people worried about the OOT?

[Gord_Wappel]

They had a devastating injury and have had to battle through with only 5 defensemen. Losing Petrovic is tough.

-Kevin Quinn about 12 times tonight

[Textcritic]

The Winnipeg Jets have a "deep defense core"?

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

There are people worried about the OOT?

Yes, one page back...we were talking about the division lead and how Vegas/SJ never lose. Flames lose a game or two and they wont be leading the pack.

obviously not worrying about playoffs

[direwolf]

Originally Posted by SmoggyFlamesFan

Well, now both the Sharks and the Knights have placed pressure on us to win tomorrow. Colorado is also probably pissed from being blown out tonight. Tomorrow worries me slightly.

I'm only worried because it's the first game back home after a long road trip, and most teams usually come out flat in those. I'm not worried about the Avs though. They've been awful lately.

[Samonadreau]

Poolparty looks lost out there

[browna]

Donskoi and Kane both sitting on hat tricks. No way Kane, at least, is going to pass up the opportunity these last minutes.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

The Winnipeg Jets have a "deep defense core"?

Thick, anyway. With Buff in.

[Brad Marsh]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

Holy moly is McDavid ever bad defensively. He has no clue where to go or what to do.

-3 tonight

[KootenayFlamesFan]

C'mon McDavid, you still have 3 minutes left to rack up some useless points in a blowout. You can do it. They're saving the 2nd star for you.

[Jacks]

Chaisson is the most dangerous guy on their team around the net, wouldn't make most other teams.

[Samonadreau]

Oilers forward depth
Mcwhiner
Drysaddle
Nothing happens
Chiasson!

Alex Chiasson top 4 forward!

[Chingas]

Aren't we supposed to complain about the oilers getting the back up goalie? Am I doing this right?

[Macindoc]

Originally Posted by dino7c

I will continue to be on it...teams biggest issue this season

Neal has sucked but he hasn't cost the Flames 8-10 points

We worry about the OOT thanks to Smith, only reason I brought it up...made my point

E=NG

Why would you say that? If Neal had 10-15 goals now, we likely would have won at least 5 more games.

A great scoring chance missed hurts the team as much as a bad goal allowed. Either way, the other team's goal total relative to ours is one higher than it otherwise would have been.

So if Smith is actively costing the Flames games due to under-performing, then so is Neal.

People have to keep in mind that Rittich can't play all 82 games, and over-utilizing him may degrade his performance and increase the risk of another injury. A back-up's job is to stop enough shots that the team has a chance to win if the rest of the team performs well. Yes, they will let some in that a starter wouldn't, and that is why they are not the starter.

Now, if Smith let in one bad goal per game and Neal scored a goal in every game in which Smith played, you could call that even. So, for me, you can't say that one player's performance has held back the team's performance more than the other. But keep in mind that each of our competitors in the Pacific also has some players who are under-performing compared to expectations. None of the teams have a perfect roster, otherwise we would not be leading the division.