Ideal regular season finish for the 18-19 Flames? (personal preference)

[calgaryred]

I like starting on the road in a playoff series the pressure is always more on the home team to win in front of their fans. All you need to do is win one game and you have a chance of winning games 3 and 4 at home.

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[gamesaver]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I'm not sure I understand the question. Why would anyone prefer to finish lower in the standings?

Or did you mean to say predicted finish instead of ideal?

Also, only mods can start polls so it wasn't really a choice.

I may be the only one, but looking at the standings, I would probably prefer to finish 2nd in Pacific and face Vegas in the first round. Definitely don't want to play Blues and Stars in the first round.

[burnitdown]

Originally Posted by gamesaver

I may be the only one, but looking at the standings, I would probably prefer to finish 2nd in Pacific and face Vegas in the first round. Definitely don't want to play Blues and Stars in the first round.

Are you THAT scared of DAL/STL that in addition to choosing Vegas, you're also willingly giving up home ice advantage to the Sharks in the 2nd round? I think it's a pretty easy call that 1st is best by a long shot. If STL or DAL is that good, they're likely not going to be a wildcard team at the end of the season anyway.

[djsFlames]

Who I think we'd fare well against:
Minnesota (perennial 1st round exit team)
Vancouver (despite Markstrom, not concerned)
Chicago (sort of have their number)
Colorado (have their number)
Nashville (have their number, even though they're good)
Vegas (with home ice, that is)

Matchups that would be hard to predict but am not afraid of
Winnipeg (we've had the edge since they were resurrected)
San Jose (I think their goaltending is more questionable than ours)
St. Louis (they're hot, but we've had the edge lately)

And matchups I'd be concerned about
Dallas (don't know why, but that ####ing team..)
Anaheim (thankfully probably don't have to worry)

Thought the last list would be longer but it's just those couple of random achilles heels teams.

[redforever]

B, home ice advantage in the west is important.

[JohnnyBeGood]

A (= home ice guaranteed throughout playoffs)

[ricardodw]

For this team with limited playoff experience and success home ice advantage is not that important.

Neal likely has as many playoff games (100) as the rest of the Flames combined.

Peters likely hasn't done anything close to the press exposure that he will be face before game 1 in Calgary.

Going on the road looking for a split seems an easier task than winning both at home in front of wildly high expectations.

The whole season is at risk in the first home game should the Flames come up short.

The Flames will likely be looking at Vegas for game 1 in Calgary. Vegas won 13 games in last years playoff run 6 on the road.

[GullFoss]

I'd think it's more about who their ideal opponent is:

Preference by team

1) Vancouver, Arizona, Colorado or Chicago - this would be most preferable. Smaller teams with low depth.

2) Vegas - harder to beat than other teams, but outside of two or three players , not a heavy or tough team. Would also be a bit more tired having gone to finals last year

3) St Louis or Dallas - could be a long series if they got good goaltending. Also both somewhat heavy team. But Calgary is better than both and they both don't have great goaltending. Bishop is better but St Louis has more depth

4) Minnesota - a hella cheap and dirty team, but not very good. Calgary would win, but I'm afraid of inquiries in dirty series

[heep223]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

For this team with limited playoff experience and success home ice advantage is not that important.

Neal likely has as many playoff games (100) as the rest of the Flames combined.

Peters likely hasn't done anything close to the press exposure that he will be face before game 1 in Calgary.

Going on the road looking for a split seems an easier task than winning both at home in front of wildly high expectations.

The whole season is at risk in the first home game should the Flames come up short.

The Flames will likely be looking at Vegas for game 1 in Calgary. Vegas won 13 games in last years playoff run 6 on the road.

I think home ice is more important to an inexperienced team, not less. It gives them more control over matchups, and also will juice them up in game 7s if they get there.

[EldrickOnIce]

Flames have the easiest remaining schedule, by quite a bit, of the teams in fight for playoff positioning.
I expect they will finish tops in the West.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Flames have the easiest remaining schedule, by quite a bit, of the teams in fight for playoff positioning.
I expect they will finish tops in the West.

Agreed.

Interesting that after that long break, the Flames came off the break really flat, have not been playing their best, have played a lot of strong teams, and have been 2-3-2. Points in 4 of 7. And the only game they actually looked legitimately outplayed was TB.

That is pretty darn great.

[Kipper_3434]

2nd in the pacific. Routing Vegas in their barn would be the ultimate confidence boost. Also a less dirty team than minny or dallas. Just glad Anaheim finally sucks.

[djsFlames]

Anaheim finally sucking is the key to the Flames finally going deep.

That team has been in their way since 2006. It's finally happened. And we should rejoice.