Game No. 50: Here's something really sad
Ryan Lambert
January 24 2011 06:13PM
Despite what you may believe, Calgary actually does have a very legit shot at making the playoffs.
Whether or not you think it's a good thing, the Flames' recent run of success coupled with the general awfulness of the bottom two-thirds of the Western Conference have created a horrible confluence of circumstances, one which has Calgary sitting just five points out of a playoff spot.
You read that right. The Flames are a pitiable team, no doubt, with a list of roster and payroll problems as long as Zdeno Chara's wingspan, but a pathetic showing from about nine or 10 of the conference's other 14 teams has left pretty much all of the Western playoff picture (save the division titles) wide, wide open.
Calgary is currently 14th in the West but, somehow, only eight points out of the fifth spot currently occupied by Anaheim, and 10 points out of the last home ice spot, which currently belongs to tonight's opponent, the Nashville Predators. That a team with only 22 wins from 49 games can somehow, in late January, be five points out of a playoff spot, is positively mind-boggling.
And yet here we are. With a win tonight, Calgary would vault to 11th in the conference and just three points out despite being eye-bleedingly awful for pretty much the entirety of the season.
Let's put it this way: four of Anaheim, Phoenix, Chicago, San Jose, Colorado, Minnesota, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Columbus and Calgary are going to make the playoffs even though none of them have 60 points from between 47 and 51(!) games played.
It'd be difficult to think of a more depressing thing on the planet than Calgary somehow cobbling together a four-game points streak at the end of the year to crack 90 points that gets them a playoff sweep against Vancouver. And that includes world hunger.
Let me be the first to say as an oil fan I hope you do make the playoffs ninth place is a dissapoinment and a lousy draft pick
...pathetic. Get over it and cheer for a streak. Go Flames Go!
I totally agree with this article >>>> face the facts that we need a major rebuild and the longer we wait the less the assets will be worth in a trade .... making the rebuild that much tougher and longer if we delay. Kipper, Iginla and Regher would make for a great start to the rebuild and shorten the time it would take. Getting blown out in 4 games by Vancouver and having a mid first round pick would not be the right thing for us.
... #rehiresutter?
Wow! I feel sorry Lambert's sheer lack of understanding and comprehension of one of the main reason's for the 04-05 lock-out! It's called salary cap my friends and it's there for 2 reasons. One, to line the owners pockets with cash (or in the case of some markets, to keep the owners from jumping off tall buildings). The other...wait for it...league parity. It's not that a large amount of teams in either the east or west are 'awful' is that, thanks to the cap, there are about 20 teams who are average when compared to the majority of the league. Outside of those 20 are about 5 elites (due to: franchise changing draft picks (Pit, Wsh), tremendous coaching & management (Det) or timing (Van, Phi)) and 5 basement dwellers (timing, poor management). If Lambert can't understand the concept by simply watching an evening of NHL on the Fly, you may want to consider removing his brilliance from your site. PS: Ask Philly where they were about this time last year & how to get hot at the right time can be the difference between not making the post-season and a trip to the Stanley Cup.
@oil fan
That's mighty kind of you. It's nice to have some well-wishing from rival teams' fans every now and then, as opposed to the tiresome smack talk.
Well, not too much going on so far. Couple of PP's, that's about it.
Heh. Spoke too soon.
Gio got his money's worth on that hook.
@Robert Cleave
haha, yup. Getting the two minutes? Might as well go full out.
Gio's had a few bounces go against him as of late, but honesty compels me to note that he is struggling in his own end.
Not a lot going on in that period. Chances were 5-4 for CGY, and I bet each team maybe got 2 each at ES.
Yeah, not his best stretch even with the bounces noted.
Corsi.
CGY +5, EV shots 5-4 NSH. Low event with terrible PPs. Seems about right.
How bad was Sarich that period? I don't know wich was worse, the cross ice goal mouth pass or the almost bank off Kippers skate from behind the net. I thought the powerplay was almost effective that period too.
How bad was Sarich that period? I don't know wich was worse, the cross ice goal mouth pass or the almost bank off Kippers skate from behind the net. I thought the powerplay was almost effective that period too.
Wow is Iggy atrocious on the boards in his own end.
Hey Steinberg, nice job on sportsnet :)
Yeah, hasn't been his strong suit for awhile.
Nice shift for the Iggy line. They have a soft match-up tonight and need to do some damage.
What the hell is Kipper thinking on that play?
He wasn't?
Flames PP was bound to score eventually, even as impotent as it usually is.
It's not smart to use a single game to base judgements, but I think we can safely say the Preds are indeed where they are thanks to goaltending and luck. They generate precious little at ES and on the PP out there.
Chances were 10-4 CGY in the second. The Preds can't stay out of the box and the only trio doing anything at ES is The Legwand line.
J Likens' stuff does seem to indicate that they're solid when the game is tied. They have a .526 Corsi% in that game state, which falls down to .495 overall. That tells me they shell pretty damned hard when they get a lead. You do certainly need good goaltending to function in that manner.
Anyhoo, Corsi.
CGY +12, EV shots 13-11 CGY. Other than the flurry around the time of the Legwand goal and shortly thereafter, the Flames have managed this game fairly well.
"Calgary is currently 14th in the West but, somehow, only eight points out of the fifth spot currently occupied by Anaheim, and 10 points out of the last home ice spot, which currently belongs to tonight's opponent, the Nashville Predators."
If the coaching staff isn't selling this reality... and maybe they are... just look at the way the team has hung in lately.
Perhaps evidence of some buy-in. I'll take it. Psychologically, moving up to 11th spot is huge. Or should be.
How's Kipper look this evening?
@everton fc
The truth is, the Flames were never 14th in west bad and this looks like the inevitable rebound. They could have packed it in, I guess, but the team hasn't materially changed from what it was to start (although Sutter is starting to manage his players better. Guys like Jokinen and Stajan aren't relied on to outplay good players very often anymore, for instance).
It hasn't seemed like Kipper has had to make a big save yet, maybe one immediately right after the unlucky goal. Other than that it's been pretty quite around the flames net.
@Robert Cleave
That's hard to believe given what we've seen tonight. I guess injuries + 2nd night of B2B can have some effect.
@Kent
Yep. Agreed. And not packing it may say a bit more about the character of the coaching staff and the leaders in the dressing room than most of us have given credit.
Of course, you need evidence to extend credit. Evidence exists, these days...
Flames are shelling hard in this period. It's all NSH.
@everton fc
True. To the team's credit, they've never accepted failure as inevtiable. They may have to at some juncture soon, but not yet.
@Kent
Not tonight, anyways! If they can beat the Blues and the Preds again in the next two games...
You never know!
Nice to get a win based on good goaltending and special teams. Great third for Kipper.
Corsi.
CGY -1, EV shots finished 21-17. The Flames got away with some hard shelling for about the first 12-13 minutes of the 3rd period, and the PP won them a game for the first time since, uh, all year, actually.
Backlund watch: Backlund out with Iggy and Tanguay. Huzzah!