The Flames, who had gotten off to a surprisingly strong
start to begin the year, have cooled off in a big way having lost 6 games in a
row. This has left management, coaches, and fan’s scratching their collective heads, searching for answers.
No one
wants to lose, especially 6 in a row, but it is how they’ve lost these games
that’s really puzzling. They have played some of their best hockey of the
season during this stretch and probably deserved to win 3 or 4 of those 6
games, but what’s deserved and what happens are 2 different beasts.
So why are the Flames losing? Well, it’s a combination of
many reasons. Firstly their insanely high shooting % that they had through the
great start has evened itself out in a real hurry. The Flames are struggling to
score goals, but are doing a good job at creating chances still. The problem is
they get the chance, turn the puck over, and have an odd man rush come back the other
way. It’ll be the one mistake that they make in the period, and it’ll be in the
back of their net. Bad luck? Sure, but that’s no excuse. You make your own luck.
The other thing I’ve noticed is with the Flames top 4
defensemen. The biggest reasons for the Flames early successes have started making
uncharacteristic mental mistakes, which is also leading to more turn overs. So
what’s the reason for players, who have shown a high hockey IQ in the past,
starting making bad plays? Surely they don’t just wake up stupid one day. Well I
have a theory, so stick with me.
During the Flames hot start, a lot has been made of the
Flames top 4 defencemen and how good they were, and they are that good. Really
we have been watching Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie, and Kris Russell play
extremely well for almost a calendar year. Giordano has emerged as a legit
Norris threat, and T.J. Brodie has developed into an incredibly strong top pairing
defenceman. Kris Russell, the unheralded 3rd defenseman, brings a
lot of the characteristics the 2 defensemen in front of him posses in a smaller
package. Add in Dennis Wideman, the wily big body defender with a booming shot and you get a very solid top 4.
All 4 guys can make cross ice tape to tape passes,
jump up into the rush, and have big time shots that can get through traffic.
Their outstanding play was really the catalyst for the Flames offense, and
teams have clued in on them. They’re pressuring down on them, giving them less
time to think, less space to work with, and so we’re starting to see a few
mistakes.
How can the Flames fix this? It’s simple, but what is simple
is often easier said than done.
Firstly the Flames forwards need to start
getting the puck deep and try and get a cycle going down below the goal line.
This will do a couple things. It will keep defenders honest and open up
shooting and passing lanes for their defenders, but it will also help stop them
from turning the puck over at the blue-line. The Flames defenders have been
given the green light to go when they see the opportunity, and when they join
the rush and the puck gets turned over at the blue-line it’s easy for the other
team to create an odd man rush the other way and right now that odd man rush is
going into the back of the Flames net. I’m not saying they need to cycle for
days, this is a team with a lot of speed and skill too but they also need to start
winning the battles on the boards, start working the puck down low, and adapt to the way
other teams are defending against them.
The next thing is something that cannot be fixed right away,
but will become more and more important as the season wears on. The Flames
bottom pairing has been basically hot garbage for most of the season. Ladislav
Smid has been pretty OK for the most part I guess, but Deryk Engelland has been awful for most of the saeason,
slow, bad passes and not physical enough. Rafi Diaz is a complete spaz at the
best of times, albeit a spaz who plays hard, I can admire that I guess but the team needs something steadier back there.
Smid is injured now and by the
sounds of it, will be out for a while, so auditions for the bottom pairing
defense can begin. Flames coaching staff and management will need to find a way to get more out of
their bottom pairing so they can eat some more minutes and take some pressure off their top guys. While exhaustion may be
part of the reason the Flames top defenders are making poorer decisions lately, the
longer the season goes the more wear and tear your players will get. You
can’t ask guys to leave it all on the ice to 25-30 minutes a night unless
you’re prepared to deal with the injuries that will probably accumulate.
I suspect that management will ride this out for a bit. They
will see if Engelland and Diaz can find their games (Engelland has been a bit
better the last few games) and they will do their due diligence and see if
there is maybe an answer within the organization (Corey Potter, who is up with the
Flames at the moment but has yet to see action, Mark Cundari, and Tyler Wortherspoon being the likely candidates). If an answer doesn’t lie within this organization than you can
expect Flames GM Brad Treliving to make a deal and probably move some of his
forward depth out for some defensive help.
In the meantime the Flames will just have to keep giving it
their all and start finding ways to win.
