Back at it

With only 2 wins in their last 7 games, the Flames are back in action versus one of their division rivals, the Colorado Avalanche. Their last setback, was an embarrassing 6-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks, and after 5 days rest, look for the Flames to come back firing on all cylinders.

During the break, the Flames have been focusing heavily on defensive aspects of the game… not just by the defensemen, but by all positions. The Flames have given up an incredible 24 goals in the past five games (nearly 5 goals per game!) and have hung Kiprusoff out to dry more than once. The team’s original goal for this year was to decrease the average goals against per game by .5. If they expect to achieve this goal by the end of the year, they are going to have to become the best defensive team in the NHL for the remainder of the season.

Darryl Sutter has to be scratching his head, wondering what needs to happen in order to motivate his team. The game against San Jose was an excellent test to see how the Flames could handle an “Elite” hockey club and, as the final score indicated, the team failed miserably. The good news? The Flames now know what level they need to play at and what they need to do to get there. If they don’t do that quickly, I think we can expect to see some adjustments to the Flames lineup.