Ouch! Post game thoughts

The Vancouver Canucks obviously wanted this game more than the Calgary Flames did. They seemed to win all battles, and were first to all the pucks. The Flames “Jekyll and Hyde” play has plagued the team throughout the entire season and tonight was a terrible time for Hyde to show up. This was a crucial game for the Flames to keep their chances of first place in the Northwest division alive. Now they simply need to focus on making the playoffs.

I have 2 major complaints about the Flames in the game tonight:

First, laziness. Sure they played last night and I am sure they are tired, but all teams have to battle through that so that cannot be used as an excuse. At every turn, the Canucks were faster, smarter, and played harder than the Flames. Naslund’s goal in the first period and Linden’s goal in the second were a perfect examples of this. In both cases, the Flames should have been able to be the first to pounce on the rebound and clear the puck, however, in both situations, the Canucks player wanted it more and demonstrated it by picking up the rebound and scoring.

Second, the Flames played a very undisciplined game tonight. They let their emotions get the best of them and paid the price for doing so. The Canucks (very effectively) got under the skin of many of the Flames players. The team was short handed for almost the ENTIRE 3rd period and the final 6-2 score could have been much worse. Cory Sarich took 5 straight (stupid) penalties in the 3rd period. Even the captain joined in the goonery as he took 3 straight penalties purely out of frustration.

Now, I am an extremely competitive person and I have been known to let my temper flare during certain sporting events. But professionals at this level need to be able to retain their composure and not turn into goons when the get down by a few points. This only makes the team look bad while the opposing team looks like saints. Keenan needs to calm everyone down and come back as a composed group for the critical game versus the Oilers on Tuesday.

Go Flames Go!