Shitty goaltending was definitely a key factor in this one, but so is scoring only 2 goals (on 37 f***ing shots against a goalie with a <.900 sv%). Does it matter if he let in 2 softies or 10 softies if we can't score a f***ing goal?
You can still win games 2-1 and that’s what last night should have been 3 of the 4 goals had no business going in at the nhl level.
This is the crux of it. Giving up a goal on the first shot, unscreened from 25-30 feet out is instantly deflating. Same thing happened in the Minnesota game when they were ass from start to finish.
Is he saying that they are in a funk or have they come to the realization that perhaps they're not good enough anymore to rely on past strengths? This type of performance was not a one off. It's recurring and is almost at the two month point.
Tough to get a read on what he's getting at but I think he's saying the guys are getting lazy/complacent -- i.e. "not competing every night."
I wonder what's driving that behavior? The roster woes addressed as addressed upthread or something else?
Speaking of goalies....some organizations have been adapt at drafting good goalies....and getting one through the draft is the cost effective way to go.
Other than Wolf (who was a 7th round pick) the Flames haven’t drafted a goalie who became an NHL starter for anybody since Craig Anderson in 1999. The other two you mentioned certainly have a knack for it. But even the Rangers its probably dumb luck. The 6 goalies they’ve picked since Shesterkin (who they picked 60 picks after a different goalie) have 1 NHL game played and the 6 before that were nobodies and Al Montoya who was a #6 overall pick who amounted to very little more than a below average backup.
While it definitely is deflating, you have like 55 f***ing minutes to pick up your balls and get back in the game...even a goal on the 1st shot in the 1st minute should not be the end of the game. Buffalo is a bottom 5 team with 3.4 GAA (6th worst GA in the league). It's a pitiful excuse...If the team is that mentally fragile there's a major problem.
Once you have a franchise goalie it doesn't matter if your picks stale a bit.
Not for nothing - Jim Rutherford drafted two Conn Smythe winning goalies with this franchise. And he couldn’t idenitify any other goaltending talent if it punched him in the face.
Maybe this is just me being hopeful as a fan but I honestly think at least for the core guys the biggest thing driving that is after years of being an elite regular season team and coming up short in the playoffs the guys just aren't that motivated to try hard in the regular season. Watching us this year reminds me of the Bolts in the regular season the year after the Blue Jackets upset them. There is something to pacing yourself for the playoffs, both an individual level and on the team level. NHL isn't as bad as the MLB or NBA in terms of regular season games not really mattering but it's pretty darn close. This isn't the NFL where every single regular season game holds huge importance (at least until the final week some years where seeds could be clinched already).
