If there was one game Flames fans didn’t want to see it was this one. Brand new squad, too many new players, same old problems.

Where to begin? Ah forget it, no post-game, not worth the time. Just some highlights.

  • In goal, couldn’t really blame Smith, but he let in 4.
  • The defence looked lost at times. The odd man rushes given up approached double digits.
  • Toughness is completely missing. can’t expect much for a team that got smaller. Also can’t expect Hamonic to fight out of his weight class all the time.  Expect plug Prout to get into Saturday’s lineup in response.
  • Coaching was just abysmal. Your top free agent signing in James Neal played on the 3rd line for two periods. That’s pathetic. Frolik took regular second line minutes.
  • The powerplay looked pathetic too. It went 0-8. That’s ZERO for EIGHT.
  • Newcomers like Lindholm were terrible. -4 on the night.
  • The new ‘identity’ of this team is that they continue to not have one. They continue to struggle in the exact same places as last year but the difference is they’re doing it worse.

One can only hope the team improves. They must right? It’s only game one, so they have a chance on Saturday to quickly redeem themselves at home, and they better do it in a huge way. Something inkling beyond the dominant Tkachuk-Backlund pairing needs to emerge or this is going to be another terrible season.

 

#glasshalfempty