"I missed the game last night. How'd the Flames do?"
"Well, they got eight powerplays..."
"Awwwww crap."
If you're talking about Calgary on the road, that's about all you need to know about any given game. Lots of special teams time=loss.
Not that the Flames were any good at ES last night either. The Canucks, 2nd last in the league at scoring goals, actually outscored Calgary 5on5 3-0. Course, even a 15% success rate on the PP would have changed the game completely for the Flames. Instead, the man advantage was invariably 2 minutes of wasted time last night. Calgary should literally start purposely taking penalties as soon as they get on the PP on the road (while they're losing). They'd have a much greater chance of scoring 4on4.
There were precious few bright spots, save Lombo's great SH marker and the play of Mark Giordano. I thought he was better by half than Zyuzin (who looked like he'd never before defended a 2on1 on Sedin's goal last night). And Giordano's pass to Langkow from the corner was one of the few genuinely nice plays on the PP.
As for the rest, it's all been said before. Calgary is simply not the same team on the road as they are at home. 5 straight losses away from the Dome, 10 straight wins while at it. If the Flames don't get this monkey off their back soon - like, now - they will be hard-pressed to challenge for a play-off spot, let alone the division.
