Flames vs. Ducks - Game Six Review: Whip or Leash?

Leave it to the Flames to follow up their best game of the series with their worst (let's try to ignore the fact that the officiating pretty much turned the game into a farce for now).

Ugh.

Which reminds me of a something I noticed during the regular season...as I pointed out in this post back in March, there seems to be 2 distinct Calgary Flames teams this year:

Flames(a) first appeared in October. They tend to be slower, more passive, less apt to win puck battles, less able to hold onto leads and just plain bad on special teams. Flames(a) typically appeared on the road this year, see: first roadtrip, last roadtrip, eastern swing in January.

Flames(b) are the November Flames. They tend to be faster, tougher on the boards and killer on special teams. Flames(b) typically appeared at home this year, see: November extended home-stand, April home-stand.

During this series, Calgary has alternated between it's two identities - game 3 and 5 were Flames(b) while games 2,4 and 6 were Flames(a) (game 1 was a wash). They seem consistently stuck in this cycle of inconsistency:

from dictating to passive.

Dominating to submissive. And for the love of God I wish they'd choose one and stick with it. Wield the whip or wear the leash. Be Zed or be the gimp, but please just pick one and go with it.

As for last night, I don't think there's any question that it was the Flames(a) squad that took to the ice. Almost zero offensive pressure generated after the first period, including a powerplay so pensive and inept that they almost universally failed to penetrate the offensive zone when they had the man advantage.

In contrast to Flames(b) in game 5, Flames(a) were limp on the forecheck and flacid on the back-check. Passes were frequently too far ahead or too far behind. Poor decision making also seemed to sweep through the team like wild fire - for example, Robyn Regehr lugs the puck into the neutral zone and then fails to shoot it deep into the Duck's end (for no good reason). The Ducks counter-attack, Regehr can't recover, and Selanne pots a top-shelf back-hander (that is subsequently waved off by the galatically moronic officials). All caused by a brain-malfunction on what is an elementary play - repeat after me, peewee players: DON'T GIVE THE PUCK AWAY AT THE OPPOSITION'S BLUELINE. ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE A PINCHING DEFENSEMAN. Duh!

And that's how it goes for Flames(a). The forecheck slows down, the confidence wanes and then little, simple plays start going wrong all over the ice. For an eloquent example, just picture Warrener sliding, face-first, towards Niedermayer as the puck deflects off his skate for the game-losing goal.

Sigh.

I suppose the good news is that we are back on the positive side of the cycle for game 7. Wednesday should feature Flames(b), according to the pattern established in this current series. And, should they manage to appear, I eanestly hope the dominating Flames stick around for the remainder of the post-season...because teasing the fans with this on-again, off-again performance is probably the most sadistic part of all.

Positives:

- Phaneuf's pasting of Fedoruk in the 3rd.

Negatives:

- Discipline, forechecking, powerplay, offense, defense. You name it. All ranged from bland to bad.

- Officiating. So terrible it makes my face twitch just thinking about it. Deserves a whole other post.