There are so many bandwagon jumpers jumping on and off the wagon game by game. No single game or even collection of 5 games will determine how the season will finish out.
The Flames had one of the weirdest schedules coming off their break. First of all it was 9 days long and everyone expected a little rust against Washington and were in the game until the last minute. Some better officiating in that game and Calgary walks away with an easy W. Finally a little back in the groove the Flames play and beat the Hurricanes in a game they maybe should not have won but RIttich played a solid game and the D kept the shots to the outside.
Then the Flames get 4 days off so the rust can set back in.
Against San Jose the boys came out hard taking the game to the Sharks for the first half of the first period... and then Rittich gave up a goal he would like to have back. Less than a minute later Rittich rushes out of the net and makes a bad decision and it is 2-0. Now if this was Smith this board would have collectively melted as it did 1:30 seconds later on a redirection that would have been difficult for any goalie. That chink in Rittich's armor really rattled the team and took a large part of the fight of out of the team. It was like watching two different teams and after that point the only line that looked somewhat consistently dangerous was Jankowski Bennett and Neal.
The Vancouver game was all about 1 player.... Jacob Markstrom. Out shot 47-25 he is the only reason Vancouver won this game. Backlund's, Jankowski, and for a large part of the night Ryan's lines feasted on Vancouver and its turnovers. And then the Jumpers start pulling the Chicken Little Routine - The Sky is Falling--- The Sky is Falling ... Guess what it isn't and I am really looking forward to the showdown in Tampa and I suspect another good showing by the Flames.
BSD may be struggling right now but the game is about the other 18 Flames that will be on the ice too. Since the break nobody has looked at the positives of how good the third and fourth lines have been. In Vancouver Backlund's line looked like it was back ... This team is scary deep and we are about to see how deep here very soon. pfft 2 losses whatever look at the progression of the teams play since the break. Hockey is not just about the goalie.