And if you don't exclude games where they've played poorly, then it appears they regularly play poorly.
So, of 15 games, 3 games have been poor. That's consider regular poor play in your books?
Sure. Yeah. That checks out.
Or is it more a 3 game stretch that was more an anomaly?
Here's the answer:
Flames 12 games of the season:
CF%: 55.8%
SF%: 54.3%
GF: 54%
SCF%: 55%
HDSC%: 51.5%
SH%: 8.23
SV%: 90.32
PDO: 0.986
Flames 3 'streak' blip (which includes a WIN):
CF%: 49.42%
SF%: 40.9%
GF: 59.7%
SCF: 42.9%
HDSC%: 38.29
SH%: 10.7
SV%: 90.9
PDO: 1.017
What does that tell us, for those that can't actually read numbers.
In 12 games this season, Calgary has owned play, creating more chances and goals than their opponents (this includes games with lopsided outcomes, for example, the Stanley cup champs had a GF% of 53% 5v5 last year). Their 'luck' stat would be outside of the top 20 teams (meaning their luck in games is actually pretty below average), and their Save Percentage would have them in the bottom 5 on the NHL (which points to what Flames fans have mentioned about goaltending, context, remember folks). This team isn't winning games by fluke, in fact, games are closer than they should be in most cases due to goaltending.
Now what do the 3 games where clearly something was wrong with this team (as mentioned by their coach, players, etc)? They were getting outplayed heavily. They were bleeding shots, chances... but their goaltending stole them a game (maintain a team 0.909 save percentage where 33% of the data comes from a 9-1 blowout is all you need to know). Their luck stat would put them in the middle of the league during that stretch too. Essentially they played three games that were miserable. They won one, they were in one until the last second and they got pumped in one. Every Flame fan could tell you that all three were by far the worse games for this team this season.
This has been a very positive team, a deep team and a team with a strong backend for 80% of the season so far. The eyes tell it, the stats tell it.