After the Calgary Flames suffered another one-goal loss on Thursday evening, this time at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights, the fans and, most importantly, the players appeared very upset. Something that has been happening all year happened again at the most crucial time against a team they defeated handily a week ago. Quotes specifically from Rasmus Andersson stood out to me after the defeat.
Thanks to Darren Haynes for publishing these quotes on Twitter
There are plenty of things here that I believe are worthy of dissection. First, it’s true that the Flames have been in most games they have played. Of their 41 total losses this season, 27 of them have been by one goal, and a couple of fortunate bounces would be the difference between them holding a playoff spot and not at this point. It’s bound to be frustrating, especially considering I (as well as the players) believe that the talent is there to be on the winning end of those kinds of games.
To me, and I’m sure many others, that suggests things are rooted deeper than the roster. However, many would argue that Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri being paid as much as they are and producing as much as they are doesn’t help their results, which is totally valid.
The next thing I want to bring up is the general frustration that Andersson mentions, mainly because more feelings like that are not what this team needs at this point in the season. We already heard Elliotte Friedman talk about Kadri and the potential narrative that there may be problems in the locker room between the players and the coach, and the frustration of losing one-goal games is everything but a good addition to the fray with all of that potentially going on.
The last point I want to make is that everything builds up. Not only are the players seemingly frustrated with the coach, but they’re also frustrated at the results they’re getting and the potential outcomes of games if they played different situations another way. Players micro-manging themselves like that only leads to problems. Fans and analysts can tell when players are gripping the stick too tight, whether it’s through the eye test or their impact in the box score. Even though it doesn’t appear like Andersson himself is doing so, there are certainly players on the Flames who are, and one goal losses full of “what if” questions isn’t going to help anything.
This entire Flames season has been a mix of inconsistency, frustrating losses, and under-performance. Even though they had a big win against the San Jose Sharks, which could help things move further in the right direction, the season has not gone as planned. The team sits outside of the playoffs because of it. The odds for Calgary to make the post-season are almost zero, and when considering the kind of feelings these players must be having about plenty of different issues, it’s hard not to wonder if missing the post-season is in their best interest.
More must-reads: