Winning a single game doesn’t solve many problems (at least during an 82-game regular season), but it can at least ease some tensions.
After Calgary Flames GM Brad Treliving called himself horse-blank and absorbed most of the blame for the team’s six-game losing streak, his team didn’t really play all that well against the Philadelphia Flyers during a Saturday afternoon -- but they got the win, by way of a 3-2 shootout decision.
While Treliving painted himself as the main man to take the blame, one person made the difference most of all: goalie David Rittich. The Flyers generated a 38-27 shots on goal advantage, and the edge was starker in other regards. For instance: the Flyers more than doubled the Flames in scoring chances (29-13) and high-danger opportunities (13-6) at even-strength, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Again, getting the win only masks a shaky effort so much.
The concern for CGY right now isn’t the SH% necessarily. It’s that the team’s overall game is getting worse, not better. They’ve lost 6 straight but have no intensity, no attention to detail, no structure in this game today.
— Kent Wilson (@Kent_Wilson) November 23, 2019
... Although maybe the Flames will take it for a little bit more than it’s worth, and it’s hard to totally blame them for that.
#Flames G David Rittich: “I think we played our best game in the past 10 games. So it’s huge for us, that win. But we have to keep working hard. If we’re going to keep it simple and if we’re going to work hard, we can get results 2-1 or 3-2. We can get wins.”
— Wes Gilbertson (@WesGilbertson) November 23, 2019
Beyond the more direct issue of losing out on points and thus falling behind your competition, going through a prolonged losing streak can create other negative ripple effects. You can get discouraged from doing what’s most likely to work, just because it hasn’t worked lately.
There are some worrisome signs in that regard. Long-term, you probably don’t want to lean on Zac Rinaldo for too many NHL shifts in 2019-20. There’s an argument for putting Milan Lucic on a power play unit as a screening presence, but that might be a better plan for your secondary group than your top five. And so on.
Beyond the subjective, we have bottom-line truths: the Flames’ six-game losing streak is over, and they’re now at 11-12-3.
By no means are they out of the woods yet, but maybe they’ll see a little light shining through now that they broke that slump.
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.