In getting blanked by the Lightning om Friday night, the Flames inability to score in recent games has really come to the forefront and is a major focus as they prepare to embark on a quick 2 game road trip on Monday and Tuesday vs the Avs and Yotes respectively. All told, in the four games the Flames have played since the Christmas break, they've managed to collectively light the lamp a grand total of once. I've heard of a Holiday Hangover, or a Turkey induced coma, but this is getting a little ridiculous.
Although it's true that the Flames don't exactly boast a plethora of boni-fide scoring talent, they do have players who have shown, as recently as earlier this season, that they can create offensive chances in this league. Players like Jiri Hudler, Mike Cammalleri, and Dennis Wideman are in fact known around the league as guys who are solid offensive performers. The Flames captain, Mark Giordano, has also shown that he can be an effective player creatively with 17 poinyts in 23 games in his increased role this year.
It's true that Sean Monahan hasn't looked as effective in the offensive zone as he did prior to his injury, and people are of course hoping that once he can get back to full health and comfortable that he'll be able to chip in more often as he was earlier in the season, but that's just not enough. It's also worth mentioning that the lone marker the Flames have managed to eek out was potted by the Flames rookie pivot.
Streaky Lee Stempniak has cooled off, Mikael Backlund showed flashes before Christmas after struggling for much of the first two months of the season, but he's fallen back into a funk. Training camp acquisition Joe Colborne certainly has offensive skill, and has shown it in his shootout opportunities, but he definitely hasn't been able to transfer that panache into his regulation play with any consistency at the NHL level. Matt Stajan has once again been one of the most consistent Flames players on a night-to-night basis, but although he was considered a possible #1 centre at one point in his career, and he does give a great effort, there aren't a whole lot of opposing teams that are staying awake at night trying to deduce how to effectively limit the offensive abilities of Matty Franchise!
Some will bring up Curtis Glencross and his injury issues, and although he's not as hot and cold as Stempniak is, he's certainly a streaky player. Would definitely rather have him in the lineup than not, but it would be difficult to convincingly develop a case that all other things being equal, the addition of his presence over the last 4 games would have had a glaring effect on the Flames offensive performance.
It is what it is. Sure the Flames certainly work a lot harder and are playing more like a team than they have in years; and Yes, they certainly have given the fans moments of excitement in the first few months of the season that have given glimmers of hope that maybe this team can prove all the naysayers wrong and be better than the sum of its parts.
One day, hopefully soon, if they can continue to build on the efforts they've displayed for the most part this season the Flames can develop into the kind of team they aspire to. The kind of team that people look at and go: How are they where they are? until you watch them play and see their attention to detail and their effort and commitment to every aspect of the game. The kind of team that creates an environment and culture of winning that lasts for a long time.
Right now the Flames are in the earliest stages of trying to develop that. Right now winning much of anything seems a long way off. Right now is an important part of the process and an experience that the organization needs to go through in order for it to be better moving forward. Right now that's not so easy to accept as the team struggles...
If you reflect back, however, the team might just be exceeding the expectations most people had for them at the beginning of the season and, if nothing else, have certainly given their fans at least a few moments to get excited for when it comes to the direction this team is going so I say: Enjoy the small victories, after all, things could be much worse... We all remember the Young Guns, right???
Have a great day!