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Tuesday, October 19, 1999
Better late...
Flames just can't figure out reason for slow starts
"Yeah, it keeps you up nights," admitted coach Brian Sutter. "You wonder why we can't start the way we finish.
"We seem to be playing from behind all the time. And while we've shown a lot of character coming back in games, it's certainly not the way you diagram it on the board."
The idea was being bandied around yesterday at the 'Dome that perhaps the Flames should agree to begin games trailing 2-0 or 3-0, then with a full three periods to catch up, they might wind up winning, oh, 6-3 or so.
"Good chance," sighed Grant Fuhr. "We seem to be a great team after we get behind two or three goals."
He rolled his eyes in exasperation.
Down 4-0 early in the second in San Jose, they rally only to lose 5-3; 3-0 to Carolina, scratch back for a 3-3 tie; 3-1 the other night against the Canucks, hang in there for a point at 4-4.
Gritty? Yes. Commendable? To a point.
But it simply cannot go on.
"You get away with it occasionally," cautioned Fuhr. "And every team's going to get out of the gate a little flat now and then during a long season. But on a consistent basis? It'll catch up with you in a hurry. It's suicide."
Better beginnings are imperative, especially on the road, where home teams and their fans build on momentum. It's not an easy trip. The Leafs and Sens are one-two in the Northeast Division, Florida tops the Southeast.
The Blues are .500 at the moment, while both the expansion Thrashers and Tampa have each won as many games as Calgary -- that being the grand total of one.
"I think we tend to wait and watch what the other team is doing, instead of initiating," reasoned defenceman Tommy Albelin. "We've gone out, tried to make a big hit or a big play early, been caught out of position and it's hurt us. So now we seem a bit gun shy. Maybe we should change the way we warmup. I don't know ...
"Personally, I think maybe we're too anxious at the start of games."
Or ...
"Not anxious enough," piped in Fuhr.
Whatever, address the problem one way or t'other, will ya guys?
"We always seem to want to make things tough on ourselves," sighed Sutter. "Take the Vancouver game, for instance. People keep asking me 'How can you guys only get three shots in the first period in your own building, and the Canucks get nine or 10?' Simple. Eight of their shots came on the powerplay."
One positive bit of news is that centre Jason Wiemer, sidelined by a knee injury since the second day of training camp, is on the trip and expects to play by the weekend.
"I'm still not completely comfortable on it, but it's getting there," said Wiemer. "It's been awful, just sitting around. I guess it was better it happened at the start of camp so you're out seven or eight games, rather than midway through the season, when you'd miss 20 or 30.
"Still, you want to be out there, helping the team."
It's time the team began helping itself. And if a 1-4-2 record isn't incentive enough tonight, there's the little matter of Fuhr going back to the city that deemed him too old and too expensive, still in search of his milestone 400th NHL victory.
"I'm looking forward to this," he said. "That's been the toughest part of coming here from St. Louis. We lived in a perfect neighbourhood there. The 10 houses on either side of us all had kids around the same age.
"But we're starting to get settled in here. The school part has been smooth for the kids.
"Now we've got to start winning some hockey games.
"And St. Louis would be an ideal place for me to reach 400." Fuhr smiled, one of those optimistic smiles. "Then I can start working on getting up to, oh, 450 or so."
Snaring a lead -- a novel concept around these parts at the moment -- tonight would certainly be a step in that direction.
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