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Friday, November 5, 1999
Better late ...
I guess we misunderstood GM Al Coates' plea for patience with the Calgary Flames.
We didn't realize he meant every game.
Well, that patience was a minute from running out against Nashville when two goals tied the game and Tommy Albelin's overtime winner with four seconds remaining turned the Flames into miracle makers. Again.
Four wins. Each in overtime.
That's impressive. But it's also very unimpressive.
Four overtime wins in 14 games and a couple of ties are what the Flames have to show for themselves.
It's not good enough.
That record means that in 14 games this season, the opposition has won at least a point in every single game.
They say charity begins at home and the Flames are the NHL's best example of giving. Or rather, giving up points.
The Flames still do not have an outright win.
One way to look at it is that that they were one minute from losing to a sad-sack Nashville club that had lost three straight on the road.
Yes, give the Flames credit for their comeback. But also recognize that this club is a long way from proving itself a playoff contender.
Maybe it's looking at the glass as half empty as opposed to half full.
Yesterday, Phil Housley begged to differ. The late-game comebacks are a sign of good things to come for a team mired in its familiar spot near the bottom of the Western Conference standings, he says.
"Sure I look at it as the glass being half full," said Housley, whose two late goals sent the game into overtime, to produce the team's first home win of the season.
"I think we are on the verge of being a better team. I think we have learned that we can't be continuously taking penalties and taking the flow away from our game.
"When we stay out of the box early, it seems we are in the game at least until the end."
But after 14 games, the Flames have given up the first goal 13 times.
On an offensively-challenged team, despite Brian Sutter's assertions to the contrary, that's a recipe for losses.
Again, Housley has a positive spin.
"Sure, we are still putting ourselves behind the eight-ball, but at least we are showing the character and resiliency to come back and really take it to teams," he said.
"We just have to come out with a better start -- that's the bottom line."
The first win at home, of course, allows the team some breathing room and maybe provides a small measure of that patience Coates insists Flames fans must maintain during this rebuilding process.
And for all the talk about the Flames' bad start, a playoff spot is but a few wins away. Those wins must begin to come in the Saddledome, where the seats are emptying fast. Patience is very thin in Calgary right now.
"That last win gives us a good boost, especially at home," said Housley after the team held off-ice workouts.
"I'm not going to kid you -- the guys read the paper and there is mounting pressure. Sometimes you tend to overanalyze what's going on and play tentative instead of just going out and reacting and making things happen.
"But winning certainly gives us a better atmosphere ... and we feel better about ourselves and that should help us get a better start against Florida (tomorrow)."
Housley has been integral in the last two wins. Against Ottawa, he was a dominant offensive player. In the third period against Nashville, he played the same way, but his high-risk offence led to the Predators' fourth goal, which at the time seemed like enough insurance.
"I don't want to do that, get caught, but it was just one of those things where Val (Bure) got hooked down (and lost the puck). Those things are going to happen when you are down.
"I just think this team has come back enough and had a lot of character the whole year. We've had a lot of games where we have dominated teams in the second half of games and we just haven't got any bounces or got rewarded.
"Against Nashville, we got rewarded for hard work. It's a funny game -- we keep saying eventually we will get rewarded for hard work and it will turn -- if we stick to it, things will go our way."
They've been telling us that for four years now in Calgary.
All patience aside, we'll believe it when we see it.
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