WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:07.480 Are you ready? 00:07.480 --> 00:08.480 00:08.480 --> 00:13.720 It's time for another Fireside Chat, the official podcast of Flames fans. 00:13.720 --> 00:15.900 It's go time. 00:15.900 --> 00:20.800 Well the regular season has kicked off and as always, I'm Dan alongside Matt to discuss 00:20.800 --> 00:21.800 the first couple of games. 00:21.800 --> 00:26.560 Matt, I was excited after the first one, I turned around and said, the Flames are undefeated 00:26.560 --> 00:29.280 and that quickly went away in that second game. 00:29.280 --> 00:35.320 Yeah, well, at least for five of the periods, the team looked reasonably good. 00:35.320 --> 00:40.200 Then the third period and the Pittsburgh game happened, but we'll get to that. 00:40.200 --> 00:41.200 Let's break these down. 00:41.200 --> 00:45.680 So first game of the season, the home opener and the season opener, the Calgary Flames 00:45.680 --> 00:51.280 took on the Winnipeg Jets here at home in the Saddle Dome and the Calgary Flames ended 00:51.280 --> 00:53.800 up winning five to three in that game. 00:53.800 --> 01:00.040 The Flames got goals from Mondjapany to open the scoring, Wieger, Anderson, Lindholm, and 01:00.040 --> 01:02.040 then Mondjapany got his second of the year already. 01:02.040 --> 01:03.520 What were your thoughts on this one, Matt? 01:03.520 --> 01:07.720 I thought that the Flames played excellent defensively. 01:07.720 --> 01:15.560 The Jets came to play and you could tell that the Flames were a little bit uncoordinated 01:15.560 --> 01:20.040 at times with the new system, but the effort was still there. 01:20.040 --> 01:25.720 And especially in the third period when they were up three to two for the first 15 minutes, 01:25.720 --> 01:29.240 they were playing pretty mistake-free hockey. 01:29.240 --> 01:32.680 Then the one mistake happened and led to the tie and goal. 01:32.680 --> 01:38.080 But I felt that even though the Flames were getting heavily outshot, I think it was 28 01:38.080 --> 01:46.200 to 14 at one point, that the game didn't really feel like Calgary was not in control of the 01:46.200 --> 01:47.200 game. 01:47.200 --> 01:50.840 I think it was just a system that they were just kind of letting Winnipeg do their thing 01:50.840 --> 01:55.480 without letting too many dangerous chances. 01:55.480 --> 02:00.120 Every time that Winnipeg actually managed to break through and score, the Flames turned 02:00.120 --> 02:05.320 it on and got a goal of their own to restore the lead, and they just kept trading goals 02:05.320 --> 02:08.160 all evening until the empty netter. 02:08.160 --> 02:12.080 It was a good, I would say, 60-minute effort for the Flames, which we haven't seen in a 02:12.080 --> 02:13.080 while. 02:13.240 --> 02:19.680 And the fact is that this team, offensively, they do not have a ton of finishers. 02:19.680 --> 02:27.000 So them being able to play excellent defensively for most of the contest was a good thing. 02:27.000 --> 02:34.240 And on the Markstrom, the third goal that Mark Scheifele scored, when the puck goes 02:34.240 --> 02:40.400 to Markstrom, instead of trying to pass it up in a situation where opposing players are 02:40.400 --> 02:45.600 coming in on our guys, he should learn to just put it behind the net and let the defenseman 02:45.600 --> 02:47.160 go get it. 02:47.160 --> 02:53.640 Because there have been a number of games last year, and in the early part of Markstrom's 02:53.640 --> 02:58.160 stay with the Flames, where he had passed it up, a turnover would happen like that, 02:58.160 --> 03:02.800 and it would either lead to a really good scoring chance or a goal against, and instead 03:02.800 --> 03:07.680 just let your, rely on your defenseman to actually get the job done instead of trying 03:07.680 --> 03:09.400 to force the play. 03:09.400 --> 03:16.600 Which it was a minor mistake, but that could have ended in disaster for the Flames, and 03:16.600 --> 03:21.880 thankfully with that excellent passing play with Huberdeau and Mangiapane on the game 03:21.880 --> 03:28.160 winner with like two minutes left, helped to salvage the win out of that, but it could 03:28.160 --> 03:31.320 have went the other way. 03:31.320 --> 03:35.920 We'll talk a little bit more about Markstrom after we're done recapping the week, but as 03:35.920 --> 03:39.480 soon as I saw him make the first save of the game, I'm like, all right, the Flames 03:39.480 --> 03:40.480 are doing good. 03:40.480 --> 03:44.280 Because that was his MO so much last year, was that first shot, and it's like, all right, 03:44.280 --> 03:48.760 he got a shot, he saved it, they can do this. 03:48.760 --> 03:52.560 The thing, if you listen to Ryan Huska talking after the game, he did note that his team 03:52.560 --> 03:57.200 kept giving the puck back to Winnipeg, and I did notice that, a little bit sloppy there, 03:57.200 --> 04:01.120 but the one thing I wanted to commend the Flames for was how many face-offs they won. 04:01.120 --> 04:07.120 I think they were 69% of all five-on-five draws they won, including two that led directly 04:07.120 --> 04:10.720 to their second and fourth goals, and that's something that we've seen the Flames struggle 04:10.720 --> 04:14.960 with in the past sometimes, is controlling the puck right off the face-offs, and I really 04:14.960 --> 04:19.200 think that helped give the Flames the control they needed and the time they needed to make 04:19.200 --> 04:20.200 some decisions. 04:20.200 --> 04:26.720 Well, I agree entirely, but another little minor detail that I saw in the third period 04:26.720 --> 04:32.520 that I've been wanting this team to do for a long time was, when the Jets would get the 04:32.520 --> 04:38.560 puck in the zone, players would either chip the puck up the boards and out, or just flip 04:38.560 --> 04:44.960 the puck up in the air and out, just to relieve some of the pressure and get the Jets to reset. 04:44.960 --> 04:49.760 And it's not always good, like, if you have the ability to pass it and make a play out 04:49.760 --> 04:55.960 of the zone, that's always better, but in the instances that they didn't, they took 04:55.960 --> 05:00.760 the safe, responsible play of just getting the puck out and letting Winnipeg come back 05:00.760 --> 05:09.160 at them, instead of, you know, trying to force plays which end up resulting in turnover sometimes, 05:09.160 --> 05:15.800 and I thought that was a nice little change, that subtle defensively, that I think helped 05:15.800 --> 05:18.440 them a lot to secure the win. 05:18.440 --> 05:19.840 I think so too. 05:19.840 --> 05:24.200 And it was nice to see the coach already willing to change up his lines, not just for the sake 05:24.200 --> 05:26.440 of doing it, but when it made sense. 05:26.440 --> 05:30.520 Like, you know, we saw Andrew Mangiapane start the night on the third line, and got moved 05:30.520 --> 05:34.800 up to the first line by the end of the night, because he was doing well, and I like when 05:34.800 --> 05:37.960 coaches are willing to say, yeah, okay, you know, someone's performing, let's give them 05:37.960 --> 05:38.960 more time. 05:38.960 --> 05:42.720 It wasn't necessarily anything against Dubé, but Mangiapane had a great night, and he needed 05:42.720 --> 05:46.960 to be moved with the lineup, and I think so often you see new coaches who don't want to 05:46.960 --> 05:50.120 change things, or are afraid to make, you know, those kind of adjustments. 05:50.120 --> 05:53.160 Or ruffle the veterans' feathers, or this or that, or whatever. 05:53.160 --> 05:57.720 And like we saw in the second game, Sharon Govich, who I thought played rather well 05:57.720 --> 06:02.640 in the first game, getting shifted down to the fourth line, just to utilize his abilities 06:02.640 --> 06:07.720 a little bit better in what was needed for that game. 06:07.720 --> 06:09.840 Yeah, that was interesting. 06:09.840 --> 06:11.760 Well, let's go to that game. 06:11.760 --> 06:15.920 The Calgary Flames went on the road, and they're starting a little bit of a road trip to start 06:15.920 --> 06:17.280 the season off here. 06:17.280 --> 06:23.240 Went to Pittsburgh, and played two pretty good periods, 40 pretty good minutes of hockey, 06:23.240 --> 06:25.240 and then the third period happened, and not so much. 06:25.240 --> 06:29.320 The Calgary Flames lost 5-2 to the Penguins here. 06:29.320 --> 06:35.740 The Flames got Matthew Coronado's first ever NHL goal in the second period, that was assisted 06:35.740 --> 06:40.720 by Lindholm and Anderson, and the only other Flame to score was Jonathan Huberdeau. 06:40.720 --> 06:47.200 It really felt like the first 40 minutes, even when the Flames got down, you know, or 06:48.120 --> 06:51.920 not on the scoreboard, but when they were down on the ice, when they weren't cycling 06:51.920 --> 06:55.640 the puck as well, they always seemed to find an answer, and that's when we didn't see as 06:55.640 --> 06:56.640 much last year, right? 06:56.640 --> 07:00.680 They'd make a couple mistakes, and it would kind of snowball, and I was glad to see that. 07:00.680 --> 07:04.280 I was glad to see them cycling, I was glad to see them coming back, I was glad to see 07:04.280 --> 07:07.560 them working through that, and then the third period happened. 07:07.560 --> 07:13.080 Yeah, and it was one of those where, like the first goal, there was nothing Markstrom 07:13.080 --> 07:14.080 could have done. 07:14.080 --> 07:19.000 It was an excellent veteran play by Brian Russ, banking it off of his Patton in from 07:19.000 --> 07:20.260 behind the net. 07:20.260 --> 07:27.560 When the second goal, like 20 seconds later, happened, this is one of those things where, 07:27.560 --> 07:32.720 like it's a pet peeve of mine that ever since the instant replay thing and Coach's Challenge 07:32.720 --> 07:38.240 has come into play, where it burns your time out, like this is a situation where the team 07:38.240 --> 07:44.400 needed to just take a breather for a second, and collect themselves, because giving up 07:44.400 --> 07:51.040 two quick goals in a minute, like just to reset, but the team just kept spiraling for 07:51.040 --> 08:00.400 the next 8-10 minutes, and ended up getting down 4-1 eventually, and it just, it's frustrating 08:00.400 --> 08:06.680 because they played well enough, like in the second period, they needed, frankly they needed 08:06.680 --> 08:14.040 to score more than one goal with how well they played in that period, and yeah, a veteran 08:14.040 --> 08:17.400 team like Pittsburgh's going to capitalize if you give them anything. 08:17.400 --> 08:22.440 Yeah, and really, I don't think the scoreboard tells the story in those first couple periods, 08:22.440 --> 08:26.360 like you know, the Flames should have, like you said, scored more than one in the first 08:26.360 --> 08:27.360 two periods. 08:27.360 --> 08:31.600 I think it's a strong Pittsburgh team that has to be given credit for keeping them off 08:31.600 --> 08:33.880 the scoreboard except for Coronado. 08:34.360 --> 08:42.800 And honestly, when you're playing a team that has that many veteran star players, you know 08:42.800 --> 08:47.480 that you're not going to push them over, and that they're going to come back at you, and 08:47.480 --> 08:55.280 you have to give a 60-minute effort, and if you give any of those guys even a millimeter, 08:55.280 --> 09:02.320 they are going to run with it, and like once that first goal happened, you know, it just 09:02.320 --> 09:09.160 seemed that like, it just lit the penguins on fire, and like, okay, let's go, and Calgary 09:09.160 --> 09:13.200 didn't have an answer, and they were kind of caught dumbfounded, frankly. 09:13.200 --> 09:16.600 And that's the period where, unlike what I was saying before, where I thought that they 09:16.600 --> 09:21.320 were able to come back from adversity well, there was two goals in the first minute, like 09:21.320 --> 09:26.840 Brian Russ scored at 18 seconds in the third, and then Smith at 41 seconds in. 09:26.840 --> 09:30.360 In that first minute, that looked like what we'd seen from the Flames so many times, where 09:30.360 --> 09:33.440 they got down, and they just stopped playing, and I thought, and it wasn't even for the 09:33.440 --> 09:34.560 whole third, I don't think. 09:34.560 --> 09:37.680 There was about seven minutes there at the beginning of the third, where you could tell 09:37.680 --> 09:42.280 they were feeling sorry for themselves, I'd say right up until the Jake Gensel goal. 09:42.280 --> 09:45.920 And after that, I thought they started to push back, like, and that's something we don't 09:45.920 --> 09:50.120 see a lot, is them coming back and pushing back, and I just think by that point, it was 09:50.120 --> 09:51.120 a little too late. 09:51.120 --> 09:57.440 Yeah, and games like this happen, and you're always just glad when it's an Eastern Conference 09:57.520 --> 10:01.520 opponent, where you're not harming yourself when this happens. 10:01.520 --> 10:02.520 Get it out of the way early. 10:02.520 --> 10:08.520 Yeah, and, you know, like, offensively, you can see that the Flames are still learning 10:08.520 --> 10:14.520 the system, you know, like, passes aren't quite crisp, there, you know, lots of little 10:14.520 --> 10:21.400 turnovers that they don't normally do, unless, you know, and it's just one of those things, 10:21.400 --> 10:27.840 and, you know, it's going to take the Flames probably a good month, month and a half to 10:27.840 --> 10:31.080 get everything down pat. 10:31.080 --> 10:38.040 It's just frustrating when, you know, like, they are doing the right things to generate 10:38.040 --> 10:43.880 the offensive chances, but they're just not able to thread the needle yet. 10:43.880 --> 10:47.200 Yeah, and I have confidence that that will change. 10:47.200 --> 10:48.200 Oh, I agree. 10:48.960 --> 10:54.280 Because you can see that there are too many good setups, you know, through the first two 10:54.280 --> 11:01.640 games where, you know, if the pass was like a few millimeters up or whatever, whatever, 11:01.640 --> 11:03.840 like those things will start to connect. 11:03.840 --> 11:07.520 It's just not quite there yet. 11:07.520 --> 11:12.080 So after those two games now, the Calgary Flames are one and one, obviously. 11:12.080 --> 11:14.900 They have two points, which puts them at 500 hockey. 11:14.900 --> 11:19.740 They now sit third in the Pacific Division behind Vancouver, who has two wins, and Vegas 11:19.740 --> 11:21.580 who's played three games and has three wins. 11:21.580 --> 11:28.300 So Vegas has six points, Vancouver has four, Calgary has two, and then LA, San Jose, Seattle 11:28.300 --> 11:30.820 all have one right behind us. 11:30.820 --> 11:35.180 Let's take a moment here to remind ourselves the Oilers have yet to win. 11:35.180 --> 11:41.540 Yeah, and they looked very bad against Vancouver in the first game, and then they couldn't 11:41.540 --> 11:46.340 score on the goalie in the second game, and bravo, they couldn't score on the goalie in 11:46.340 --> 11:47.340 either game. 11:47.340 --> 11:48.340 I mean, it was 8-1 the first game. 11:48.340 --> 11:49.340 Oh, I know. 11:49.340 --> 11:54.140 But they had a lot of shots in the second one, so yeah, which bravo. 11:54.140 --> 11:58.940 So let's take a moment to remember that the Oilers haven't won before we move on. 11:58.940 --> 11:59.940 Yes. 11:59.940 --> 12:00.940 Congratulations, Edmonton. 12:00.940 --> 12:01.940 Keep awesome. 12:01.940 --> 12:03.900 You should feel proud of your start. 12:03.900 --> 12:04.900 Yes. 12:04.900 --> 12:10.420 Well, you know, they spent all offseason preaching how they needed to get better defensively 12:10.460 --> 12:15.460 and cut down the chances against, and then their training regimen hurt their only good 12:15.460 --> 12:21.740 defensive defenseman, and yeah, 12 goals in two games, so yeah, good defense. 12:21.740 --> 12:25.780 Matt, last week you, when we were doing our season predictions, were a little bit critical 12:25.780 --> 12:29.420 of what you thought Markstrom might be this year or the form they might have, and if he'd 12:29.420 --> 12:30.420 bounce back. 12:30.420 --> 12:34.220 I think after that first game, a lot of people thought, you know what, Markstrom's back, 12:34.220 --> 12:35.220 he's looking good. 12:35.220 --> 12:39.420 Obviously, it's one game, there's still, you know, 80 for the Flames to play at this point, 12:39.420 --> 12:43.300 but based on the two you're seeing, you know, we joked earlier about, hey, he saved the 12:43.300 --> 12:44.980 first shot in both games. 12:44.980 --> 12:47.140 What do you think of Jacob Markstrom we're seeing so far? 12:47.140 --> 12:56.820 Well, this is more like what Markstrom normally is, which is a high-quality goaltender, and 12:56.820 --> 13:02.300 there's never been anything specifically against Markstrom, it was just that when you're seeing 13:02.300 --> 13:08.580 him play and struggle so mightily last year and like having zero confidence and letting 13:08.740 --> 13:15.820 in goals that frankly any NHL goaltender should stop, and it happening every single start, 13:15.820 --> 13:20.940 and then you come into the preseason and every single appearance he did the same thing, you're 13:20.940 --> 13:27.300 going is this just who he is now, and is he like basically a year away from not really 13:27.300 --> 13:33.340 being an NHL goaltender, or is the actual real Jacob Markstrom going to come back? 13:34.060 --> 13:39.100 Through the two games, the real Markstrom has shown itself. 13:40.140 --> 13:44.820 In the Pittsburgh game, I did not really think he had a chance on any of the four goals he 13:44.820 --> 13:52.140 gave up, just, you know, either really good plays by the Penguins players or just bad 13:52.140 --> 13:52.900 defense. 13:53.060 --> 13:54.820 Yeah, I don't think we can fault him for any of those. 13:54.820 --> 13:55.820 I mean, they're a good team. 13:55.820 --> 13:56.740 There are good shots. 13:56.740 --> 13:58.740 It's not like Markstrom lost his focus there. 13:58.740 --> 14:03.820 Yeah, and even in the Winnipeg game, like none of the shots like the Kyle Connor goal 14:04.180 --> 14:11.580 seemed a little bit weak from the casual observer because it kind of bounced and squeaked 14:11.580 --> 14:17.140 in. But that was a very perfectly placed shot by Kyle Connor, and he's pretty much one of 14:17.140 --> 14:22.260 like five guys in the NHL who can do that to get it to bank in the way it did. 14:22.500 --> 14:29.660 And that was more a perfectly placed shot to get it to chip off of his elbow, because 14:29.660 --> 14:33.860 if it had gone a little bit to the left, a little bit up or a little bit down, Markstrom 14:33.860 --> 14:36.900 stops that it had to hit specifically in the right spot. 14:36.900 --> 14:43.380 And it did. And that's just more of a, oh, you got beat by one of the elite goal scorers. 14:43.780 --> 14:44.540 Not not. 14:45.060 --> 14:47.660 I mean, no goalie has gone 82 games of the shutout, right? 14:47.660 --> 14:48.580 Everyone's going to get beat. 14:48.580 --> 14:51.420 But to me, it's always about how do you bounce back from it? 14:51.420 --> 14:54.820 And I think so far and I want to be very cautious here. 14:54.820 --> 14:55.940 I mean, it's two games. 14:55.940 --> 14:59.260 And even after the first game, I heard people say, oh, Markstrom's back to form. 14:59.260 --> 15:00.180 It was one game. 15:00.180 --> 15:02.580 He didn't look terrible in every game last year either. 15:02.900 --> 15:07.060 But I think from what we've seen, he looks like he has the mental composure. 15:07.060 --> 15:11.380 Like even when he did get beat, he didn't let it happen again the same way. 15:12.620 --> 15:18.220 Yeah. And it's one of those where, like last year, if he gave up, made a mistake, he'd 15:18.260 --> 15:19.700 soon make another mistake. 15:19.700 --> 15:22.540 And usually it'd be like to nothing in short order. 15:22.980 --> 15:26.100 And then by that time, like he would compose himself. 15:26.100 --> 15:29.540 But it's already like you're way behind the black ball at that point 15:29.980 --> 15:33.420 and hard to spring back from being down to nothing. 15:34.020 --> 15:37.060 Exactly. And we've talked a lot about Mika Kipper stuff since his jersey 15:37.060 --> 15:37.900 getting retired this year. 15:37.900 --> 15:41.060 But it almost reminds me the Jacob Markstrom we've seen of Kipper 15:41.060 --> 15:45.940 where he'd get shot on, mask goes up, water goes in, mask goes down. 15:45.940 --> 15:47.100 He's ready to go again. Right. 15:47.100 --> 15:50.940 Like Kipper was very methodical when he got beat of, OK, I'm going to, 15:50.940 --> 15:52.980 you know, process it, let it go and move on. 15:52.980 --> 15:54.740 And it felt like maybe Jacob Markstrom last year 15:54.740 --> 15:58.140 dwelled on his shots a little bit too much or things like that. 15:58.140 --> 16:03.140 So, yeah, and it really comes down to just simple confidence. 16:03.140 --> 16:07.420 And like last year, it seemed that like things just went wrong. 16:07.540 --> 16:12.220 And then he could he tried hard and he couldn't get it to turn around, 16:12.260 --> 16:15.100 which sapped even more of his confidence. 16:15.540 --> 16:17.300 And then more things would go wrong. 16:17.300 --> 16:19.740 And then he got replaced as the starter. 16:20.300 --> 16:24.460 And then he got back in and things kind of went OK-ish. 16:24.460 --> 16:27.620 And then, you know, it was just up and down the rest of the way. 16:27.620 --> 16:31.380 And this year, the confidence level seems high. 16:31.500 --> 16:35.740 And like last year, at one point, I had made mention 16:35.740 --> 16:39.180 that he was being too far in his crease, like too tentative. 16:39.340 --> 16:44.220 And like this year, you're seeing him properly challenging players 16:44.220 --> 16:47.300 instead of, you know, being too far in. 16:47.300 --> 16:51.300 Or, you know, he's doing things positionally in the correct way. 16:52.100 --> 16:53.380 Yeah, he is. 16:53.380 --> 16:57.140 And, you know, I think, again, we're too early in the season to say he's back. 16:57.380 --> 16:59.020 You just mentioned that confidence. 16:59.020 --> 17:02.180 And I think we really need to see Jacob Markstrom get some adversity 17:02.420 --> 17:04.100 before we really know what we have there. 17:04.100 --> 17:04.900 It's game two. 17:04.900 --> 17:08.460 Wait until we get into the drudges of the season around January. 17:08.460 --> 17:11.580 And how is he doing after, you know, 20, 30 starts? 17:11.580 --> 17:15.140 Or wait until this team goes on a six game losing streak. 17:15.140 --> 17:15.900 And how's he looking? 17:15.900 --> 17:19.340 Like, it's promising so far, but I think it's too early for us 17:19.340 --> 17:21.420 to know what version of Jacob Markstrom we're going to have. 17:21.420 --> 17:22.820 Oh, I agree. 17:22.820 --> 17:26.620 And but, you know, all things at this point are positive 17:27.060 --> 17:30.060 and you just have to carry that into the next game 17:30.060 --> 17:33.700 and hope those things remain positive and wait and see. 17:34.580 --> 17:36.260 A good step forward, for sure. 17:36.260 --> 17:39.700 Yeah, there's a there's a topic I want to talk to you about last week, 17:39.700 --> 17:42.300 and we ran out of time because of our season predictions episode. 17:42.300 --> 17:45.740 If anyone didn't listen to last week, go back and take a listen to that episode. 17:45.740 --> 17:49.180 We did some predictions for what we think might happen this season. 17:49.180 --> 17:52.580 We'll check back on them in January and again at the end of the season. 17:53.060 --> 17:56.220 Those are available on FiresideChat.ca, wherever you get your podcasts. 17:56.220 --> 18:01.340 And Matt and I are notoriously terribly wrong and horrible at this game, 18:01.340 --> 18:02.180 but it's fun to do. 18:02.180 --> 18:03.220 So listen to us. 18:03.220 --> 18:07.980 Sometimes we're about 50 50 and then like a year like last year happens 18:07.980 --> 18:10.660 where it's like, oh, we got two right. Yeah, good. 18:12.540 --> 18:15.620 But Matt, the question I want to go through with you does. 18:15.700 --> 18:18.180 Do you think let me put this in two parts. 18:18.180 --> 18:21.220 Do you think that the Calgary Flames are a little bit of an underdog this year? 18:21.220 --> 18:22.020 Oh, for sure. 18:22.020 --> 18:26.420 Because you look at them, there's nothing remarkable 18:26.420 --> 18:30.900 that they did to improve after last season, like switching out to fully 18:30.900 --> 18:34.500 for Sharon Govich is not going to light anybody's world on fire. 18:35.220 --> 18:39.820 And, you know, like, yes, Coronado's in the NHL, but he's only a rookie. 18:39.820 --> 18:44.220 And realistically, there's only some like even if he has like a Calder candidate 18:44.220 --> 18:48.780 season, there's only so much that that one player can do. 18:49.300 --> 18:52.820 And so like if you're an outside observer, you're thinking, 18:52.820 --> 18:55.100 yeah, this team's kind of so-so. 18:55.460 --> 19:00.460 But, you know, it's one of those where if the players. 19:01.460 --> 19:04.140 Are playing to their potential, 19:04.900 --> 19:08.020 this team has an ability to surprise a lot. 19:08.060 --> 19:12.900 And we saw like in the Pittsburgh game where they got the four check going 19:12.900 --> 19:16.300 and like this team is noticeably faster 19:16.300 --> 19:19.740 than last year's edition or years past. 19:19.740 --> 19:25.100 And it'll be interesting to see if they, you know, and the acquisition of Greer 19:25.100 --> 19:27.260 helped that, I think, quite a lot. 19:27.260 --> 19:31.860 And Sharon Govich to, you know, just have players 19:31.860 --> 19:34.980 being able to get in on the opposing defensemen a lot more. 19:36.100 --> 19:37.020 So I'll agree with you. 19:37.020 --> 19:40.220 I think that the flames I mean, if you look at a team traditionally 19:40.220 --> 19:42.620 that is built for the playoffs, which I think we can agree 19:42.620 --> 19:45.940 the flames were last year, the disappoints like that, you would see 19:45.940 --> 19:48.860 wholesale moves like that team would say this isn't working. 19:48.860 --> 19:49.420 We got to move it. 19:49.420 --> 19:50.220 The flames didn't. 19:50.220 --> 19:54.140 And I think coming in with, like you said, almost the same roster minus to Foley. 19:54.700 --> 19:57.180 I think a lot of people are underestimating what they can do. 19:57.500 --> 20:00.820 So, Matt, my second question here, and I'll give you my thoughts first this time. 20:01.300 --> 20:06.060 Does being an underdog or going in an underdog help or hurt the flames this year? 20:06.060 --> 20:09.300 And my thought on this, I think that when we've seen the flames 20:09.620 --> 20:12.660 have a season where there's big expectations, remember when they were 20:12.900 --> 20:16.500 first in the West and they got beat by Colorado pretty handedly in the playoffs 20:16.500 --> 20:19.820 when they've gone in as top teams, they've been expected to go far. 20:20.020 --> 20:21.420 They always disappoint. 20:21.420 --> 20:25.180 And I think that going in this year with a little bit of that underdog mentality, 20:25.180 --> 20:28.980 a little bit of maybe flying under the radar, maybe being underestimated 20:28.980 --> 20:30.940 by other teams or other players. 20:30.940 --> 20:33.980 I think that could be one of the flames. 20:33.980 --> 20:37.300 Benefits this year is going into this season as the underdog, 20:37.300 --> 20:41.660 not having the expectations, not having to prove really anything to anybody, 20:42.580 --> 20:46.140 but just going in there and proving to themselves that they can do it first 20:46.380 --> 20:48.780 and they can get back to where they need to be instead of trying to, 20:48.940 --> 20:51.100 you know, match last year's numbers or something like that. 20:51.100 --> 20:54.740 I actually think that might be one of the keys for the flames here is that 20:55.180 --> 20:59.460 they will have the chance to prove people wrong and not be, you know, not, 20:59.460 --> 21:04.100 oh, the the first month is over and they're, you know, four and two. 21:04.100 --> 21:05.100 Oh, they're disappointing. 21:05.100 --> 21:07.100 I think there's really no expectations there. 21:07.540 --> 21:09.460 And that could help them. 21:09.460 --> 21:10.340 Oh, for sure. 21:10.340 --> 21:14.860 And you look at like a number of players who had disappointing seasons 21:14.860 --> 21:20.740 last year, like much upon a like Huberto, like Lindholm, like Kadri, where, 21:21.580 --> 21:25.180 you know, they were was more just generally expected of them. 21:25.180 --> 21:28.660 And for whatever reason, things did not materialize. 21:29.020 --> 21:32.420 Each of those guys has a lot of pride in their own abilities 21:32.980 --> 21:37.740 and are going to be pushing hard to say, hey, no, I'm not a crappy player. 21:37.740 --> 21:40.980 Thanks. I'm actually worth my good contract. 21:41.260 --> 21:43.420 Thanks. And let's go. 21:43.860 --> 21:47.580 And you're starting to see a little bit more intensity 21:47.580 --> 21:52.300 from Huberto and Kadri and Lindholm and Mandipani this year, 21:52.700 --> 21:55.580 which that that will boost the team. 21:55.580 --> 21:58.740 And, you know, I think one of the key factors 21:59.260 --> 22:03.740 that is very unheralded by most people 22:04.140 --> 22:06.820 is just how good the flames third and fourth line are 22:07.860 --> 22:12.740 because of the fact that the flames fourth line basically consists of six 22:12.740 --> 22:16.220 foot three, six foot four, six foot five guys that are quick. 22:16.820 --> 22:21.620 And you have the back one Coleman and insert winger here, 22:21.820 --> 22:26.820 whether it's Dubay, Mandipani, Sharon Govich, like any of those guys 22:26.820 --> 22:30.260 like those are two really good energy lines. 22:30.820 --> 22:34.700 And if you can properly manage it 22:35.020 --> 22:38.460 where you're having those two lines being wrecking balls, 22:38.940 --> 22:42.220 that will free up more space for the top six to get going. 22:42.540 --> 22:45.380 And, you know, and you can see periods 22:45.380 --> 22:50.060 like what we did to Pittsburgh yesterday happen more frequently 22:50.060 --> 22:54.100 because you're going from guys like Richie, Luchich and Lewis, 22:54.100 --> 22:58.940 who are not fleet of foot in any way, shape or form to guys like Dewar, 22:58.940 --> 23:04.900 Sharon Govich, Greer, who are all very quick as players. 23:04.900 --> 23:08.460 And they they're both all three of them are big enough. 23:08.460 --> 23:12.020 And they they're physical enough where they're going to cause havoc 23:12.020 --> 23:14.140 for the opposing defenseman. 23:14.140 --> 23:16.420 And that's a big change. 23:16.420 --> 23:18.780 And it's hard to 23:19.300 --> 23:22.740 have, you know, defend against like a line like that. 23:22.740 --> 23:25.460 And then you're tired naturally because of that. 23:25.460 --> 23:30.300 And then, oh, here's the Huberto line to come after that. 23:30.300 --> 23:33.220 And, you know, it's just the more difficult 23:33.220 --> 23:35.260 you can make the other team's lives, the better. 23:36.420 --> 23:39.100 Yeah, and going, you know, going back to that conversation 23:39.100 --> 23:41.020 of the underdogs are being underestimated, 23:41.020 --> 23:43.820 I think that there is a lot of. 23:43.820 --> 23:46.500 Depth to this team that other teams may not see, 23:46.500 --> 23:49.140 and that's what might be underestimated, and I think we've seen it 23:49.140 --> 23:52.380 in the past with this team where it's either the top, let's call it 23:52.580 --> 23:55.260 five players look really good and everybody looks terrible 23:55.260 --> 23:58.300 or the top five players are terrible and everybody else is picking up the scoring. 23:58.380 --> 24:00.340 Yeah, and I think and you said earlier this.