flames v. coyotes pregame: fingers crossed

i'm afraid to say it, but the flames have looked a lot like a slumping team for an unfortunate amount of time. the wins have come with a couple of hard-pushes at the end of games where kipper looked superhuman. the losses have come pretty much the rest of the time.

it's painful to watch a solid team fall apart at the seams...

a comment on battle of alberta, subversive proclaimed,
"The Flames are awesome. The only reason they're losing is because they play like shit so often."

i think this comment is hilarious, in the way that makes me want to hang my head and cry juuust a little.

our defensive woes can no longer be hidden by the security blanket that iggy and kipper have so oft provided in past months. there are glaring errors nightly, huge gaffes that lead to defecits that the unstable offense can not rally back from. most nights, we're generating enough offense to win (2 or 3 goals), but we are giving up twice that.... it's an impossible situation. eriksson and warrener need to be benched indefinitely, and sarich needs immediate demotion to 3rd pairing minutes, which leaves two enormous, bleeding holes on the right point that aucoin is in no shape to fill alone.

this team is in a LOT of trouble...

if sutter does not amp up the blueline, the 07/08 flames will be favorites to bow out in the first round, if they even duck under the the line and into the post season to begin with. i, for one, will not hold my breath on our chances if this team looks the same next wednesday.

as for tonight: blowout.
the young guns will be anxious about the looming deadline, and the vets will be underperforming as usual. bryzgalov will not pitch a shutout, but he'll be stellar nonetheless. sjöstrom will notch his first career hattrick on a flailing kiprusoff. lombardi should (by all accounts) end the night about a -3 from not knowing who his linemates will be shift-to-shift, though there will be about 8 amazing lombo passes out front with nobody there to tip it in.

i would not predict a win. but i would LOVE to be surprised....
:)