Compete Level Questioned In Calgary And Edmonton

from Eric Francis of Sportsnet,

Geoff Ward spoke earlier this week about the importance of bringing more anger to the rink.
On Thursday night he was one of the only ones who practised what he preached.
Following yet another evening full of uninspiring hockey from his club, Ward unleashed seven minutes of fury directed at a team that has lost three in a row at the most inopportune of times.
“It’s about compete and how hard you want to compete,” said Ward following a 3-2 Calgary Flames loss to the Nashville Predators after which he dished on his team’s engagement of late. “At the end of the day, if there is a loose puck, are they getting it or we getting it? Right now, we’re not getting it enough. Say what you want but we need to be way, way more desperate.”

continued

from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

Lose to the San Jose Sharks?
Sure, you can still lose to the San Jose Sharks. They’re pros, with a mix of veterans trying to save face after a lousy season, and a bunch of kids playing for jobs.
But get outworked by the San Jose Sharks? Shift after shift after shift? In your own building, in the thick of a playoff race? One game removed from a poor performance in Arizona that everyone basically wrote off as a Calgary hangover…?
“We were just flat. Emotionless,” said Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid. “We’re at our best when we’re playing with emotion and being physical. In guys’ faces and playing the right way. Two nights in a row we’ve been pretty flat and maybe it’s a little bit of a letdown from those games in Calgary and whatnot, but we can’t make excuses for ourselves.
“We’ve got to be better.”...
Everyone gave the Oilers a pass for a lethargic 3-0 loss in Arizona on Tuesday. After those emotional games against Calgary, even head coach Dave Tippett showed some understanding with his “They tried to try” quote down in Glendale.
What’s the difference two nights later?
“Six periods,” said Tippett. “Not good.”
“This was a game that we had to show up and play,” he continued. “We were not competing hard enough in the areas that you have to.”

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Compete Level Questioned In Calgary And Edmonton

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