So why do NBA stars regularly just sit out of games when healthy? The NHL schedule is brutal, every athlete will take advantage of rest days to recover from minor injuries and catch their breath. And 5 or 6 days isn’t long enough to forget how to play hockey. Besides, if there was to be any rust (which as I said, is doubtful and honestly just unprofessional, like they’re getting paid millions of dollars to show up every night, they don’t get to complain about having a rest), it would be in the first game, not the second. So no, this is not an excuse. Every single advantage was in Boston’s favour, but they played poorly, Vladar played well, and Calgary got the convincing victory.

foligno and smith are both coming off injuries and havent played many consecutive games. The roster hasnt had time over the first 2 months to gel. flames have had 4 extra games to play with each other and learn their nuances, 3 in 4 is brutal. but at the same token they are playing competitive hockey. even coming off a b2b bruins were in philly the night before not like they werent traveling back to boston as well.