So, what went wrong?
Where did things fall apart for the Flames as they aimed to build on their most improbable of playoff showings a year earlier?
Fact is nothing broke down — it never actually got started.
This group lacked the maturity to take last year’s success in stride and stumbled out to a horrific start that saw them win one game in regulation (thanks to a fluke late goal against Edmonton) in their first 14 games.
A pathetic opener they never recovered from.
To put the team’s fragile confidence in simpler terms coach Bob Hartley used — appropriately enough — a golf analogy.