Note: scroll to the bottom for the cumulative numbers; these are for Games 11-20 exclusively. Numbers for Games 1-10 here.

Record: 3-6-1 (2-3-1 Home, 1-3-0 Road)
3 Regulation Wins, 0 OT/SO Wins, 6 Regulation Losses, 1 OT Loss, 0 SO Losses

Scoring & Preventing Goals:
Much like their record, there is nothing here to like. Their penalty killing looks less atrocious than in the 1st 10 games, but it's not, really: they were equally inept down by a man, but had more success down two men (no goals against in 165secs of 3-on-5). Their PP scoring was worse, their EV scoring was worse, and their EV Goals Against was worse. Just about a clean sweep!

Player Rates:

(Click to enlarge; sorted by ESP/60) The discussion regarding which centre to put with which wingers is ongoing, but any questions regarding whether Mike Keenan likes and trusts Lombardi as a hockey player have been answered. As shown, Lombardi's +4 is one of only two positive +/- rates over this stretch (the Warrener was +1 in 6GP), and last night, he spent more time on the ice than any other Flames forward.

Silver Linings? Yeah, although I suppose it depends on how you want to look at it. What follows are a bunch of "records" for the Flames thru 20, shown as [Flames had more -- Opp't had more -- Equal]. For instance, in total goals scored, Flames are 8-11-1; outscored the opponent 8 times, been outscored 11 times, and scored the same # of goals once (the one shootout game). Hope that's clear enough.

Special Teams goals (including 6-on-5):
= 3-10-7
Even Strength goals:
= 11-8-1
Total Shots on goal:
= 10-7-3
Special Teams Shots on Goal:
= 11-8-1
Even Strength Shots on Goal:
= 11-9-0
Even Strength Shots Directed at the Net (Shots (incl. Goals) + Missed Shots):
= 12-6-2
Even Strength Shots Directed at the Net *including* Shots that are Blocked:
= 16-2-2

I guess the first thing this reinforces is how badly the Flames are getting trashed on special teams. They have only prevented the opposition from scoring a PP goal 3 times in 20 games, and 2 of those were against the league's worst PP (btw, Craig Simpson? My apologies, I guess it wasn't all you).

However, you will note that this is not due to getting outshot. Neither is it a discipline thing; they have taken 105 penalties and drawn 95, which is pretty close. The problem is some combination of getting out-goaltended, giving up too many high quality shots, and taking too many low quality shots.

The other thing is the two versions of the Corsi +/- at the end. I've been pondering this since it first came up, and this is where I'm at:

**The most interesting use of the Corsi metric is as a proxy for scoring chances for and against. I understand the concern that it doesn't really tell you about the quality of the chances, but at the same time, I don't see it as being different than any other stat in that sense.

Just taking goals as an easy example: the number of goals a player has scored in a season is not quite the definitive word on how good a goal-scorer he is. It doesn't tell you whether he's had any extremely lucky or unlucky bounces, or whether he's done it against the Zetterbergs and Lidstroms, or the Laperrieres and Lileses(es). But for the most part, the guys at the top of the leaderboard are the best goal-scorers, and the guys at the bottom are the worst.

For the most part, the teams (and players) who are directing the most shots at the net are going to be the ones who are getting the most scoring chances.

**As a proxy for scoring chances for & against, I think it works best if blocked shots are excluded. With blocked shots included, I figure it's a good proxy for zone time, or Where The Puck Is, which is interesting in and of itself. But if the NHL actually kept track of zone time, I wouldn't want to use that as a proxy for scoring chances, because then I'd be explicitly equating Player A, who can create chances out of O-zone possession, with Player B, who cannot. Why would I want to do that? It fails to apply Vic's famous common sense.

My other logic is here is viewing it from the perspective of the defending team. Blocking shots is better defense than not; creating traffic in shooting lanes is better defense than not; forcing the attacking team to keep the puck to the outside is better defense than not. If you treat blocked shots like a scoring chance, rather than a prevented scoring chance, then you are failing to credit the defensive team for doing these things that clearly prevent goals.

Consider the instance of Jarome Iginla coming down the right wing on a partial break and winding up. If he hits the post (or scores, or Luongo has to make a beauty glove save), then this obviously qualifies as a scoring chance. But if Willie Mitchell gets his stick out and deflects the puck up into the netting, I don't think it does -- and I'd be wary of any metric that deliberately treats these two things as equal. Your mileage may vary.

**What does this all mean for the Flames? I think what it means is that there's nowhere to go but up. There is nothing that would indicate that results should get worse at EV, only numbers that show they should stay the same, or get better. Past that, I think they've had some bad luck, and I mean luck in the rather technical context of what Tyler illustrates as Type I and Type II luck. Mainly:

• Teams that are not horrible simply do not go through an entire season with a 75% PK (no team has been lower than 77% in a year starting with '2')
  
• Goaltenders with excellent track records who are healthy do not lose several dozen points off their save percentage all at once

But we shall certainly see. Go Flames.