Should Johnson or Elliott Start Game 4?

[Beninho]

Originally Posted by oldschoolcalgary

well, since what i think doesn't actually matter, its not something i worry about ...

i've already put out my position of starting Johnson if he's healthy...and Elliott if not...

if there's been no word of Gillies being called up by now, then its pretty unlikely he's going to start for us tomorrow...

Gillies is on the roster no?

[Sylvanfan]

Given the situation that's a pretty harsh thing to do to a young player like Gilles. So I picked Johnson. But at this point, I'm pretty convinced that Elliott is done as a Flame unless the other guy pulls you out of the ashes and eventually get's injured.

All season long Elliot has not played well against this team, save the first game, where he still allowed 3 goals in regulation. They need to switch it up, maybe Gilles would be the answer.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by Beninho

Gillies is on the roster no?

actually, you might be right... well it opens the door for that if that's the case...

[Beninho]

Sink or swim. Give gillies the opportunity and maybe he shocks the hockey world. He's a massive goalie who has awesome reflexes. Look at what Murray did, rookies can thrive in the playoffs. Gillies should start, the future is now. Elliott is more interested in arguing goals than stopping them. Put the kid in

[Beninho]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Given the situation that's a pretty harsh thing to do to a young player like Gilles. So I picked Johnson. But at this point, I'm pretty convinced that Elliott is done as a Flame unless the other guy pulls you out of the ashes and eventually get's injured.

All season long Elliot has not played well against this team, save the first game, where he still allowed 3 goals in regulation. They need to switch it up, maybe Gilles would be the answer.

You may call it harsh but I call it an opportunity of a lifetime. Gillies loses it's not his fault. He wins and we are ever better for it. Let's see what he can do

[atb]

Originally Posted by Flamescuprun2018

Anybody but Elliott for me. Gillies for the experience opportunity sounds good.

Recognizing a limited sample size. We have the last (17th) ranked goalie in the playoffs this year. Oilers have the 3rd ranked goalie. The GSAA is very telling. Elliott has given up 4 more goals than league average for number of shots faced and Talbot has saved 3 goals more than league average for number of shots faced.

If we had Talbot level goaltending in this series we would have given up 7 fewer goals and be leading 3-0 in the series!

I cannot believe our misfortune with goalie signings. Elliott was 0.930 SAA in regular season and 0.921 in playoffs last year. Does make me wonder a bit about our goalie coach.

Blues really got it right with Jake Allen over Elliott it would seem.


Rk Player GA SA SV SV% GAA SO MIN GSAA
1 Jake Allen 3 117 114 .974 0.91 0 198 5.36
2 Pekka Rinne 2 95 93 .979 0.61 2 197 4.79
3 Cam Talbot 3 83 80 .964 0.98 2 183 2.93
4 MAF 6 109 103 .945 1.87 0 193 1.79
5 Lundqvist 7 118 111 .941 2.16 1 194 1.43
6 Carey Price 5 89 84 .944 1.53 0 196 1.36
7 Bernier 0 16 16 1.000 0.00 0 33 1.14
8 Martin Jones 5 77 72 .935 1.66 0 181 0.50
9 F Andersen 9 120 111 .925 2.47 0 219 -0.42
10 Dubnyk 6 78 72 .923 1.87 0 193 -0.43
11 Holtby 10 116 106 .914 2.74 0 219 -1.71
12 John Gibson 8 85 77 .906 3.22 0 149 -1.92
13 Crawford 9 98 89 .908 2.77 0 195 -2.00
14 Anderson 8 74 66 .892 2.58 0 186 -2.71
15 Tuukka Rask 9 88 79 .898 2.89 0 187 -2.71
16 Bobrovsky 11 107 96 .897 3.49 0 189 -3.35
17 Brian Elliott 11 97 86 .887 3.67 0 180 -4.07

What's even worse is Gibson is 12th on that list. With marginally better goaltending we would be likely be leading this series. That has to be so frustrating for management.

[lazypucker]

Why are there so many people voting for Gillies?

Thinking he is the unknown and will miraclously win 4 straight playoff games with only a single NHL game experience? No way it is going to happen.

Why feed a baby sheep to the wolves? What happen if the Flames actually starts Gillies and he got lit up for like 3 goals in the first 5 shots? His confidence may be f'd forever.

Again for the Flames to win 4 straight including winning twice in Anaheim is 99.999% impossible. It might be easier to get Anaheim suspended by the league and forfeit the playoffs.

The Flames may win game 4 and that's pretty much it. Please don't prolong the agony.

[Azhouse]

I think that many people are tired of the current tandem's whiffing on pucks and letting softies in the net at key moments (Elliott last night, Johnson vs Oilers and down the stretch - Boston game comes to mind). People are craving a good save that keeps them in the game and this tired twosome ain't even close to cutting the concept of what resembles playoff hockey.

If it's one game and out why not give the kid a chance? There is really nothing to lose.

[Mathgod]

Can I vote for Rinne or Price or Allen?

Kidding aside, Elliott. If he doesn't have that brilliant stretch in the rs, the Flames perhaps don't even make the playoffs. Live by the sword & die by the sword.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Flamescuprun2018

Anybody but Elliott for me. Gillies for the experience opportunity sounds good.

Recognizing a limited sample size. We have the last (17th) ranked goalie in the playoffs this year. Oilers have the 3rd ranked goalie. The GSAA is very telling. Elliott has given up 4 more goals than league average for number of shots faced and Talbot has saved 3 goals more than league average for number of shots faced.

If we had Talbot level goaltending in this series we would have given up 7 fewer goals and be leading 3-0 in the series!

A case of stats confirming the eyeball test. We lost games 2 and 3 because of inferior goaltending. Average goaltending probably gets us both of those games. Elliott was actually pretty good in the first game, so that would have taken significantly above average goaltending.

Originally Posted by lazypucker

What happen if the Flames actually starts Gillies and he got lit up for like 3 goals in the first 5 shots? His confidence may be f'd forever.

If that's all it takes to ruin his confidence, he's never going to be an NHL goaltender anyway.

[MisterJoji]

Originally Posted by Beninho

Sink or swim. Give gillies the opportunity and maybe he shocks the hockey world. He's a massive goalie who has awesome reflexes. Look at what Murray did, rookies can thrive in the playoffs. Gillies should start, the future is now. Elliott is more interested in arguing goals than stopping them. Put the kid in

Totally. I also don't think it will be a huge amount of pressure on him. Just tell him to go out there, relax and play his game. No one really expects the team to make a historical comeback so if he loses, whatever, was to be expected, and likely the same result if Elliott had played. But if he wins, great, keep going until he loses. It really is a no lose situation for him.

Originally Posted by lazypucker

Why are there so many people voting for Gillies?

Thinking he is the unknown and will miraclously win 4 straight playoff games with only a single NHL game experience? No way it is going to happen.

Why feed a baby sheep to the wolves? What happen if the Flames actually starts Gillies and he got lit up for like 3 goals in the first 5 shots? His confidence may be f'd forever.

Again for the Flames to win 4 straight including winning twice in Anaheim is 99.999% impossible. It might be easier to get Anaheim suspended by the league and forfeit the playoffs.

The Flames may win game 4 and that's pretty much it. Please don't prolong the agony.

That's the spirit.

[Kidder]

Originally Posted by Mathgod

Kidding aside, Elliott. If he doesn't have that brilliant stretch in the rs, the Flames perhaps don't even make the playoffs. Live by the sword & die by the sword.

And if Johnson wasn't lights out in the early half when Elliot was struggling big time, we'd also have likely missed the playoffs.

So if we're talking about a guy who deserves the net for helping this team into the postseason... Well Elliot fumbled the ball so give Johnson his due.

If we're talking what have you done for me lately? Elliot has cost us games. So again, Johnson.

The way I see it, we all expected Johnson was here to stay after his hot stretch. Now after he cooled off, not so much. Give him a postseason start and let's see if he can be a goaltender we want on our roster going forward. Elliot should not be brought back.

[Strange Brew]

Question is whether Elliott can turn it around on a dime, as there is now no margin for error. I think its unlikely and he needs some time to get out of his own head and regain some confidence. Not going to happen in space 45 hours.

Johnson is a big question mark based on his play down the stretch, but he got hot once this year.

I'm going with the Chad.

[CroFlames]

If Gulutzen feels like never coaching ever again, he'll start Gillies.

[CedarMeter]

I'm shocked at this poll. I guess CP is taking the sink or swim option. Gillies to start? Seems a little crazy to me. I think I'd start Johnson, personally.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Is Johnson 100% healthy. I made I clear in my post about that when I chose Gillies. Groins don't heal overnight.

It's been two weeks, and he's been backing him up for a few days now. He's healthy, otherwise he wouldn't be on the bench. The team had Gillies in his spot in game one, so they aren't shy about putting him in the lineup. There's no doubt that Johnson is healthy, he just had a slight tweak to a hamstring or an adductor muscle. A couple weeks is plenty of healing time.






And oh how soon we forget. Johnson was the only player holding our season together through the first few months of the season. He was incredible, and EARNED, not "stole", the starting job. Even though Johnson didn't have a great second half, he also barely got any game action. Most goalies thrive on regular playing time, and when you go over a month without playing during a hot streak, you're not going to be super sharp when you get back in the net.

It's 50/50 for me between Elliott and Johnson for game 4, and I wouldn't have a major problem with either decision. Elliott could bounce back the way he's done in the past and play lights out. He could also look horrible again, so you need a quick hook if he lets in even ONE iffy goal.

I voted Johnson simply because the Ducks seem to have Elliott's number. Gotta change things up to get a different result.

[Mathgod]

Originally Posted by Kidder

And if Johnson wasn't lights out in the early half when Elliot was struggling big time, we'd also have likely missed the playoffs.

So if we're talking about a guy who deserves the net for helping this team into the postseason... Well Elliot fumbled the ball so give Johnson his due.

If we're talking what have you done for me lately? Elliot has cost us games. So again, Johnson.

The way I see it, we all expected Johnson was here to stay after his hot stretch. Now after he cooled off, not so much. Give him a postseason start and let's see if he can be a goaltender we want on our roster going forward. Elliot should not be brought back.

Like Elliott, Johnson struggled the last few times we saw him in action. Elliott's struggles are more recent, but then again so is Elliott's hot streak. I'd say it's about a saw-off. Overall I still think Elliott gives this team an ever so slightly better chance at pulling off the 4 game miracle than Johnson does. The tiebreaker, I think, is the fact that Elliott was brought in to be the team's clear-cut #1 and has more playoff experience. I say, for better or worse, let him finish what he started. If he can't lead this team to at least a couple wins here, time to go another direction for next year.

[Crumpy-Gunt]

I would keep Elliott in net.

[iamca]

Numbers don't lie...less than a 2% chance after losing game 3, so why wouldn't you give Gillies an opportunity?

Johnson looked very shaky in his last full game and Elliott's performance cost us any hope in these playoffs.

[zukes]

Parsons is now available to call up. He held the Knights in as long as he could, including a 58 save performance tonight, but it wasn't enough as Erie beat London 5-4 in OT in game 7 tonight. As has been this whole series, Parsons was the only reason the Knights were in it. Final shots 63-29.