Quote:
Originally Posted by Coach
Well I've taking some time to digest what I watched last night and here are my thoughts:
The series is not done. Many teams have come back from 3-1, and I have to have optimism that the Flames can turn this around.
The Flames need to hit people. There are countless times I see a Flame curl past a player eligible to be hit and over the course of the series it's given them comfort with the puck. Every player needs to finish their checks, not just Bennett and the Ryan line.
The effort from the top line is pure garbage. Lindholm was better last night, actually finishing checks and trying on the forecheck, but whenever the puck moved, no Monahan to be seen, and if Gaudreau was there, his forecheck is light. He's never hit people, but he was always sneaky good and picking the puck away from opponents on the forecheck and it's just not happening. I'm at a loss for how it can be turned around, they just need to be better straight up. It's on them.
Last night was the first time I recall seeing Neal stop and start to retrieve a puck all season, and it only happened once. Get him out of this series and off this team. He's a bum. He's not going to pick it up. He's had his chances and he's playing with two young talented players. Bring me Czarnik or Dube.
Smith has been a monster. I feel bad for him. He's giving everything he has to give his team a shot, and give himelf probably one final chance at a playoff run, and he's being left out to dry. 40+ shots in back to back games is absurd from the 2nd place team witht he defense they have. Mackinnon's game is no excuse. The amount of second and third chances being allowed is unacceptable. Whenever we get the puck in our zone we give it straight back to them and it's just resulting in chance after chance again. Make a play.
SHOOT THE F***ING PUCK. Tkachuk gave up two sure goals to make an absurdly low percentage play. It almost worked once. The second on should have been a shot. If I watch one more player glide through a prime scoring position with the puck because their path to the net isn't clear I'm going to throw my remote at the TV. THE PATH ISN'T SUPPOSED TO BE CLEAR. SHOOT THE PUCK THROUGH TRAFFIC. Sick of seeing great scoring chances just disappear.
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Agree with most of this...
I will take a sub par Smith all season long if this is the Smith we get in the playoffs. The last 3 games are complete blow outs if not for him. Saying he has been good is a major understatement. Anyone calling out Peters for not pulling him the other game needs to understand, Peters likely didn't have much of a choice. Smith is playing good and yanking him could easily deflate his play into future games.
Bennett has been solid... not great but I don't think anyone expected him to be a game changer.
As weird as this sounds, I wouldn't be against benching 1 of Sean or Johny for game 5. They are both completely useless when there is the threat of being hit. Johny can't retrieve pucks in corners during the regular season with high success let alone in the playoffs when the odds of being hit go way up.
Sean needs a redbull to show some emotion or if he is hurt, let someone else step in.
The obvious problem is that the Avs top line is outplaying our top line by a long shot but I also see the Avs outworking the flames. We got by all season on a solid system. The problem these top teams seem to have is that while the better team continues doing what gave them success, the underdog has to adapt. All hands on deck watching film on ways to counter the better team as they have nothing to lose while the flames or lightning are smarter making slight adjustments and sticking with what works as they would look crazy changing what made them a top team.
James "saving it for the playoffs" Neal should also be sitting. I am convinced that injecting 2 guys who are prepared to step in front of a shot, have good speed and thrive on contact would greatly change the makeup of this series for the flames.
At the very least, mix up the lines. Lindholm has been good IMO. He has thrown more hits than Johny and Mony combined including a couple of big ones and it isn't his fault that Johny is trying to be a 1 man show and Mony is just in la la land. Split Sean and Johny up on the 2nd and 3rd line, go with a
Tkachuk, Backlund, Lindholm,
Gaudreau, Ryan, Bennett
Mangiapane, Monahan, Frolik
Dube, Jankowski, Hathaway
Sit Neal, Czarnic