[Game Takes] Canes 2 Flames 1

[Bingo]

Canes 2 Flames 1

- Calgary tries to sit on another lead
- Rittich solid again
- offense still a barren wasteland
- second line does a face plant
- glad Hanifin is ok

[Cheese]

They just have to get 50%+ at this:
Face Offs – Flames 47%

[burn_baby_burn]

Same old Flames.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Agree with you that Peters should consider pairs rather than loading 3 of the 4 top line players on one line

Regarding the stripes, the stick hitting Rittich’s mask is a high stick in my book.

[The Cobra]

I'm not sure that I would consider 5v5 high danger chances to be "reasonable" when the Canes had 50% more than Calgary, 9-6.

If you did that every game, you'd be a lottery team for sure.

[ricardodw]

5 games ago I posted that the Flames schedule changed. The next 6 games were against Teams with a winning record (and the Jets at the Heritage classic).

These were games that the Flames would not be big favorites, sort of like playoff games 50-50.


Ana W 2-1
Was L 3-5
Fla SO w 6-5 no shootout in playoffs
Wpg L OT 1-2
Car L 1-2
Nash


So in this little playoff team run in the schedule the Flames are 1-3

They need to beat Nashville or they are eliminated in 5 (again).


Maybe the Flames can make the playoffs by consistently beating the non-playoff teams, but that just gets them there and they will be playing a pretty good team in the 1st round.

[Split98]

I'm sure that if you look across the league there's all but a handful of fanbases echoing the same things each year

"Same ol' Coyotes"
"Same ol' Jets"
"Same ol' Rangers"
"Same ol' Sharks"
"Same ol' Golde--" nevermind, #### you Vegas

But nevertheless... boy oh boy does it get old to watch. We had a brief heyday where we were one of the handfuls - but I'd imagine that a blind read of the 5-4-2 Lightning's forum would feel pretty familiar right now. It helps me to remember that, I don't know about you guys


But yikes is the entertainment level at a low when this is the nonsense on the ice. I think this is the 4th game I've turned off? At the very best, the lady and I have pretty much talked through all but 2. Every 3rd we say "ok, let's tune into this" to remember why we were talking about passport renewals through a hockey game.

You want to find an answer in the players or the coaches, but if we're keeping track... this is the 2nd core in a row that needs to 'blow up'. It's been more of a bummer to be a Flames fan than it hasn't, that's for sure - but I can't put my finger on what's plaguing this team.

Last night, I waited for the big Lucic moment to snap me back into the game and it didn't happen. The biggest offensive moment I can recall for a loooong stretch of the game was a Mangiapane shot that resulted in a good glove save. Otherwise, there really didn't seem to be anyone out there that wanted to take the game over.

These are all going to sound like Oiler comments, so please stop me if any of these statements don't have a large enough sample size behind it to make:
- We've seen that this coaching staff has what it takes to win hockey games
- Rittich looks like a damn good NHL starting goalie
- Our defence is downright filthy - honestly.
- We have offensive weapons across 3 lines
- There are players on this roster that can take over a game
- This team really believes in what's in the room

The problem is, too few of the above has been doing well as of late. Outside of two guys, pretty much everyone has to be looking for big improvements. We suffered through Smith and Neal last year, and it seemed like a much smaller storyline when the team won. We would be winning in spite of those barriers... and that same team minus barriers is all of a sudden awful? It doesn't make much sense.

It's probably just as simple as the basic psychology every one that's played team sports has experienced. As soon as the air is let out of the room, it's tough to get in the right headspace to win your battles. You get the odd guy here or there on the team that gets a good thing going - but that's deflated the second things turn the other way. It could be just that simple, and it makes more sense to me than looking at everything as terrible.

This year we don't have a Smith clearly costing us x-goals. That was a clear (and in my experience, very frustrating) problem that had multiple resolutions pass by as the year went on. This time around? The team just sucks. The player's skill, the GM's vision, the coach's plan, and the team chemistry aren't the problem. I think the team, as a team... needs to be a better team.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

I'm not sure that I would consider 5v5 high danger chances to be "reasonable" when the Canes had 50% more than Calgary, 9-6.

If you did that every game, you'd be a lottery team for sure.

Not really. Giving up 9 per game would rank you 10th or 11th in the league in that stat (the Wild are #1 right now at 7.5 per game) ... I was saying what they are giving up in a game like that is reasonable.

It's the offence that's the problem.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Not really. Giving up 9 per game would rank you 10th or 11th in the league in that stat (the Wild are #1 right now at 7.5 per game) ... I was saying what they are giving up in a game like that is reasonable.

It's the offence that's the problem.

It's the difference that I was commenting on. You can't give up 50% more chances 5v5 and succeed.

For the record, your comment related to the 9-6 being reasonable, I don't think it was limited to the 9. But I agree 9 is OK to be giving up.

[ricardodw]

We've seen that this coaching staff has what it takes to win hockey games

- Peters 4 year coaching record before last years miracle season was exactly 500 with no playoff games. This year is a regression to the norm for his coaching record.

- Rittich looks like a damn good NHL starting goalie

He looks like a starting goalie... he is 20th in Sv% of all goalies with more than 40 game since the start of the 2018-19 season

- Our defence is downright filthy - honestly.

Maybe with Valamaki not missing a year. Andersson is not going to be in consideration for a Big $ long term deal coming off his ELC . Really hard to break a cycle without at least the threat of physical contact.

- We have offensive weapons across 3 lines

Backlund - Lucic - Frolik. 42 games 3 goals 10 pts combined -15

Magniapane-Ryan- Rieder smallest 4th line in league 10pts.

Monahan Bennett Quine 11 pts



- There are players on this roster that can take over a game

Pretty much on all NHL teams

- This team really believes in what's in the room

??? really hard to tell.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

It's the difference that I was commenting on. You can't give up 50% more chances 5v5 and succeed.

For the record, your comment related to the 9-6 being reasonable, I don't think it was limited to the 9. But I agree 9 is OK to be giving up.

Absolutely ... my story was filled with comments about the Flames or individual players not generating much.

But they're not in bad shape on the defensive side of the puck or goaltending.

Last year early they were good in terms of shot attempts given up, but the number of high danger chances they bled per game in October was terrible.

Just looked it up .. on this date last year the Flames were a smidge ahead of the worst team in hockey giving up 14.91 per game.

By most metrics the Flames are playing better this year than last year in October, but their shooting percentage is falling apart.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

We've seen that this coaching staff has what it takes to win hockey games

- Peters 4 year coaching record before last years miracle season was exactly 500 with no playoff games. This year is a regression to the norm for his coaching record.

- Rittich looks like a damn good NHL starting goalie

He looks like a starting goalie... he is 20th in Sv% of all goalies with more than 40 game since the start of the 2018-19 season

- Our defence is downright filthy - honestly.

Maybe with Valamaki not missing a year. Andersson is not going to be in consideration for a Big $ long term deal coming off his ELC . Really hard to break a cycle without at least the threat of physical contact.

- We have offensive weapons across 3 lines

Backlund - Lucic - Frolik. 42 games 3 goals 10 pts combined -15

Magniapane-Ryan- Rieder smallest 4th line in league 10pts.

Monahan Bennett Quine 11 pts



- There are players on this roster that can take over a game

Pretty much on all NHL teams

- This team really believes in what's in the room

??? really hard to tell.

The team is off to a slow start offensively, so spouting scoring stats really doesn't add anything to the discussion does it?

They were 2nd in goal scoring last year, which is a bigger sample size ... and I'm fine with things settling somewhere in between those two extremes.

Peters is fine as a coach, you won't bait me there.

30 teams would be happy to add Rasmus Andersson to their fold.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

We've seen that this coaching staff has what it takes to win hockey games

- Peters 4 year coaching record before last years miracle season was exactly 500 with no playoff games. This year is a regression to the norm for his coaching record.

- Rittich looks like a damn good NHL starting goalie

He looks like a starting goalie... he is 20th in Sv% of all goalies with more than 40 game since the start of the 2018-19 season

- Our defence is downright filthy - honestly.

Maybe with Valamaki not missing a year. Andersson is not going to be in consideration for a Big $ long term deal coming off his ELC . Really hard to break a cycle without at least the threat of physical contact.

- We have offensive weapons across 3 lines

Backlund - Lucic - Frolik. 42 games 3 goals 10 pts combined -15

Magniapane-Ryan- Rieder smallest 4th line in league 10pts.

Monahan Bennett Quine 11 pts



- There are players on this roster that can take over a game

Pretty much on all NHL teams

- This team really believes in what's in the room

??? really hard to tell.

Peters
You injected your own opinion, but nothing of what you said is really that substantial right now is it. Peters did worse on a different team? Neat.


Rittich
Rittich is 20th in the league in front of a team people are screaming at the heavens about? You don't say.


Defence
You can find whatever excuses you want to discredit our defence. I see Giordano, Hanifin, Andersson, Brodie, Hamonic, Kylington, and Valimaki as a pretty good list of names you can throw out there.


Offensive Weapons
It's pretty cool how you researched stats you didn't need to. Players need to play better, we're all pretty clear on that


Game Breakers
And of course there is. It's a league of the best ####ing hockey players in the world. The point, as I notice you always skirt just to make a post, is that we also have some. And we need to see it.


Belief in the Room
It was talked about all off-season.