[Game Takes] Flames 2 Stars 0 (Flames lead series 2-1)

[Bingo]

Game Takes: Flames 2 Stars 0 (Flames lead series 2-1)

- Talbot
- Talbot
- Flames keeping the Stars to the outside for the most part
- Talbot

[Red_Baron]

True. Defensively, they played well enough to earn the shutout, but as far as generating offense, they deserved to be shut out.

[MrMike]

Originally Posted by Red_Baron

True. Defensively, they played well enough to earn the shutout, but as far as generating offense, they deserved to be shut out.

Thank god we weren't up against such a goalie as Hellybuck or even Bishop!

[boogerz]

It was nice to see Monahan trying to play with a bit more grit. Hopefully he keeps that up

[Itse]

Unless I'm mistaken, we've scored more shorthanded in this series than Dallas has scored on the PP? That's a pretty significant special teams advantage

Rieder did well in his role. Obviously he's no Tkachuk when it comes to skill, but he has a lot of fight in him. I also liked what Quine had to show. Depth is good.

[timbit]

Currently, Talbot has the 4th best save percentage of Goalies who have played more than 2 games.

Only Price , Korpisalo and Hart are ahead of him.

1.87 GAA isn’t too shabby either.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Itse

Unless I'm mistaken, we've scored more shorthanded in this series than Dallas has scored on the PP? That's a pretty significant special teams advantage

Rieder did well in his role. Obviously he's no Tkachuk when it comes to skill, but he has a lot of fight in him. I also liked what Quine had to show. Depth is good.

Dallas is 1 for 10 on the PP and the Flames have 2 shorties

The Flames are 2 for 7 on their PP.

Just 7 penalties in 3 games, Dallas is a very clean and disciplined team!

[Macindoc]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Dallas is 1 for 10 on the PP and the Flames have 2 shorties

The Flames are 2 for 7 on their PP.

Just 7 penalties in 3 games, Dallas is a very clean and disciplined team!

Yes, the officials are clearly showing favouritism toward the Flames by giving them a disproportionate amount of time to work their short handed magic!

[DeluxeMoustache]

Slushy Ice?
Have to wonder if maybe the ice surface in the bubble cities is going to erode over time. Tonight the puck was bouncing everywhere for both clubs, but really noticeable when the Flames were trying to kick off a first period powerplay from behind their net.
Erik Gustafsson and Johnny Gaudreau each had the puck bounce over their sticks twice as the puck bounced and rolled around.
Will be interesting to see if it’s a matter of the heat of August, and it will get better as the rounds progress and the weather outside cools down, or if it’s wear and tear and it’s only going to get worse through the rounds.

I do not expect this is the case. Usually you have 20 000 bodies in an enclosed space adding heat and that is not the case here.

Didn’t Johnny say he preferred to watch another game from his hotel as the arena was cold?

Maybe being the third game of the day, there were a handful of imperfections

I would assume that if there were issues, the crew responsible for the ice would put in some extra time in the 10-12 hours overnight

And finally, as the playoffs go on, and teams are eliminated, there will be far fewer games played each day

I expect the ice to be just fine as the playoffs move along

[Sylvanfan]

When Talbot is sorted out I think he can be an above average starter. For a couple years in Edmonton, he was close to a top 10 guy before the grind there killed his Confidence. He is a guy who has a lot of Structure in his game, so if the team in front of him plays that way he too can post some outstanding numbers. He was off in game 2 a fair bit. But there was a guy named Kiprusoff in 2004 who had a pretty lousy game 4 against San Jose, and came back the next night and posted a shut out. Talbot just did the same thing.

At times playoff hockey can be pretty simple...in any series you need to do two things. Avoid losing 2 in a row, and put together at least one two game winning streak. If you can do those two things...you can't lose a series. Even if you can't get the two game winning streak...just win the first game and avoid a losing streak.

Dallas is looking like a team that's finding their game as once they get the puck, they can keep it for a pretty long time. No doubt scoring is their achilles heel, but the way they played last night...you pretty much have to hope for 1-0 wins against them.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Talbot's strength seems to be reading the play and being in position to make the save, as opposed to being a reactionary goalie.