[Game Takes] Game Takes: Jets 4 Flames 3 (OT)

[Bingo]

Game Takes: Jets 4 Flames 3 (OT)
Game Story

- Great start
- Terrible second
- Not a lot of bounces honestly

[ComixZone]

Yikes, very ugly night for Ryan, Nordstrom and Lucic - and that matches the eye test. Mangiapane-Backlund-Ryan was ineffective, but Mangiapane-Backlund-Bennett looked great. Lucic-Bennett-Nordstrom was a complete disaster, and Lucic-Ryan-Nordstrom looked no better...but, that's a positive - I think tonight they sorted out line 1 and line 3, Tkachuk-Lindholm-Dube, and Mangiapane-Backlund-Bennett. You take those two lines and move forward...

...but what the hell do you do about Gaudreau and Monahan at 5 on 5 play. It looked like a direct continuation of last season, which was a direct continuation of post-All Star break 2019. They actively hurt the team at even strength. How do you fix this? We're nearing 2 calendar years of them being a liability and that isn't something this team can overcome.

Genuinely disappointed with the team from an emotional perspective. They still lack the ability to counter-punch when they get bopped on the nose. Where is the leadership on the ice?

Markstrom looked good. Tanev honestly surprised me a bit and I found some hope in the Hanifin-Tanev pairing. Does Valimaki strike anyone else as slow? Andersson looks like a raw elite talent - and I'm excited to see where he progresses to by the end of the season as the sky appears to be the limit for him.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Yikes, very ugly night for Ryan, Nordstrom and Lucic - and that matches the eye test. Mangiapane-Backlund-Ryan was ineffective, but Mangiapane-Backlund-Bennett looked great. Lucic-Bennett-Nordstrom was a complete disaster, and Lucic-Ryan-Nordstrom looked no better...but, that's a positive - I think tonight they sorted out line 1 and line 3, Tkachuk-Lindholm-Dube, and Mangiapane-Backlund-Bennett. You take those two lines and move forward...

...but what the hell do you do about Gaudreau and Monahan at 5 on 5 play. It looked like a direct continuation of last season, which was a direct continuation of post-All Star break 2019. They actively hurt the team at even strength. How do you fix this? We're nearing 2 calendar years of them being a liability and that isn't something this team can overcome.

Genuinely disappointed with the team from an emotional perspective. They still lack the ability to counter-punch when they get bopped on the nose. Where is the leadership on the ice?

Markstrom looked good. Tanev honestly surprised me a bit and I found some hope in the Hanifin-Tanev pairing. Does Valimaki strike anyone else as slow?

I agree. Dube speed on top line will be a huge asset. They need to leave Bennett with mangipane and baclund. They looked unreal. 4th line was bad but they can rotate in and out. Monahan and Gaudreau were bad and that's the part that is killing this franchise.

The d was good. Nesterov was a bit of an adventure

Markstrom was great too

[Trojan97]

Glorified preseason for the next week or two. Pickup the points wherever you can and move on from there.

Markstrom gave me Mike Smith vibes with some of his street hockey moments. Can't say I find his style very aesthetically pleasing but he played fine overall and should improve with time.

I feel sorry for Lucic at this point. I don't know if he got worse or I just forgot how bad he is but he was awful. Hopefully he plays himself into better shape and his game improves as the season moves along. I don't see them scratching him anytime soon no matter how bad he gets.

Top line looked good for a first game together. Really excited about that. Nothing left to say about Monahan/Gaudreau that hasn't already been said. That lies at the feet of Treliving at this point.

[direwolf]

Flames lost their season opener? I'm shocked, I tell you. Shocked!

[IamNotKenKing]

I can’t agree with calling out the backcheck on the OT goal.

Bad read by Johnny going behind the net to anticipate the pass which never happened, but they hustled back, and Monahan actually knocked the puck off Laine’s stick, but it stayed with him.

[AC]

Yeah. Monahan busted his ass to get back and broke up the shot, which may have actually helped Laine get the goal unfortunately. Gaudreau was skating hard too, but the error had already been made. It was a split second decision by Gaudreau, but definitely too aggressive/impatient in hindsight.

IIRC the outdoor OT goal by Winnipeg last year was off a similar missed assignment /mix-up by Tkachuk and Ryan.

[Strange Brew]

The ineffectiveness of Gaudreau and Monahan 5 on 5 is going to be the storyline of this season until either they, or the organization, fix it.

[EVERLAST]

Still laughing at the happy Gilmour incident with Lucic during pregame skating when he wiped out Lindholm.

It was bound to happen losing on opening night so its all up from here.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

The ineffectiveness of Gaudreau and Monahan 5 on 5 is going to be the storyline of this season until either they, or the organization, fix it.

It should have been fixed in the offseason with a Gaudreau trade but for whatever reason (this wasn't a typical NHL offseason after all) it didn't happen.

[Yrebmi]

It was a bad boarding hit by Hanifin near the end there.
I was worried he might get a call from the league. I hope not to see it again.

[Flamescuprun2018]

Top line played like a top line. Tkachuk, Lindholm, Dube chemistry is there. That's so important for us going forward.

Bennett with Backlund and Mangiapane was super fun to watch. Bennett was possessed playing with Backlund and could have easily scored a couple goals with a little puck luck. Don't want to see Bennett anywhere else this season.

Put Simon with Gaudreau and Monahan where he looked good in intra-squad games. The season truly boils down to sorting out 2nd line. There is no excuse for them to get outplayed. Skill is there.

The fourth line was absolutely awful. Two aging vets and a tweener. We have a serious problem there. No easy solution. Perhaps Leivo helps.

I hope Markstrom does not leave his net like that every night. Otherwise looked fine.

Really liked Tanev. Andersson may be our new number 1D.

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Genuinely disappointed with the team from an emotional perspective. They still lack the ability to counter-punch when they get bopped on the nose. Where is the leadership on the ice?

Not just on the ice. When the Flames were pushing back in the 3rd and starting to get some momentum with a great shift from Bennett, the coach puts out the 4th line and they get stuck in their zone. There were a lot of similiarly odd decisions, including having the Monahan line take a defensive zone faceoff late in the 3rd period. I don't think the coaching staff did any favours in helping the team respond.

[FusionX]

Originally Posted by IamNotKenKing

I can’t agree with calling out the backcheck on the OT goal.

Bad read by Johnny going behind the net to anticipate the pass which never happened, but they hustled back, and Monahan actually knocked the puck off Laine’s stick, but it stayed with him.

Originally Posted by AC

Yeah. Monahan busted his ass to get back and broke up the shot, which may have actually helped Laine get the goal unfortunately. Gaudreau was skating hard too, but the error had already been made. It was a split second decision by Gaudreau, but definitely too aggressive/impatient in hindsight.

IIRC the outdoor OT goal by Winnipeg last year was off a similar missed assignment /mix-up by Tkachuk and Ryan.

It was such a weird play overall. Granted I haven't rewatched the play since watching it live but I felt like when Laine got the puck, it took everyone this weird second or two to realize that both Monahan and Gaudreau were caught deeper than Laine. Then they all took off but obviously given positioning, Laine was a step ahead.

Either way, I wasn't even mad. Loved the first period, still not sure how we got off our game so much but so happy hockey is back.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Thanks for the write up.

It all felt pre season sloppy so I don’t know how much it means going forward.
The jets seemed to have something to prove physically the last 2 periods and the I thought the flames struggled to handle it
I thought the flames problems started in their own zone with the D. Very scrambly. They may have missed more d-d passes than they made. No transition or speed. The D were rarely up on the rush.
As much as 13 and 23 have to be better, none of the flames forwards looked good in the second and third. Chipping pucks out and attacking 1 on 2 or 2 on 3 all night makes every forward look terrible. The coaches have to figure that out.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Yikes, very ugly night for Ryan, Nordstrom and Lucic - and that matches the eye test. Mangiapane-Backlund-Ryan was ineffective, but Mangiapane-Backlund-Bennett looked great. Lucic-Bennett-Nordstrom was a complete disaster, and Lucic-Ryan-Nordstrom looked no better...but, that's a positive - I think tonight they sorted out line 1 and line 3, Tkachuk-Lindholm-Dube, and Mangiapane-Backlund-Bennett. You take those two lines and move forward...

...but what the hell do you do about Gaudreau and Monahan at 5 on 5 play. It looked like a direct continuation of last season, which was a direct continuation of post-All Star break 2019. They actively hurt the team at even strength. How do you fix this? We're nearing 2 calendar years of them being a liability and that isn't something this team can overcome.

Genuinely disappointed with the team from an emotional perspective. They still lack the ability to counter-punch when they get bopped on the nose. Where is the leadership on the ice?

Markstrom looked good. Tanev honestly surprised me a bit and I found some hope in the Hanifin-Tanev pairing. Does Valimaki strike anyone else as slow? Andersson looks like a raw elite talent - and I'm excited to see where he progresses to by the end of the season as the sky appears to be the limit for him.

He is a good skater, I don't think there are any concerns there.

My thoughts on him looking slow last night were that he was able to dominate the Finnish league, and the game slowed down for him. He was relaxed and poised, and he dominated.

And then he came to the NHL and was caught off guard as to how much faster it is. I have no doubts that he will adjust.

[Flames0910]

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

Not just on the ice. When the Flames were pushing back in the 3rd and starting to get some momentum with a great shift from Bennett, the coach puts out the 4th line and they get stuck in their zone. There were a lot of similiarly odd decisions, including having the Monahan line take a defensive zone faceoff late in the 3rd period. I don't think the coaching staff did any favours in helping the team respond.

Ward continuing to feed Gaudreau and Monahan defensive starts baffles me. You'd think the whole point of putting Tkachuk and Lindholm together would be to give Gaudreau and Monahan the high ground, which means starting in the offensive zone as much as possible.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Flames0910

Ward continuing to feed Gaudreau and Monahan defensive starts baffles me. You'd think the whole point of putting Tkachuk and Lindholm together would be to give Gaudreau and Monahan the high ground, which means starting in the offensive zone as much as possible.

I thought Monahan was really good defensively last night.

Giveaway Gaudreau though? Not so much.

[sa226]

I can't remember how long it took to get Gaudreau and Monahan on the ice last night, I think they were the third shift.

The Lindholm and Bennett lines just started with some good ol fashioned honest hockey, smart plays, winning puck battles driving play in straight lines to the net.

As soon as Gaudreau stepped on the ice I think I saw 3 high risk plays in 20 seconds. Stupid ones too. Its one thing trying low percentage plays in certain areas of the ice, but they were in turnover central.

Monahans style doesn't necessarily highlight his mistakes, but it must be difficult when your winger is so damn unpredictable. On the other hand, maybe Monahan is part of the problem as he never carries the puck through the neutral zone. He isn't a threat on zone entry. Which is kinda silly. Monahans acceleration and quickness is atrocious but like most NHLers his top speed is acceptable. Hit him at full stride with a nice breakout pass, lord knows everyone is covering Gaudreau anyway.

Tl:dr Gaudreau maybe needs to see a sports psychologist to help him to stop being so dangerously unpredictable and Monahan needs to watch tape of other centres who aren't so fleet of foot.

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by AC

Yeah. Monahan busted his ass to get back and broke up the shot, which may have actually helped Laine get the goal unfortunately. Gaudreau was skating hard too, but the error had already been made. It was a split second decision by Gaudreau, but definitely too aggressive/impatient in hindsight.

IIRC the outdoor OT goal by Winnipeg last year was off a similar missed assignment /mix-up by Tkachuk and Ryan.

How about Gio not being able to mess up Laine's scoring attempt with a fumble and back pressure. D-men get credit for a quick stick... Gio did nothing to stop a scoring attempt and had a slow stick. He was likely planning to take away the pass but did not react to the play as it played out.