[PGT] Flames lose another season opener

[bigrangy]

the only non-smith bright spot that I can find is that Brouwer wasn't the worst player on the ice tonight, Yamamoto was

-37.7% relxGF% to Brouwer's much much better -35.5% relxGF%

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by Racki

Get Bennett on that top line and go with a third line of Ferland - Jankowski - Jagr

Try anything. A team who is going for it by trading picks shouldn't get shut out in a divisional game. That's five in a row now.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by AC

I choose to believe they're giving Brouwer a last chance to prove he's worth playing, given Jagr and Janko are both ready and waiting. Treliving said Janko is NHL ready today, and that it's just a matter of making room for him.

If true then they could have not have picked a worse time to toss Brouwer to the wolves. I'm honestly hoping the coaching staff is not that stupid.

[Kybb79]

GG is holding this team back.Do we have to wait for January for another train ride?

[Dion]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

Can't sit Glass when he actually looked like he cared tonight. Rather scratch Brouwer.

Hathaway looked good also.

[MrMike]

Originally Posted by Chonger

This needs to be seen and read again

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

They had everything to prove.

Shows how much he mental game comes into play.

And that I put on the coach and leaders.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Only thing I can think of is that if there is any smoke to the fire that he could be traded, it might cripple the deal.

Brouwer is the one that put that fire out. Anybody with eyes can see that he is one of the worst players in the entire league.

[Igottago]

The lack of hunger concerns me. McDavid obviously looked like a gamebreaker but the Flames top players did not. Yeah its the first game but we also saw it often last year. The top players need to take over games. Also, bottom line seems to get too much ice time. They are a liability.

[DiracSpike]

I'm gonna call in here. Listen for ken

[zamler]

How is Johnny Gaudreau escaping criticism? He was worse than terrible.

[Skyceman]

Man, losing to the Oilers always stings but wins will also taste sweeter.

The bad : offense
Poor puck support in the offensive zone - no one was finding open space. So because of that, guys were trying to make low % passes through legs.

No sustained pressure in the offensive zone. The only line that seemed to sustain pressure was the 4th line and they were dumping it in. The other lines didn't seem to adjust to that and kept trying the same moves all night.

They could not seem to build any momentum but then why not start throwing the body? Pretty bad when Backlund almost led the team with hits.

Bennett needs to stop trying to beat guys 1 on 2. He did the same stuff last year which rarely worked.
Terrible offensive zone faceoffs. Matt Stajan was a dismal 29%.

The good
Aside from the McDavid gaffs, I thought the defense started to play better as the game went on. Hamilton needs to start playing with more physical edge and use his size.

Smith was the best player tonight. Can't fault him on either of those goals. It's nice to have a goaltender who can handle the puck.

[Parallex]

Apolagies if already posted: From Twitter...

McDavid vs Brouwer
TOI - 4:01
CF - 20
CA - 4

McDavid vs Backlund
TOI - 3:06
CF - 2
CA - 5

... Yeah... Gulutzan got really out coached tonight.

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by Skyceman

Man, losing to the Oilers always stings but wins will also taste sweeter.

The bad : offense
Poor puck support in the offensive zone - no one was finding open space. So because of that, guys were trying to make low % passes through legs.

No sustained pressure in the offensive zone. The only line that seemed to sustain pressure was the 4th line and they were dumping it in. The other lines didn't seem to adjust to that and kept trying the same moves all night.

They could not seem to build any momentum but then why not start throwing the body? Pretty bad when Backlund almost led the team with hits.

Bennett needs to stop trying to beat guys 1 on 2. He did the same stuff last year which rarely worked.
Terrible offensive zone faceoffs. Matt Stajan was a dismal 29%.

The good
Aside from the McDavid gaffs, I thought the defense started to play better as the game went on. Hamilton needs to start playing with more physical edge and use his size.

Smith was the best player tonight. Can't fault him on either of those goals. It's nice to have a goaltender who can handle the puck.

I think Bennett wouldn't have to resort to this if he had decent skilled players on his line. What else can he do?

[CalgaryFan1988]

Originally Posted by Racki

My new lineup if I'm Gulutzan.

Johnny - Monny - Bennett
3M line
Versteeg - Janko - Jagr
Ferland - Lazar - Brouwer

Waaaaaaay better than what we saw tonight. Ferland and Brouwer don't have to focus on offense, they can just hit people and out pucks to the net.

Was thinking the same thing, except my bottom lines would be

Ferland - Jankowski- Jagr
Versteeg - Stajan - Lazar

Brouwer can get bent.

[crapshoot]

That was super frustrating to watch. Another year with a team that is not ready when the season starts I guess, and it could not have gone much worse than it did, so it's only up from here I guess. Very happy that it looks like we have goaltending this year though.

I thought Bennett and Versteeg looked pretty good, but sadly Brouwer killed every play he was in on, so get Jagr in there and Brouwer out and we might have a really good line! So far Tanner Glass is making a decent impression as well. I thought the fourth line seemed to have some good chemistry and I really want to see Hathaway stay with the big team, but of course Brouwer will slot in as RW instead of Hathaway next game and then we no longer have a good fourth line.

Get Matt Bartkowski away from the ice immediately! All I saw from him was blind passes up the board and him getting stuck in his own zone for long stretches.

Also, I wonder what the Oilers would look like without McDavid, there was not one single Oiler forward outside of McDavids line except maybe for Kassian who was noticable tonight.

[bigrangy]

new lines

Tkachuk-Monahan-Jagr Monahan needs to up his effort level and intensity, Tkachuk and Jagr can drag him to that
Gaudreau-Bennett-Ferland speed, skill, and puck pursuit
Stajan-Backlund-Frolik shutdown with skill, I wish there was a better option than Stajan for LW though
Versteeg-Jankowski-Hathaway some familiarity and also some talent for Janko to play with
Glass and Lazar in the press box

[bubbsy]

Originally Posted by crapshoot

That was super frustrating to watch. Another year with a team that is not ready when the season starts I guess, and it could not have gone much worse than it did, so it's only up from here I guess. Very happy that it looks like we have goaltending this year though.

I thought Bennett and Versteeg looked pretty good, but sadly Brouwer killed every play he was in on, so get Jagr in there and Brouwer out and we might have a really good line! So far Tanner Glass is making a decent impression as well. I thought the fourth line seemed to have some good chemistry and I really want to see Hathaway stay with the big team, but of course Brouwer will slot in as RW instead of Hathaway next game and then we no longer have a good fourth line.

Get Matt Bartkowski away from the ice immediately! All I saw from him was blind passes up the board and him getting stuck in his own zone for long stretches.

Also, I wonder what the Oilers would look like without McDavid, there was not one single Oiler forward outside of McDavids line except maybe for Kassian who was noticable tonight.

How can you invest a paragraph in bashing Bartkowski, yet not utter Brodie even once? I'll take 13 mins of meh Bartkowski any day over 23 mins of the Brodie we saw out there.

[dissentowner]

Smith must be thinking he is still playing for Arizona.

[zamler]

"it's game 1"

yea beat that drum. beat it.

[FlameyMcFlameFace]

Originally Posted by zamler

How is Johnny Gaudreau escaping criticism? He was worse than terrible.

This.

Is Johnny an elite player? If no, who on our team is?