[PGT] Flames jobbed by officiating. Lose 3-1 to the Sharks.

[Coach]

Love Peters calling out the refs. Coaches don’t do it enough IMO.

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by 81MC

Yikes, wasn’t there discussion about how Bennett was playing great and a contributor in at least a few of he recent games? Guys will struggle, lull, underperform, or just go cold. Doing it as a group is unfortunate, but really based on the last 10 games I’m not too worried. Bunch of youngins and new faces, guys are going to gripna little too tight. 3/4 lines looked great recently, second night of a tough back to back. Bummer to go 1/3, but I think they’ll be okay.

He’s not playing bad, he just doesn’t produce and that’s an issue.

[JD]

Yeah I don't know exactly what people mean by "giving up" on Bennett.

If you mean you cut bait and trade him, I think that would be a mistake. He's an effective 3rd liner and you still have the hope that maybe he figures it out. Let him develop, he's not hurting us. At least the bad penalties seem to have stopped this year. If you trade him, what do you think we would get back? Not much, another project or maybe a second rounder? It would be a lot like the Baertschi trade.

If you mean that you just give up hope that he can be a true impact top 6 player, well, yeah, I think that's reasonable. But I think Sam Bennett can be a meaningful contributor on a winning team. And who knows, you're in the 2nd or 3rd round of the playoffs and things are tight-checking and every goal matters, maybe he heats up and gets 2 or 3 key goals for you.

It looks unlikely that he'll live up to his pedigree but I do think Bennett can be a big part of the Flames' success playing the way he is right now.

[Phagoof]

Originally Posted by JD

Yeah I don't know exactly what people mean by "giving up" on Bennett.

If you mean you cut bait and trade him, I think that would be a mistake. He's an effective 3rd liner and you still have the hope that maybe he figures it out. Let him develop, he's not hurting us. At least the bad penalties seem to have stopped this year. If you trade him, what do you think we would get back? Not much, another project or maybe a second rounder? It would be a lot like the Baertschi trade.

If you mean that you just give up hope that he can be a true impact top 6 player, well, yeah, I think that's reasonable. But I think Sam Bennett can be a meaningful contributor on a winning team. And who knows, you're in the 2nd or 3rd round of the playoffs and things are tight-checking and every goal matters, maybe he heats up and gets 2 or 3 key goals for you.

It looks unlikely that he'll live up to his pedigree but I do think Bennett can be a big part of the Flames' success playing the way he is right now.

I whole heatedly agreed with you before tonight, but after that penalty shot tonight and watching his post game interview I change my view. He looks defeated, I think he needs a change.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Smith.

Played well, but after a first shot / goal that:
1) shouldn’t have gone in
2) was ultimately the difference in a 1 goal game

Never mind the refs. Refs calling a penalty is not a guarantee you score.

I admire the better saves later. Kept the team in the game. The game they wouldn’t have been behind in if not for the weak, awfully timed first goal.

You know what was cool? Kipper making a glove save and being nonchalant. For some reason, Smith has to either take the puck and try to hail a cab or impersonate the Statue of Liberty.

Cool, if you didn’t let in the difference making goal in the first minute of the game. Congratulations on 59 minutes of awesome but too little, too late.

[calgarywinning]

No team in the NHL is gonna win when 4 penalties are called against them without reciprocal infractions if they occur in the game.

We had 3 infractions in the last part of the game, we had a Hamonic slash, a Gaudreau trip and a delay of game, all ignored. While a penalty isn't a guarantee of a game it's an advantage that is due when an infraction occurs to keep the game fair.

Flames were slow in the second (they played back to back), but had some deadly chances and Jones played an excellent game. Truly the star of the game.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by calgarywinning

No team in the NHL is gonna win when 4 penalties are called against them without reciprocal infractions if they occur in the game.

No. Hyperbole.

The penalties called against them weren’t the difference. SJ had 0 PP goals. And penalties called in their favour don’t guarantee goals for.

First goal, first shot, first minute.

The goal was bad. Nobody has mentioned it but Tkachuk was also awful on that play. Clearly you weren’t getting a call on the stick in the face. Suck it up, put your glove back on and finish your shift. He was still holding his chin with one glove off when Smith let in a softie.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by JD

Yeah I don't know exactly what people mean by "giving up" on Bennett.

If you mean you cut bait and trade him, I think that would be a mistake. He's an effective 3rd liner and you still have the hope that maybe he figures it out. Let him develop, he's not hurting us. At least the bad penalties seem to have stopped this year. If you trade him, what do you think we would get back? Not much, another project or maybe a second rounder? It would be a lot like the Baertschi trade.

If you mean that you just give up hope that he can be a true impact top 6 player, well, yeah, I think that's reasonable. But I think Sam Bennett can be a meaningful contributor on a winning team. And who knows, you're in the 2nd or 3rd round of the playoffs and things are tight-checking and every goal matters, maybe he heats up and gets 2 or 3 key goals for you.

It looks unlikely that he'll live up to his pedigree but I do think Bennett can be a big part of the Flames' success playing the way he is right now.

I still like the guy but this is a contract year for him. I sure hope he's realistic and doesn't expect much of a raise. Like you said he's a valuable third liner no doubt, I just hope he doesn't try to get paid like anything more

[DeluxeMoustache]

Lots of time. Bennett has been an impact player all year.

One penalty shot, of which he takes pretty darn few - you ever see him chosen for shootouts? - was definitely pretty darn unsuccessful, and so disappointing.

But, if you will let me observe, I have seen brutal shootout attempts by Monahan, Gaudreau and others. Generally, you start off with an idea and if it isn’t materializing, you have to in a split second either stay the course or change the plan. Much easier to do from your armchair, after the fact, watching in slo-mo.

I wonder how many people commenting here actually play hockey. I suspect many do but more don’t.

His shoot out attempt was not clutch, it was anything but. But it wasn’t the point where you throw in the towel

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

I hate to say it but I don’t ever see Bennett becoming a top-6 player in this league. He just doesn’t have enough finish. He’s a great 3rd liner but that’s it.

Butke was just saying they knew Bennett wouldn't be a top 6 player. He went on to say he won't ever be a goal scorer but they knew he would be a physical player.

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by combustiblefuel

Butke was just saying they knew Bennett wouldn't be a top 6 player. He went on to say he won't ever be a goal scorer but they knew he would be a physical player.

And I would agree with them. It sucks that he was drafted so high and probably won’t pan out how we had hoped but he’s still an effective player. If I’m being honest I’m shocked he’s struggled like he has. He had so much promise in junior. I really thought he was going to be better than Monahan.

[jonkaupp]

Originally Posted by Brick

I like your lines. They make the most sense to me. Why they insist on playing Backlund in the top six is ridiculous. He is a checker and is a big part of the reason this is a one line team. IMO you have the top six correct. Let's hope that Bill Peters actually tries that.

The player on pace for a career low of 18 points, which isn’t too far off his regular mark, belongs in the top 6 but the player who is a consistent possession monster and puts up 45-50 points every year is a checker. Good lord.

I actually don’t hate the idea of playing Bennett back at Center on the third or fourth line. He’s a pure checking player at this point and I think he could be more effective at it from Center. He absolutely does not belong in the top 6 on any NHL team and I’m not even sure if he should be in the top 9 at this point.

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

And I would agree with them. It sucks that he was drafted so high and probably won’t pan out how we had hoped but he’s still an effective player. If I’m being honest I’m shocked he’s struggled like he has. He had so much promise in junior. I really thought he was going to be better than Monahan.

It was a best player on the board pick. He is going to carve out a great career for sure but people need to except he is just a physical low point player.

Burke within the same segment noted it was just a tease his point production in his forst few years especially with the 4 goal game he had against Florida but managment knew that was simply an outlier year for him.

[UKflames]

I see the Bennett haters are back out in force, despite playing well, he misses one penalty shot and you would think the loss was on him reading some of the comments on here.

Good to see Smith have a strong game, hopefully that now becomes the norm and not the exception.

Not sure when we see Neal start to put it together, hopefully he will soon settle in and start looking more like himself.

[Split98]

After games officiated this poorly, I wish refs got swapped to the AHL.

It's a fast game, so I don't understand how we don't have a remote ref, review plays, etc to get a call right. The fans, players, coaches, media and (truely) the refs all know what the right call is, but the league refuses to adapt.

Fix it.


Smith played great tonight. More periods like that and we can rest easy, so fingers crossed there. The rest... I'll give them a Sunday night of a B2B

[dissentowner]

This was partly my fault guys, I had to take my 7 year old back to his mom's and he asked me to put him to bed and I fell asleep beside him. No tv on for Mr Sticky.

[taxbuster]

Anyone have a gif (or a still) of the puck being swatted out at the end of the game? It seems like a classic for a "You had ONE JOB..." meme.

[Wolfman]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

This was partly my fault guys, I had to take my 7 year old back to his mom's and he asked me to put him to bed and I fell asleep beside him. No tv on for Mr Sticky.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Smith.

Played well, but after a first shot / goal that:
1) shouldn’t have gone in
2) was ultimately the difference in a 1 goal game

Never mind the refs. Refs calling a penalty is not a guarantee you score.

I admire the better saves later. Kept the team in the game. The game they wouldn’t have been behind in if not for the weak, awfully timed first goal.

You know what was cool? Kipper making a glove save and being nonchalant. For some reason, Smith has to either take the puck and try to hail a cab or impersonate the Statue of Liberty.

Cool, if you didn’t let in the difference making goal in the first minute of the game. Congratulations on 59 minutes of awesome but too little, too late.

That goal really wasn't that bad. If it shouldn't go in, neither should Monahan's. Neither were screened but both were well placed and hard. I've been as critical of him as most people, but really, it was just inside the post. The difference wasn't that save. It was his "fault" it wasn't 5-1. The diffeence was the Flames didn't push very hard all game. Jones had an easier time than Smith IMO.

As for style points, who cares. If it build's Smith's confidence to showboat a bit, then showboat. Kipper's DNA was to not show anything after a goal or a save. But that's how his mind worked. Other goalies are different. Maybe it's a hometown difference. Turku versus Kingston (look at Cherry).

[Groot]

Bennett put up 18/18 playing with Backlund and Frolik under Hartley. Move Tkachuk away from Backlund. See if Tkachuk can get some chemistry again with Czarnik. Give Lindholm a longer look at centre. Try Neal on the top line to get him going.

Gaudreau - Monahan - Neal
Tkachuk - Lindholm - Czarnik
Bennett - Backlund - Frolik
Jankowski - Ryan - Hathaway

Other than the first goal, Smith did play well and was able to make some big saves in the second especially to keep it a close game. Overall feeling positive as they have 3 days at home to work on some things, and come out spitting fire against MTL and more importantly the dumpster fire from up North.