[PGT] Flames play well, can't capitalize. Oilers win 4-1

[8sPOT]

Flames were super rusty to start. Just beer league level plays. However, they did get better as the game went on. Much better.

Still though, execution wasn't quite there. Thats ok, but there is no time to find it. That was it, that game was to shake the rust off and get in the groove.

If they can play like they did in the 2nd half of the game then Saturday will be good.

The most troubling thing for me though is our goalies. Neither looked comfortable at all to me. No time to shake that off, its go time.

I think they can use this game as a litmus test, and see they really need to step up the execution, intensity, and determination.

Having said all that, it was exhibition so its closer to an All-Star game than a playoff game.

I'm pumped for Saturday!

[Bingo]

Same old Flames to me.

I'm not with the crowd that thinks Edmonton cruised, the Oilers looked awful last night and they're in big trouble. Why get in the way of being the sober voice of reason to hockey fans though right?

But Calgary was slow off the start, they don't have a goaltender, and they don't seem to have the skill/gumption to finish. Good game defensively, they didn't give up much at all, had some bad bounces, but they just don't drive the game to the tough areas enough.

Talbot is Reggie Lemelin. Square to the shooter, doesn't give up the softie, but you can easily pass it around him because he doesn't move well.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Poe969

I agree but I don't get the reason for keeping Backlund. I think if he would agree to waive his NTC and a team gave up anything of any value, he should be traded. This team needs a rebuild and another good young C which would push Backlund to a bottom 6 spot and he makes too much to be a bottom 6 player. I get that people love him but unless he really catches fire, the team should look at moving him if possible. I don't see him as part of the problem, I just don't see him as part of the solution.

Maybe the pandemic makes us forget that Backlund had taken his game to another level, and had 22 points in the last 16 games before it all shut down

[SportsJunky]

I've been a pretty big detractor of Milan Lucic and what he brings on the ice over the last year but I have to say, watching that post game video, he is a very well-spoken, thoughtful guy. Very impressed. I'm sure he is great for the young guys on the team. I still wish he would be more of a Kassian deterrent out there but I can see that he is a leader in other ways.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by jg13

If Talbot or Rittich even put up a .915% and we play the way we did last night I think we beat Winnipeg in this series.

Not sure why some posters are making Winnipeg out to be some power house. They really aren't.

Not a powerhous, but the Jets typically play a hard, fast game and are among the biggest teams in the leage with top notch goaltending. The Flames are fairly slow, soft and average in terms of team size with average goaltending.

I don't like the prospect of our "best players" like Monahan and Guadreau rising to the occasion with matchups against the likes of Wheeler, Schiefle, Connner, Laine etc.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Not a powerhous, but the Jets typically play a hard, fast game and are among the biggest teams in the leage with top notch goaltending. The Flames are fairly slow, soft and average in terms of team size with average goaltending.

I don't like the prospect of our "best players" like Monahan and Guadreau rising to the occasion with matchups against the likes of Wheeler, Schiefle, Connner, Laine etc.

The only things possibly preventing the Flames from beating the jets are Geoff Ward and goaltending not being able to get into a rhythm quickly.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Same old Flames to me.

I'm not with the crowd that thinks Edmonton cruised, the Oilers looked awful last night and they're in big trouble. Why get in the way of being the sober voice of reason to hockey fans though right?

But Calgary was slow off the start, they don't have a goaltender, and they don't seem to have the skill/gumption to finish. Good game defensively, they didn't give up much at all, had some bad bounces, but they just don't drive the game to the tough areas enough.

Talbot is Reggie Lemelin. Square to the shooter, doesn't give up the softie, but you can easily pass it around him because he doesn't move well.

Agreed with a lot of this, the lack of finish for me was concerning, maybe it was just puck luck, maybe it wasn't.


But I liked the Flames defensive game last night, 2 out of the four goals were pretty lucky, or directly on meh goaltending.



I liked the 4 check game, the Flames did a good job of pinning the Oilers their own end and generating opportunity.


I would have liked to have seen a little more physical pushback, not fighting, but the hitting aspect of the game seemed to lack at times.


Yeah, the goaltending looked shaky, maybe that changes, but the upcoming series is a short series, there's no warm up, feeling out process.


I was singularly unimpressed with the Oilers, outside of the terrible two, its not a all that talented lineup, they play slow and look disorganized on the ice, they also got a lot of 5 bell saves when they were running around in their end.


I still feel good about the matchup between the Flames and Jets, but this series is going to come down to saves made more then anything else.

[Burning Beard]

The way I look at it this pandemic restart is a good thing for Treliving. If the core fails to show up when the games matter then they will be broken up in a couple of months time.

That was an entertaining game for the first meaningless game back after months!

Either this core gets it together or we have a couple of months before this board is complaining about however Treliving shakes the team up.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Same old Flames to me.

I'm not with the crowd that thinks Edmonton cruised, the Oilers looked awful last night and they're in big trouble. Why get in the way of being the sober voice of reason to hockey fans though right?

But Calgary was slow off the start, they don't have a goaltender, and they don't seem to have the skill/gumption to finish. Good game defensively, they didn't give up much at all, had some bad bounces, but they just don't drive the game to the tough areas enough.

Talbot is Reggie Lemelin. Square to the shooter, doesn't give up the softie, but you can easily pass it around him because he doesn't move well.

This is the game that I watched.

The pessimist in me is nervous that this team—which did not look prepared or engaged through the entire first period—is the same one that has suffered a lot of the same struggles all year.

The optimist in me is encouraged by how the Flames took the game over in the second period, and is also ready to forgive the lack of early emotion and execution in a meaningless tune-up game.

I see a lot of posters ready to pronounce the Jets winners of the play-in before it has even started, yet I still feel like any predictions on the basis of an exhibition match are pretty meaningless. We will see what the Flames are made of on Saturday.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Flames played pretty good all things considered. Imo they played terrible for the 1st period, but then we sustained some solid pressure for a good 1.75 periods. The score 4-1 fools those that didn't watch the full game, the Flames almost tied the game numerous times. Edmonton goalies stood on their head. Patrick Kane is going to have a field day with their offense. If Toews shuts down McDavid and Draisaitl like the Flames did (for the most part, namely 5v5), then the Oilers are in a heap of trouble.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by jg13

Not sure why some posters are making Winnipeg out to be some power house. They really aren't.

My cousins who are Jets fans didn't have much faith in them at all to make the playoffs before the season was paused.

If Hellebuyck doesn't play lights out I really like the Flames chances as long as whoever starts in goal doesn't lay an egg. He's had a good season but four months off may have cooled him off a bit. I remember back at the start of the season one of my cousins was calling him a "one year wonder" when he wasn't playing like a Vezina candidate.

That's not to say I don't have any respect for their forwards. I just don't see their offense as extremely tough to shutdown.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Same old Flames to me.

I'm not with the crowd that thinks Edmonton cruised, the Oilers looked awful last night and they're in big trouble. Why get in the way of being the sober voice of reason to hockey fans though right?

But Calgary was slow off the start, they don't have a goaltender, and they don't seem to have the skill/gumption to finish. Good game defensively, they didn't give up much at all, had some bad bounces, but they just don't drive the game to the tough areas enough.

Talbot is Reggie Lemelin. Square to the shooter, doesn't give up the softie, but you can easily pass it around him because he doesn't move well.

McDavid (almost 3 minutes less than average) and Draisaitl (4 minutes less than) both played at or below 19 minutes. When it comes to the Oilers who always overplay both of these guys this is the very definition of giving them a night off and cruising.

[Monahammer]

I move further towards the need for a permanent net solution every flames game I watch. I was really hopeful that Rittich would be that guy but I don't really see it anymore. Talbot is what he is.

I wonder how expensive Lehner or Markstrom will be this offseason.

[Classic_Sniper]

As bad as the team looked at the start, I’m actually quite encouraged with their resolve. It was an exhibition game, so I’m not worried about the result. A comeback almost seemed inevitable until the strange bounce put the game away. The Oilers have received a lot of lucky or bounces this season actually, anyone remember the pinball goal at the Dome or the blown offside because the linesman fell down?

Now that the first game is out of the way, hopefully they can shake off the rust and play hard right from the get go. Lot of individuals looked off last night, so I’ll give them a pass, but it’s a short series, so no one excuses starting Saturday.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

McDavid (almost 3 minutes less than average) and Draisaitl (4 minutes less than) both played at or below 19 minutes. When it comes to the Oilers who always overplay both of these guys this is the very definition of giving them a night off and cruising.

The Flames held the play for the final 45 minutes. The Oilers were never cruising ... they were running around in their own zone.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Same old Flames to me.

I'm not with the crowd that thinks Edmonton cruised, the Oilers looked awful last night and they're in big trouble. Why get in the way of being the sober voice of reason to hockey fans though right?

But Calgary was slow off the start, they don't have a goaltender, and they don't seem to have the skill/gumption to finish. Good game defensively, they didn't give up much at all, had some bad bounces, but they just don't drive the game to the tough areas enough.

Talbot is Reggie Lemelin. Square to the shooter, doesn't give up the softie, but you can easily pass it around him because he doesn't move well.

This summed things up quite well. Great no bs post on both sides.

Neither team looks poised to win anything, and very much exhibiting the same issues/shortcomings from March. Flames can't convert on enough of their chances, partly because they don't drive to the difficult areas enough, and suffer from having two '1Bs', while the Oilers can bank on McDavid goals but the rest of the time get easily outworked/outplayed just as they were before the break. Against a team that converts on chances as well as their top 2-3 guys do, its no competition. And that might just be Chicago if they come in hungry. It really is no time to be smug up there.

You're away long enough and you forget and build up hope. You begin to project a fantasy as the players all talk about how ready to go they are. But now we're seeing the same issues re-emerge, exhibition label damned. There's no question a handful of guys in that room need to elevate their game to another level if we're going to be here more than a couple weeks.

Who aside from the still developing dube and mangiapane is going rise out of the meh/same old, to showing real growth and hunger to win in key moments? We're going to need it from at least a few.

[Monahammer]

Is it just me or did Monahan look more engaged/ physical in all of the intrasquad scrimmages than at any moment of last nights game? I love the guy but why does his intensity drop noticeably in game situations...

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Bingo

The Flames held the play for the final 45 minutes. The Oilers were never cruising ... they were running around in their own zone.

Well when two of the best players in the league are on the bench and lesser players are taking their shifts it stands to reason that the Oilers probably won't be generating nearly as much in the way of offensive push. The Oilers were the better team in the first and after that Tippett managed McDavid and Draisaitl's ice time. You know full well if that game counted they both would have played 21-22 minutes each. This was an exhibition game so there's no point in arguing over and over but I think the notion of the Flames holding the play for the 2nd half of the game is kind of hollow when the other team isn't utilizing their top players as they normally would.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

This summed things up quite well. Great no bs post on both sides.

Neither team looks poised to win anything, and very much exhibiting the same issues/shortcomings from March. Flames can't convert on enough of their chances, partly because they don't drive to the difficult areas enough, and suffer from having two '1Bs', while the Oilers can bank on McDavid goals but the rest of the time get easily outworked/outplayed just as they were before the break. Against a team that converts on chances as well as their top 2-3 guys do, its no competition. And that might just be Chicago if they come in hungry. It really is no time to be smug up there.

You're away long enough and you forget and build up hope. You begin to project a fantasy as the players all talk about how ready to go they are. But now we're seeing the same issues re-emerge, exhibition label damned. There's no question a handful of guys in that room need to elevate their game to another level if we're going to be here more than a couple weeks.

Who aside from the still developing dube and mangiapane is going rise out of the meh/same old, to showing real growth and hunger to win in key moments? We're going to need it from at least a few.

Agreed on the difficult areas. This team still plays on the perimeter, and our first line can’t cycle/building anything while they have offensive zone pressure. It’s either on the rush, or it’s nothing at all.

I also thought our PP continued to look silly. Whip it around the perimeter without challenging the difficult areas, and then try and sift in a point wrist shot (which hey, led to our one goal).

Sam Bennett at centre gives me hope this team can make adjustments, but can they make them quick enough - and will they stick to them? I’m not so sure we should be playing Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm together anymore - but what would the alternative be?

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

Flames played pretty good all things considered. Imo they played terrible for the 1st period, but then we sustained some solid pressure for a good 1.75 periods. The score 4-1 fools those that didn't watch the full game, the Flames almost tied the game numerous times. Edmonton goalies stood on their head. Patrick Kane is going to have a field day with their offense. If Toews shuts down McDavid and Draisaitl like the Flames did (for the most part, namely 5v5), then the Oilers are in a heap of trouble.

Any team with work ethic will be able to spend a ton of time in the oilers zone. They just do not drive play 5 on 5. They 'fend off' teams in their end as they wait for mcdavid breaks and PPs. If chicago shows the ability to convert at even strength and play hungry, it bodes well for them.