[PGT] Dallas something Flames not enough

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by Hey Connor, It's Mess

ice looked terrible tonight to me.

I think the linesmen letting icings go for both teams had a little to do with that. The dry scrapes from the crew at ice level couldn't come out as early as they'd typically be expecting to.

[Manhattanboy]

I may be wrong but I think Bennett was benched for the entire second period after his early penalty and did not play again until the Flames four minute power play mid way through the third.

[CaptainCrunch]

I don't know if that pummeling last year by the Avs is having a long term effect on this team. But frankly this just looks like a team that has no clue on what they are.


They're don't play fast, but they're not a slow team, but to me they look slow
They're not particularly physical, they're not great on the forecheck. Their top line looks like it has zero confidence at times. They don't work that hard, and they seem to give up on themselves for a long period of time At times they play a very individual based game and there's no real movement.



I know that this team should be far better then it is, offensively everything wraps around a top line that's taken a huge step back since the 3/4 mark of last year, maybe teams have figured them out, maybe they're just stale and doing the same thing over and over again.

[Dion]

They team is playing like they want to get the coach fired. Peters can't be happy with the inconsistent effort and lapses in their onw zone,

[Flash Walken]

Sam Bennett tied for 6th in the league in minor penalties with 10.

Twice as many as tkachuk.

Edler and McNabb lead the NHL with 13. They are playing 21+ minutes a night. Bennett is getting ~13.

Bennett has twice as many minor penalties as he does points.

[TheRealPepman]

Was at the game with my sisters. That was my Christmas gift to them. It was their first game in three years and my first in a year. We loved the experience overall. Key thoughts:
- Flames didn't have any luck, especially in the second period. I've never been in an event where I heard more oohs and ahhs than this game.
- Ben Bishop's a brick wall. If not for Johnny Gaudreau's shootout beauty a month ago, yesterday's game would have been our eighth straight loss to Dallas. Ugh.
- 2 uncalled penalties in the last minute (duh)
- Lucic's really slow. He has a certain way of skating that's so distinct that you don't have to look at the numbers on his jersey to know he's on the ice.
- Good to see George Canyon back.
- Anyone cringe at Harvey the Hound pounding a drum before the game starts?

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by TheRealPepman

Was at the game with my sisters. That was my Christmas gift to them. It was their first game in three years and my first in a year. We loved the experience overall. Key thoughts:
- Flames didn't have any luck, especially in the second period. I've never been in an event where I heard more oohs and ahhs than this game.
- Ben Bishop's a brick wall. If not for Johnny Gaudreau's shootout beauty a month ago, yesterday's game would have been our eighth straight loss to Dallas. Ugh.
- 2 uncalled penalties in the last minute (duh)
- Lucic's really slow. He has a certain way of skating that's so distinct that you don't have to look at the numbers on his jersey to know he's on the ice.
- Good to see George Canyon back.
- Anyone cringe at Harvey the Hound pounding a drum before the game starts?

The “fire drum”? It’s new this year I believe. I dunno, I wouldn’t say I cringe at it. Certainly doesn’t get the crowd going as intended though. I’m neutral on it.

[crapshoot]

I have not mustered to get up in the middle of the night to catch many whole games this season due to the inconsistent play of the Flames, so I usually catch a period or two before going to work if I happen to wake up early. This game I decided to get up at 3.30 to watch the entire thing, and it was a terrible choice in hindsight. Gonna spare myself the effort from now on, at least until this team shows some signs of consistency.

[Poe969]

From world beaters to crap eaters, it's a guessing game as to which team will show up. These are the Flames of our lives.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Some real hot takes in here. From what I can gather reading this thread Jankowski was the reason for the loss. Funny, but watching the game certainly told a much different story. Seemed it was another typical Flames loss where the Flames best players didn't show up.

I feel for Jankowski. What the hell do people expect being saddled with Lucic and Reider? The Oiler stink coming off these two should be causing any poor sonofabitch saddled with them to pass out from lack of oxygen. You can't make chicken salad out of chicken####, and these two are chicken####. But Jankowski makes such an easy target, right? 4th line center, gets paid a low salary, get's limited ice time, but is the big problem in the team? Riiiiiiiiight!!! Maybe we should be taking a look elsewhere to apply the same brush (Sam Bennett, Derek Ryan, or Andrew Mangiapagne)? There are lots of targets out there for what ails this team, and the 4th line center ain't the problem. If the 4th line center is your biggest concern, you've got a great team. If the 4th line center is the reason for your losses, something is broken on your team. Jankowski ain't the problem.

You want to know who is responsible for the loss? Look no further than Johnny Gaudreau and his disinterested play. Look no further than Mikael Backlund and his ineptness to do anything of consequence while playing with the Flames' best forward this season. Look at Elias Lindholm and his disappearing act. The only two players up front that have been worth a damn this season and have lived up to their billing are Monahan and Tkachuk. Those aforementioned three are the guys that need to wear the goat horns. Your best players have to be your best players game-in-game-out, and the Flames best players have been watching the play rather than engaging in it.

[2macinnis2]

This game is a nice example of why regular season hockey kind of stinks.

[Erick Estrada]

Well 1/4 into the season they are a .500 team and are full marks for it as they are consistently winning a game or two and losing a game or two. No sustained stretches of good play, just overall mediocrity. I would be more optimistic if we haven't seen this basically every season following a playoff appearance going back to 2014. I think this is simply what this core of players is. Good enough to get you into the playoffs 50% of the time. The worst part for me is that the entertainment value is so poor. This team is every bit as uninteresting as the 2017/18 team. I really feel bad for the fans forking out a lot of money to watch these players go through the motions.

[Toonage]

Some thoughts:

I took Backlund to task last spring for being unable to lift the puck in OT. This season I was beating the drum for everyone to lift the puck more.

Still a major problem. Missing an open net, this often, is inexcusable. More maddening oddly enough (to me) is the inability to lift the puck. Mangiapane at fault last night.

Someone last night wrote about how SN/Flames spend too much time fawning over the opposition. They're right. Last night they stopped just short of a parade for Dowling. Felt the same as Makar last spring. Glad they had a good night or playoff but this is the opposition. I don't care that they're local. Whatever the reason, it ends up feeling like our own broadcaster is piling on.

Just a disappointing game overall. The Flames actually could have won this if they were competent rather than impotent.

[Aarongavey]

Forwards outside the top four are on pace for 66 goals this year or roughly 7 goals a player. Last year the forwards outside the top 4 had 113 goals. Simply not good enough if you are hoping to be a top team. Sam Bennett is a complete black hole offensively. It would be great if BT was able to figure out a way to move at least one dman for another legitimate top 6 forward, this team definitely needs to have something beyond the first pp unit as a legitimate offensive option.

Top 4 forwards are on pace to average 29 goals which is good enough on most top teams. Top 4 forwards get the blame on most losses because the rest of the forwards are hopeless offensively. Last year the top 4 forwards had 131 goals. This year they are on pace for 117. A bit of a drop but nothing like the cataclysmic dropoff of the rest of the forwards.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Forwards outside the top four are on pace for 66 goals this year or roughly 7 goals a player. Simply not good enough if you are hoping to be a top team. Sam Bennett is a complete black hole offensively. It would be great if BT was able to figure out a way to move at least one dman for another legitimate top 6 forward, this team definitely needs to have something beyond the first pp unit as a legitimate offensive option.

Backlund is on pace for 12 goals and 32 points this year. If so it would be his worst season in a long time.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Backlund is on pace for 12 goals and 32 points this year. If so it would be his worst season in a long time.

It feels like it was just a month or so ago that I was told that not only is backlund a good second line centre, hrs a top second line centre.

I don't know who to believe anymore.

[Harry Lime]

There are 2 teams out there who would pay a kings ransom for Backlund, in Pittsburgh and Florida. Jus' throwin' that out there.

[rotten42]

Good good that game was boring.

[DuffMan]

What was glaring to me was the 20 or so turnovers by Johnny Hockey.
Once he did it twice in 5 seconds, he turns it over, the guy flubs it and gives it back to him, so he turns it over again.

[Huntingwhale]

GOAT in this game is Backlund for sure. God Jesus, unless there's something I didn't see that prevented him from scoring, that might be the worst missed tap-in I have seen in a Flames game since I was a kid. Literally as soon as he missed, I called it would be a goal against the Flames any second. Stars immediately go the other way and score. Can't remember the last time I cursed Backlund's name, but there was a lot of swearing at that time.

Frustrating game to watch. I hate the Stars as they seem to have our number just when you want the Flames to start playing well. Bishop plays like Patrick Roy. Only silver lining is that Perry didn't score.