[Signing] Flames sign James Neal (5 years, 5.75 AAV)

[Hackey]

Neal silences the critics with a beauty game winner.

[joejoe3]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Neal silences CP for one night with a beauty game winner.

Fixed.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Neal silences the critics with a beauty game winner.

Not if it takes him another 20 odd games to get the next one

[jayswin]

Neal may never not score again!

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Not if it takes him another 20 odd games to get the next one

But what if it doesn't?

[dino7c]

Neal could easily have 10 goals right now...so many tough luck plays. Hopefully a few more go his way in the second half.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Neal silences the critics with a beauty game winner.

Don't be silly. He didn't score a goal. Neal can't score a goal. And Smith's #### goaltending cost us the game tonight. What an idiot that Peters is for putting him in!

[TheScorpion]

So Neal actually scored? I didn't hallucinate it on New Year's?

Ahahahahahahahahah I love it.

[Bunk]

On the replay you can see it was an intentional move with his skate to deflect it. Nice skilled play. Something to build on.

[Classic_Sniper]

Guy finally gets the monkey off his back. Not exactly a beauty, but hell take it. Hopefully it doesn’t take him another 2 months to get the next one. I like the top line and 3M line together, so if he can find a way to produce meaningful goals on a consistent basis with Jankowski, Bennett or whoever else. Then I think this team might just have the additional secondary scoring to make some serious noise in the playoffs.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Disappointed that Neal didn’t credit a new stick.

I forget who it was that did that, but it was a few years back - one of the goons - scored when the puck bounced off his ass and in the post game interview says he changed up his stick. Funny stuff.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Disappointed that Neal didn’t credit a new stick.

I bet he is too. I noticed he had the toe of his skate to the heel of his stick, forming a straight line, to give him the best chance of deflecting the shot that he clearly was expecting. If the puck had been a couple of inches closer to the net, it would have bounced in off his stick and he could have given that the credit.

Not a pretty goal, but a smart, smart play.

[CanadaMatt]

Doesn’t matter how you score thrm I guess, glad for him that he scored. Let’s hope it’s the start of a consistent run of a goal every fourth game on Average

[direwolf]

Hopefully that goal sparks a strong 2nd half from Neal in terms of production. I have a good feeling he'll be a beast for us in the playoffs this year.

[David Struch]

Before last night James Neal only had 3 goals through 38 games.

He'll likely end the regular season with at least 14 goals. (if he remains healthy)

[neo45]

Originally Posted by David Struch

Before last night James Neal only had 3 goals through 38 games.

He'll likely end the regular season with at least 14 goals. (if he remains healthy)

This is pure wishful thinking. His huge goalless drought just got broken because of a bounce off his body in a game where everything our team touched went in the net.


I don’t think he breaks 10 goals this year.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by neo45

This is pure wishful thinking. His huge goalless drought just got broken because of a bounce off his body in a game where everything our team touched went in the net.


I don’t think he breaks 10 goals this year.

On the other hand he also rang one off the post
Get chances and luck eventually evens out
Given how horrible he's been, he still only needs 6 goals to reach double digits. So seems entirely possible.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by neo45

This is pure wishful thinking. His huge goalless drought just got broken because of a bounce off his body in a game where everything our team touched went in the net.


I don’t think he breaks 10 goals this year.

Bounce off his body? He intentionally deflects it in on his skate. You don’t need to minimize the skill required for the goal to make your point that one goal doesn’t end his drought.

[neo45]

Originally Posted by GGG

Bounce off his body? He intentionally deflects it in on his skate. You don’t need to minimize the skill required for the goal to make your point that one goal doesn’t end his drought.

Fair point. He made the right play


But come on the puck went past Dell 8 other times that night. It doesn’t indicate anything in terms of Neal turning things around

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by neo45

Fair point. He made the right play


But come on the puck went past Dell 8 other times that night. It doesn’t indicate anything in terms of Neal turning things around

Meh

He has been getting the looks. He has one of the worst shooting percentages I have seen and that is the kind of thing that will regress to the mean. He most likely has been putting a ton of pressure on himself, and I believe that the crowd letting him know that they were pulling for him goes a long way.

Technically the requirement for a turnaround is to actually get a goal. Check.

Why not simply choose to be positive about the potential for him to respond well, and for the timing of the statistically likely outcome to coincide with a somewhat fortuitous goal?