[PGT] Flames win! Monahan with his first goal!

[macrov]

Originally Posted by Yoho

Missed this guy tonight.

Party must have been on hold in Columbus

What a champ. This guy inspires me to stop going to the gym, and to buy a pair of season tickets

[Neeper]

"I think the speed of the game caught some guys off guard," Columbus coach Todd Richards said. "(The Flames) countered really well. They work extremely hard. You've got to give them credit. There were times when we'd just pick our head up and somebody would be there. They forced some turnovers."

If we can keep this up, we're going to be winning a decent number of games.

[Textcritic]

Rookie Watch

[Frank MetaMusil]

Thought it should be noted that Comeau was a -3 on the night as well. Very pleased with the win against a Columbus squad that has stolen valuable points from the Flames the past few seasons.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Rookie Watch

Nice to see. Albeit early.

A lot of 9 game gambles who will be sent down and a handful with the likelihood of sticking.

Glad to see Monahan performing decently so far.

I hope he sticks because although growing pains are inevitable, this team has other options at C that have other weaknesses.

After 9 games, they should really look hard at their options. On one hand, with no cap constraints, there is no problem retaining him. On the other, 82 NHL games is a huge step up

[UKflames]

Posting this before reading the thread but thoughts from last nights game.

Macdonald - he isn't going to give you 60 games but he is solid for each of the back to back nights. He was scrambling a bit at times but all goalies do. I wouldn't blame him for any of the goals, none of them were softies in my opinion.

Baertschi - Seems to have responded well to the criticism from the powers that be. He was engaged whenever he was on the ice, battling on the boards and back checking really well. Those that didn't see the game will look at the stats and say he only had an assist, was -1 with no shots but that doesn't tell the whole story of his game. He seems to be concentrating on learning that 200 foot game that Burke talked about before putting it all together.

Backlund - Every shift you heard his name mentioned, he seems to be doing everything right at the moment. I agree that he may not become this big point scorer we were hoping for but he is going to be a great centre for this team that can play in all situations.

Hudler - Until the goal I hadn't been too impressed with his game last night, he just didn't seem to get anything going. Others may see it differently but that was just what i felt.

Colborne - Not very impressed at all, he seems to have alot to learn. He appreared to be floating around lost quite a lot of the time.

Monahan - You can just see that this kid is going to be really good, he just gets the game. He drives the net at the right times but if he sees the play breaking down drops back to slow the other teams break out, helping his defence. Is another year of junior going to help him at this point,I don't know, but if we keep him up and give him sheltered minutes it might be just as good a learning experience for him.

Mcgratton - Limited minutes but boy does he make them valuable. Drew two reat penalties and that back check to break up the Cls break out in the second was a thing of beauty. If he keeps playing like that he is worth playing every night.

Galiardi - Now that is how you make up for the mistake the night before. A great set of wheels on the goal, totally undressed Russian Bob, and was all over the ice all night long. great team player and a good pick up.

Defence - I am going to lump this into one rather than talk about individuals other than Giordano. Our captain is playing great out there. He is getting the tough minutes, playing in all situations and calm doing it. Wideman is playing okay but the rest of them don't inspire a lot of confidence, not even Brodie right now. They seemed to have real problems clearing the zone last night and against better teams you will be made to pay. I am sure if we should be looking for a top D at the next draft rather than a foward because i don't have a lot of confidence in the current pack at the back.

Sorry for the long post but just some observations from my first game of the season. More than anything else it was just great to watch Flames hockey again.

[Day Tripper]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Rookie Watch

MacKinnon has looked great so far, but damn that is a horrendous Faceoff %, lol.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Day Tripper

MacKinnon has looked great so far, but damn that is a horrendous Faceoff %, lol.

Monahan looks good next to not only other rookies but also his teammates

[getbak]

The number of NHL games played by each of the Flames centres prior to Friday's game:

Backlund: 171
Colborne: 16
Street: 7
Monahan: 1

[BruceCody]

del

[Hatter]

The boys look like they're having fun out there again. That is very important for this team. Obviously they won't keep up this .750 pace, but they certainly seem to care about each other and play with pride.

I'm a huge fan of Galiardi, even after his ridiculous penalty yesterday. He lays everything out on the ice. David Jones is another solid addition. His motor never quits and he forechecks like a demon. If we had no cap space and needed him to score $4MM worth of points he may not be ideal, but his drive is exactly what this team needs. He'll probably get half the points Tanguay does, but does everything else so well.

Wideman/Russell were very steady again. Hard to believe that they are functioning as our "shutdown" pair. Gio/Brodie still need some work. Butler/O'Brien were worse than yesterday, but put out some solid minutes for a 3rd pair. The 2nd Columbus goal looked stupid when they ran into each other and got confused, but that happens.

This may be unpopular, but I think Ramo looked better than J-Mac. The shootout exposed his weakness, (dat forehand-backhand deke) but Ramo finds his net better, and is better at steering shots out of harm's way. That being said, Mac had a good game, and I'm comfortable enough with either goalie.

Overall, I'm ecstatic to watch these guys give it 110%. We'll still probably lose more than we win, but it's a nice change to watch a team that seems to realize their deficiencies and work harder to overcome them.

[djsFlames]

I don't care, I'll take lesser skilled, hard workers for Tanguay anyday.

Tanguay can be a PPG player this year, but I know he'll still float 80% of it and look invisible outside of the stats sheet. Looks alright on paper, but he doesn't help you win. Seen enough of him to know that much

[Hells Bells]

Originally Posted by UKflames

Macdonald - he isn't going to give you 60 games but he is solid for each of the back to back nights. He was scrambling a bit at times but all goalies do. I wouldn't blame him for any of the goals, none of them were softies in my opinion.

Not saying I blame him completely because there was some bad coverage on the play but he looked pretty bad on the Gaborik goal.

Weak little wrister and he kicks it 15 feet up the middle of the ice to Dubinsky. The Anisimov goal was one I'd like him to stop too.

EDIT: It was actually a slapshot, but it was a Blake Comeau slapshot. So basically still a weak wrister.

[you got PHANUEFED]

Strong effort from the kids and got the key save when needed 3 points out of 4 aint bad to kick off the season.

[gargamel]

Originally Posted by Yoho

Missed this guy tonight.

Party must have been on hold in Columbus

And that was his tame dance of the night. For the other one, he ripped his t-shirt in half, then shook his ass for about 5 minutes while showing off something that was painted on his back. And if you'd guess that he'd slow down when his jeans started to creep down exposing his crack, you'd be sorely mistaken.

[Machiavelli]

Not a huge Hartley fan, but love this quote:

"It's not very complicated," coach Bob Hartley said. "Our recipe right now (is) we're going to work, play with passion, guys are blocking shots, driving -- we're a team now."

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=433437

[DazzlinDino]

I think this team is going to surprise this year, lots of speed, no lazy coasting players! I can't wait until we get Emile Poirier, John Gaudreau on the team. Didn't realize how fast TJ was.

[return to the red]

Good game on the second of b-2-b's. If this team continues to play the way they have, even if they don't win many games they will win over the fans!

GFG!

[Darkon]

I haven't been able to watch a game yet, but I have been encouraged to hear that the team is playing hard in all areas of the ice. I have read a couple of interesting comments made by Hartley regarding last years team, about seeming division in the room and lack of effort as a whole by the team. Were these comments made after a game? Is there somewhere I can hear the whole interview? or are these simply the occasional sound bite here and there? Would appreciate any further info, and thanks in advance.

[Miniac]

I would like to see Baertschi take more shots on net while still battling on the boards and back checking. I'm very happy with the way he has responded to the criticism. Keep it going Sven!