[PGT] Flames beat Habs 3-2

[calgarybornnraised]

These people on overtime are too funny.Who cares if you got caught up in traffic.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Jacks

I want to see Ramo succeed but if he can't beat Mac then crap happens. The coaches see these guys every day so I'll trust their judgement.

One regular season game is hardly a good way to judge how Ramo is doing. Playing the hot goaltender sends me the message that winning is of more importance. Mac is only a short term solution.

[djsFlames]

Haha! Southern gangsta recap of the game:

http://www.oklahomasentinal.com/2013/10/09/monahans-goal-assist-lift-flames-over-canadiens/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_camp aign=Feed%3A+OklahomaSentinal+%28Oklahoma+Sentinal %29

“Obviouz it’z a great start,” say Monahan, who haz score' n' three straite gamez an' wiff five pointz be tie' wiff Jiri Hudla fo'da team scorn' lead. “We haven’t los' a game n' regulashun.

“It’z do be a lot uv fun. I’m gettn' moe comfoatable every day.”

Calgary coach Bob Hartley praise' da effort uv da young cinta, who will turn 19 on Saturday.

“I zometimez pinch myself an' wonda if I nee' ta check dude birth certificate, da poise dude be shown' fo'n 18-year-old kid,” Hartley say. “Dude be havn' fun, dude be brn'n' passyun, dude be brn'n' excitemint an' dude’z learnn'. Dude be a prettee special kid.”

“We stuck wiff it,” say MacDonald, who playe' fo'da Boston Bruinz, New York Izlanderz, Toronto Maple Leafz an' Detroit Re' Wingz befoa da Flamez claime' him off waiverz las' season. “It’z a learnn' experiince fo'da young guyz ta show them how impoatant it be. Day came out hard.”

“We weren’t ready ta play rite from da start, includn' myself,” Subban say. “We can continue ta say it’z da beginnn' uv da season an' we’a jus' gettn' thingz gonna, buh we’ve gots ta come out betta den dat.

“We knew dis wuz a hungry team, we knew day wuz young team. Day had some young playerz n' da lineup an' we’ve gots ta take advantage uv dat. I don’t think we did a phat eno job.”

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by Dion

One regular season game is hardly a good way to judge how Ramo is doing. Playing the hot goaltender sends me the message that winning is of more importance. Mac is only a short term solution.

MacDonald wasn't the "hot goaltender", maybe they see something else. For the first time in several years I'm happy to trust the coaches/managers.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

I kind of forgot Bourque even played tonight. Man, he was invisible.

Not sure how the team can send Monahan down at this point. Sure, things can change between now and game #10, but he's one of the team's best centers, tied for the team lead in points, and does not look out of place in the least. I'll give him a few more games, but right now it's a no-brainer, losing a year of his ELC be damned.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

PK Subban is a really interesting player. Love his skill, love his character, would kill to have him on this team. He picked his team up and carried them back into the game. But, he also killed Montreal's attempt to come back, and not just because of the crosschecking penalty. The lat 10 minutes of that game, Subban's ego took over and he simply forgot he had teammates. He was trying to do it all by himself and be the hero, and ended up the goat.

Originally Posted by The Fonz

I do believe he's the type of player that can do it himself though. I was terrified everytime he was involved in an offensive zone play.

If the guy could control his emotions better he could be incredible. More incredible I guess.

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Truthfully, I wasn't. Watching a guy blaze the length of the ice looks scary, but this isn't the 1980s. Modern defencemen usually have no trouble keeping that kind of play to the outside and out of danger. Most of Subban's rushes in that time frame ended with wide angle shots that went nowhere.

But Jesus, that was some goal he scored in the second.

Originally Posted by HighLifeMan

Subban is a simply dynamic talent. He has the ability to take a game over by himself, and we saw that tonight. Unfortunately he still has those moments where he loses his focus, and plays selfishly. If he can completely eliminate that from his game he will be damn near impossible to stop.

Great player, but somewhat lousy teammate at times.

Originally Posted by the2bears

He played well, but he didn't really take the game over.

Originally Posted by Beatle17

What comeback? Didn't Montreal lose the game? Subban took two stupid penalties that basically killed any comeback attempt. He played OK, still ended up -2 on the night. He is a great physical talent but does make a lot of boneheaded plays.

Sounds a lot like another guy we saw play a few seasons in Calgary while in the Norris conversation. Whether Subban can set his ego aside and be coached will decide his future, like so many physical specimens before him.

Originally Posted by corporatejay

I LOVE this image.

If you can't tell why Street is up on the big club and playing big minutes, you need to pay more attention. He takes hits to make plays, to get pucks out, to get pucks in. He makes safe plays up the boards, scrambles draws he doesn't win, wins a surprising amount of draws, and generally is a coaches dream out there.

Watched a game with my father today for the first time in a long while. He's a grizzled old habs fan who grew up on the Richard brothers, Beliveau etc, but became a flames fan when Calgary got a team in 1980. He can still spot the gems, too. Thought Sven looked especially good for a 'smaller' player and liked his compete against Subban. For that matter, so did I. It's one reason I don't mind having McGrattan in the lineup, Baertschi, as a skilled player, can play a chippier, defensive style against a punk like Subban. I liked seeing the physical compete from Baertschi and not just competitiveness with offense. He was asserting himself on the ice and I think that's important for a player of smaller stature.

Monahan. What can you say? Having a top prospect is amazing. All I want to do is caution myself against the optimism, but he's playing like a 30 year old vet. That's the best part, not the skill but the poise, the headiness, the instinct It's remarkable how soft his passes are. Easily received by his teammates. His miscues are more experiential than anything. Body positioning, faceoff black magic, the speed of the games top players and goalies, habits of elite level butterfly goalies. Those are all things he can't learn in Junior, that league is done for him. He's an NHL player, right now, on a good team. He should get big minutes in multiple situations as the season progresses for Calgary. I like him being teamed with Baertschi, but would like to see a larger, more physical winger to be paired with them to help force turnovers for the two skilled players to pounce on. Galiardi, if he's disciplined enough, could be that guy.

Hope Jones isn't gone too long, but this is an opportunity to see some different looks.

[saXon]

Monahan leads all 2013 draftees in scoring and goals.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by saXon

Monahan leads all 2013 draftees in scoring and goals.

Just a nice, little pinch of karma for COL, NSH, TB and CAR for stinking it up for better picks at year's end.

Effort pays off.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

“I don’t learn very much about him anymore, I just pinch myself wondering if I need to check his birth certificate,” head coach Bob Hartley said with a smile after his crew survived a late surge by the Montreal Canadiens to hold on to a 3-2 win.

“The poise he’s showing for an 18-year-old. He’s having fun and bringing passion and excitement. He’s a pretty special kid. It seems every game we’re changing actors but racking up points. It’s a long season — no sense being cocky. But this is huge.”

“Third time is a charm — we didn’t want that to happen again,” said Monahan’s linemate Sven Baertschi as blood dripped from his chin

“We didn’t panic.”

“I yelled at him so hard, and I knew he was going to make that pass,” Baertschi said.

“He read the play well, got right behind the man and it was a nice pass — he’s such a talented player.”

“A dream start? Well, it has been a lot of fun not losing in regulation … because I hate losing,” said Monahan, whose parents and sister have been watching him live all week, leading up to his 19th birthday Saturday.

“I’m just trying to do the little things right on the ice and continue to be a good pro.”

So far so “good.”

http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/10/10...to-stay-in-nhl

[Wolfman]

Another huge win boys. They don't ask how they ask how many. Keep pumping them out and we could be in for an exciting season.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

“I was pretty surprised by it, I was trying to get open,” Stempniak said. “Playing with someone like that, you try and keep your stick on the ice and you try to be ready for (the puck). But when he spun around and gave me the pass, I was surprised a little bit.

“The big thing for him, he’s learning. He’s going to the net and staying there. The coaches preach to us every day at practice: ‘just get to the front of the net and stop and put in the rebounds.’ He’s poised. Most guys would just slap it and put it in. It’s a good sign.”

“It was huge,” Stempniak said. “Not to say there weren’t some scary moments in this game. But to hang on, it’s big. We play so hard right now and for us to lose two of the first three games when we were in control is tough. But (Wednesday) was a good step for us.”

“Yeah, obviously everyone is talking about the nine-games, but that’s not something I think about,” he said. “I just come to the rink every day like I want to be on this team. I just want to work hard and do whatever I can to stay here for the season.”

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/...750/story.html

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Dion

My problem is this is supposed to be a rebuilding year and we brought in 2 goaltenders from Europe to see what they can do. We should be playing Ramo a lot to see if he has the right stuff to a regular in this league.

I completely disagree with what you are implying here. Ramo will likely take a lot of time to get re-aclimitised to the North American game, so it should come as no surprise to see the coaches easing him into regular action. None of us is privy to what happens in practice, and I expect that there is a plan in place with how the time between Ramo and MacDonald is to be split, especially through the first twenty games.

Originally Posted by Dion

One regular season game is hardly a good way to judge how Ramo is doing. Playing the hot goaltender sends me the message that winning is of more importance. Mac is only a short term solution.

Winning IS important. Why would the coaches want to send the message that the team is only interested in developing its new players? That rather sounds like a disastrous approach reminiscent of how the Oilers have played out the last four years. It strikes me as ironic that you complain about the small sample-size afforded to Ramo, while at the same time, you completely ignore the fact that the Flames have only played four games. It's early. Certainly far, FAR too early to be lodging these sorts of complaints.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by TheChief

I thought Baertschi had his best game of the season. Was dissapointed to see glencross/hudler get powerplay time over sven with the effort he put in tonight, looked AWESOME...

It should be noted that both Baertschi and Monahan logged more time on the PP last night than in any of the three previous games. Baby steps. They will get their chances, but they will likely not come all at once.

[calgarywinning]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

It should be noted that both Baertschi and Monahan logged more time on the PP last night than in any of the three previous games. Baby steps. They will get their chances, but they will likely not come all at once.

I think they were double shifted and then a timeout was called and they were back on the ice as well.

[Itse]

Just watched the game.

I'm liking this Hartley guy. He's got the team playing good, and making some right calls. Like playing Mac. Also right now Feaster-Weisbrod are looking pretty good. As someone said already, kind of a "moneyball" team right now, very effective for the price tag and what it took to get these guys.

Glencross can't buy a break on this board. Whatever. The critics were grasping at straws tonight IMO.

We're not missing Cammalleris scoring, but I think having Stajan would help calm things down when the other team starts pushing.

Street has picked up his game since Washington to the point where I have to agree that he looks fine. Still, it'd be nice to have Colborne pick up his game, we could use his size.

Agree on Butler-O'Brien looking better too. Not noticing them is a clear upgrade and generally what you want out of the 3rd pairing. Wouldn't necessarily go as far as calling them solid, but okay is okay here. It's not just the kids that seem to be getting better.


Also, Sven Baertchi - Sean Monahan Burke's criticism seems to have hit the spot, I think Baertchi is playing a way better and more complete game. The kids are growing up so fast. I'm a little worried he'll get himself injured though, playing that way.

Seems like the next real measuring stick for this team will be the California road trip. Lots of good, big veterans lining up against us there.


Btw, I think somebody mentioned a shoulder injury to Jones? Any news on how bad it is? He's had shoulder trouble before right?

[TurnedTheCorner]

It's his right shoulder, or possibly his neck/back. Nothing announced by the team.

He had shoulder surgery in 2009, though I'm not sure on which one.

[Itse]

Hope he doesn't miss too many games, we don't have that many big guys in the lineup and he's been really good.

[The Hendog]

Originally Posted by Itse

Just watched the game.

Glencross can't buy a break on this board. Whatever. The critics were grasping at straws tonight IMO.

Agreed I can't understand all the Glencross hate on this board either.
His effort level was good and he scored a nice goal on the PP which has struggled and hey it turned out to be the game winner!

He also really impressed me with how he handled PK Subban. Near the beginning of the game, PK and Sven got tied up in the Habs corner and the play went back into the Flames zone so PK and Sven were skating towards the Flames end away from the play. PK was slashing at Sven, bumping him, just being a super pest and picking on the rookie. So what does Glencross do? Comes out and essentially says pick on someone your own size and two can play this game. For the rest of the game he was hacking at Subban when he could, took runs at him, hit him hard and really played super pest right back at him. It noticeable effected how Subban played I think, both good (his goal) and bad (3rd period penalties). Glencross got under his skin playing his own game against him and that is what you want Glencross to do; stick up for the young guys and rattle the other teams top talent.

[flambers]

With the Flames style, injuries could be a concern..... David Jones was hurt, no clue on his status.... Sven Baertchi was banged up when the Flames collided at the blue line....

Great game, very exciting to watch!!!

[DuffMan]

I'm sure I heard in the broadcast at one point that Hartley said he thought Mac had earned the start in his recent play, but Ramo would be in either the next game or very soon, I forget which. So in Hartleys mind he's going with the hot goaltender and Ramo knows he better play well to get more starts. I dont' see a problem with that at all. It is the NHL after all.