[GDT] Flames @ Lightning, 5:30 p.m., SNFlames

[Cali Panthers Fan]

The Flames and Lightning met just over 2 weeks ago, and the Flames suffered a hard fought 2-1 OT loss, and certainly didn't look out of place against the East's top 3 team, and 4th in the league based on point%. How are the Lightning doing it? Scoring…a lot. They have scored 3.5 GF/G, just behind the Penguins' ridiculously unsustainable 4.09, and they also own the 3rd best PP% at 25%. That's really no surprise when you look at the talent they have, but it's coming from more than just Stamkos as Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov have been excellent on the 2nd line with 14 and 11 points respectively. Special teams are a strength as the PK% is almost 85% (top 10), putting their combined percentages at 110% (really, really good in case you were wondering). Yet, this is a team that only ranks in the middle of the pack in terms of GA/G at 2.58 (same as Toronto…that's not great). 5 on 5 the Lightning are strong as well, with a F/A ratio of 1.21, ranking them 9th, but behind the Flames at 1.42. Want to know who the worst are? Buffalo at 0.39 are the worst by a country mile, but just ahead of them are those lovable losers, the Oilers, at 0.62.

The Flames continue this Eastern Conference road trip after 2 wins in the first 2 games against some very good teams in Montreal and Washington. The Flames didn't play their best game against Washington, but gutted out a dramatic OT win with a clutch goal by Monahan (no surprise) and a brilliant save by Hiller in the last second of the game after letting in a less than stellar goal off the back boards. It looks like that save earned Hiller another start tonight, as he's been rumored to get the go-ahead. "Win/play well, and you'll continue to start" is now the Hartley mantra with regards to the goaltending situation, and you would imagine that if Ramo doesn't start tonight, he'll get the start against the woeful Panthers offense on Saturday to get some game action. Hiller's scorching hot play will be needed tonight against the Lightning's offensive attack (outlined above), but the team defense will need to do a good job of limiting their opportunities. They did just that when they played them before allowing only 1 regulation time goal and 2 overall, which is well below the Lightning's season average. Hold them to 2 goals again and the Flames have a good chance to win this game. Fail to do so and it could be a long night. The offense has continued to produce despite the loss of key forwards, and hopefully Gaudreau has fully recovered from the flu as they will need his creativity to score on a solid defensive team with a very good goalie in Bishop.


Flames
Glencross-Monahan-Jones
Gaudreau-Granlund-Hudler
Baertschi-Byron-Setoguchi
Bollig-Bouma-Jooris

Giordano-Brodie
Russell-Wideman
Smid-Engelland

Hiller


Lightning
Filppula-Stamkos-Callahan
Palat-Johnson-Kucherov
Morrow-Boyle-Brown
Drouin-Namestnikov-Paquette

Stralman-Carle
Garrison-Gudas
Brewer-Sustr

Bishop


Go Flames Go!

[Poe969]

looking forward to a big game from Johnny.

6-5 Flames.

[Husky]

Stralman, the RH D we should have never traded.

[FBI]

Hoping for baertschi to show something today and for Johnny to continue where he left off before the flu.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Husky

Stralman, the RH D we should have never traded.

He's got 9 points and is a +13 so far this year (+6 compared to the next ranked player). Most of the team is around the +3 mark. Rangers shouldn't have given him up either.

[BigFlameDog]

Doing a great job with these Cali...appreciate the effort.

[Trailer Fire]

I've always wondered, is there some unwritten code about doing the GDTs? HalifaxDrunk was doing them, and it seems he passed the torch to Cali. Did Cali just pick up where HD left off, or did HD pick Cali?

I'm simply curious. I don't think I could ever do a partway decent GDT.

[Zamboniman]

Any word on how Gaudreau is feeling?

Looks like they're planning on sticking with Hiller once again.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Trailer Fire

I've always wondered, is there some unwritten code about doing the GDTs? HalifaxDrunk was doing them, and it seems he passed the torch to Cali. Did Cali just pick up where HD left off, or did HD pick Cali?

I'm simply curious. I don't think I could ever do a partway decent GDT.

HalifaxDrunk is unable to do them at the moment due to a work situation I believe. I offered to take over for him and he endorsed me in a PM. I used to do post-game write-ups on another site years and years ago, and the writing bug got into me again recently.

I'm just glad everyone enjoys them. Internet people are hard to please sometimes.

[Gaudfather]

Originally Posted by Husky

Stralman, the RH D we should have never traded.

Agree - he was traded for a 3rd round pick in the 2010 entry draft - which became either Max Reinhart or Joey Leach - not sure which. If the latter was certainly a bust.

[Montek]

Originally Posted by Gaudfather

Agree - he was traded for a 3rd round pick in the 2010 entry draft - which became either Max Reinhart or Joey Leach - not sure which. If the latter was certainly a bust.

It was Reinhart

[carom]

Originally Posted by Trailer Fire

I've always wondered, is there some unwritten code about doing the GDTs? HalifaxDrunk was doing them, and it seems he passed the torch to Cali. Did Cali just pick up where HD left off, or did HD pick Cali?

I'm simply curious. I don't think I could ever do a partway decent GDT.

..

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showpos...26&postcount=4

[locsofblu]

Go Flames. Thinking they should give Ramo the start tonight. Hope they come out with 2 point regardless.

[ForeverFlameFan]

I think we pull out a win. We've played the revenge game for the past 2, so I hope we bust out another one against one of my most hated teams.

[DropIt]

Originally Posted by Husky

Stralman, the RH D we should have never traded.

except i seem to remember it being a roster apot between him and Giordano? maybe im thinking of soneone else. either way he sure would look nice on this roster instead of keeping Pardy back then

[dash_pinched]

I'll take a big Flames win on my birthday - Go Flames Go!

[sureLoss]

Derek Wills confirm Hiller as the starter

[terminator]

Byron = Lombardi.

[gargamel]

Originally Posted by DropIt

except i seem to remember it being a roster apot between him and Giordano? maybe im thinking of soneone else. either way he sure would look nice on this roster instead of keeping Pardy back then

It was actually between Stralman and Staffan Kronwall.

That was right at the start of the 2009-10 season, otherwise known as "The year when Darryl Sutter didn't make a single wise decision."

[Itse]

Yeah, trading Stralman is one case where I clearly remember thinking "we'll regret this".

Sucks to be right here.