[PGT] Oilers 7, Flames 4 -- Nadir

[sun]

Originally Posted by pylon

It's actually a bit of a blessing we only get them 4 times this year.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by 1CupChuck

What game were you watching? Also last team I checked the goalie is part of the "team". Has a goalie ever gone from best save pct. in the league to worst save pct. the next season? Could see that happening fairly easily.

We were watching the game where the Flames as a group played generally better than the Oilers (look at the shots) and where the refs severly belw two calls at a crucial time. And, no Elliot will not have the worst save % in the league this season.

Now go back under the bridge, troll.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by 1CupChuck

What game were you watching? Also last team I checked the goalie is part of the "team". Has a goalie ever gone from best save pct. in the league to worst save pct. the next season? Could see that happening fairly easily.

Is the ref part of the team? because he should have been wearing orange and blue last night.

And the Oilers played better then they have in about 20 years, which means they still weren't very good.

But the Flames were worse, but the difference is that we'll probably get better. This game for you Oiler fans was your stanley cup.

[theinfinitejar]

Originally Posted by 1CupChuck

What game were you watching? Also last team I checked the goalie is part of the "team". Has a goalie ever gone from best save pct. in the league to worst save pct. the next season? Could see that happening fairly easily.

Not taking the bait, friend.

[Oil Stain]

I wonder if any of the Oilers will go after Tkachuk next game for injuring Davidson.

Do Flames fans think he should fight over it if challenged?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

I wonder if any of the Oilers will go after Tkachuk next game for injuring Davidson.

Really?

It was a pretty on the edge play to me, but I doubt it.

But I'd love to see the idiots in the Oilers lineup taking penalties all night long for that.

[Kaine]

Kid plays less than 50 games in the NHL and is being heralded as the best player on the planet. Oh boy I mean I'll admit hes going to be damn good but this... this is something else. I don't know whether to laugh, cry or go blind at this level of crazy.

[bigrangy]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

I wonder if any of the Oilers will go after Tkachuk next game for injuring Davidson.

Do Flames fans think he should fight over it if challenged?

If they send him someone in his weight class then yeah for sure, but if Nurse or Lucic jumps him he'd have every right to try and get out of that. That's what Engelland is on the team for.

[TheoFleury]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

I wonder if any of the Oilers will go after Tkachuk next game for injuring Davidson.

Do Flames fans think he should fight over it if challenged?

If I'm Tkachuk, I don't fight just to drive the Oilers crazy as there will be no real 'retribution'. I would rather him become a pest of the highest order than anything else... whatever pisses people off basically. I want him to become the dinkiest dink who ever dinked.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by bigrangy

If they send him someone in his weight class then yeah for sure, but if Nurse or Lucic jumps him he'd have every right to try and get out of that. That's what Engelland is on the team for.

Well we know that Nurse has a reputation for fighting people below him in weight class or suckering people, so it could happen.

Lucic would no doubt want to throw his weight around, because he's a lughead. But I don't know if the Oilers want to risk the retaliation.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by TheoFleury

If I'm Tkachuk, I don't fight just to drive the Oilers crazy as there will be no real 'retribution'. I would rather him become a pest of the highest order than anything else... whatever pisses people off basically. I want him to become the dinkiest dink who ever dinked.

If I'm Tkachuk I take a solid run at McDavid at the start of the game to get the Oilers minds focused on me.

[JoelOtto29]

[MisterJoji]

Originally Posted by pylon

I really think people are underestimating what an incredible player McDavid is. Yeah the Oilers pumped 6 + an EN past us, and for good reason. Sometimes the homer glasses need to come off for a second.



It's OK to hate the team, but respect/recognize the fact they have probably the best player in the world on their team right now. Steamrolling the Oilers isn't going to happen every time anymore. Get used to it. It's actually a bit of a blessing we only get them 4 times this year.

C'mon guy ... that was one game. He wasn't even the best player on his team in a tournament of the best players in the world.

Originally Posted by 1CupChuck

What game were you watching? Also last team I checked the goalie is part of the "team". Has a goalie ever gone from best save pct. in the league to worst save pct. the next season? Could see that happening fairly easily.

Pack it in guys. Looks like it Edmonton vs. Ottawa in the finals this year while Calgary and Chicago battle it out for the right to draft Nolan Patrick.

[bucksmasher]

Originally Posted by pylon

I really think people are underestimating what an incredible player McDavid is. Yeah the Oilers pumped 6 + an EN past us, and for good reason. Sometimes the homer glasses need to come off for a second.

It's OK to hate the team, but respect/recognize the fact they have probably the best player in the world on their team right now. Steamrolling the Oilers isn't going to happen every time anymore. Get used to it. It's actually a bit of a blessing we only get them 4 times this year.

You're right that McForehead has talent but I think you're wrong that it's going to be a walk in the park for the oilers against the flames. That's still a very bad team up there. McForehead can't do that every night and if someone gets their shizt together wideman isn't going to be his primary defender.

[bubbsy]

listening to TSN radio on the way home from work today, and jamie maclennan really didn't sound all that positive about Elliot. Something about how he's never been a #1 goalie and that some random goalies have put together unreal years/stats with Hitchcock as coach, mentioning Leclaire (10 shutout year or something), Mason (calder trophy) as just some other obvious goalies who just did better behind a Hitchcock coached team.

I googled to see how much truth there is to this and found a frigin article/blog about it:
http://nhlnumbers.com/2012/7/17/goal...-ken-hitchcock

They summarized the point using both Elliott and Anderson in TO as examples of goalies who are trying to prove they are #1 goalies, but have shown well only on teams with far better defensive prowess. Something to be said about the hard-ass coaches in the league (hitchcock, sutter, babcock, guy in carolina) who preach defensive and actually hold folks accountable to it.

I don't know anything about this new coach, and being a younger guy, i do my best to not consider him another Eakins wonderkid. But if he can't enforce a defensive system then he won't fare any better than the guy before him.

The flames feel a bit like ottawa of the west. Decent forwards, with few top end skill guys, a mobile offensive d, but absolutely no understanding of how to defend. If the flames don't drastically improve defensively, how the heck do we get a guy like Playfair back here?

I have absolutely zero doubt that the flames are fighting for the division lead by the end of the year if we had Daryl Sutter coaching this roster .

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

#firstgametalk

Its not just first game talk. Last year he was doing a lot of the same stuff when he wasnt injured. he has been doing this stuff his entire short life.

He is truly a generational talent....that doesnt mean the Oilers are going to be SC champions or anything like that as hockey takes a 20 man unit all puling rope in the same direction.

As for being sick of seeing him everywhere and all the time, I get it and dont care for it either. That's not his fault though, that's all on the media which in turn makes it all on the fans. If the majority dont want to see it, they wont watch it. If no one is watching....the content is changed. Thats how all that stuff works.

[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

https://gfycat.com/BoringWebbedArcticfox

Feel this is worth posting once more. That's atrocious.

Not sure how to embed these ones.

Copy the video link and use the webm markup. (Hidden for size)

Spoiler!

Link

[thymebalm]

Lots of full scale panic after a single loss. I appreciate the enthusiasm, I really do.

But let's catch our breath here.

1) The game's outcome had nothing to do with refereeing. It's an easy scapegoat, but it was just one lousy call, and there are lousy calls every game. Something that's missed, an even-up call, a weak call, etc. Refs aren't perfect, but we've gotta cool it with the attitude that reffing lost us a game where six goals were let in. It doesn't look well on our fan base to go pointing fingers at something outside our own locker-room when the results don't match our expectations.

2) Expectations. They are high, and they should be. But they need to be tempered by certain realities. The Flames as a whole were not ready to start the season. It was a very disappointing camp- the WCOH and the Johnny Holdout and injuries to Backlund/Monahan combined with a shortened camp and a new coaches systems to get in place. The team struggled so bad in the preseason that only 3 forwards managed to score goals. That's more to do with learning the details of a system and playing with prospects and PTOs than it is the innate scoring ability of this club.

3) Progess. What we should really be measuring in the first 5 games in steady progress. Can the team buy in to the system? Can Elliott settle into his starting role? can GG get comfortable with his roster/matchups? Last game was not the team will we watch for 81 more games this year. I think that's pretty clear.

So yea, it sucks to lose. Especially that particular game against that particular team in that particular fashion... but I'm not ready to believe we've even seen the real 16/17 Flames.

This is a better team than last years team. Give them a couple of weeks to find themselves before you start lighting the torches.

I've got a funny feel things are going to start coming up Milhouse for this team, just have a little patience.

[dammage79]

After stewing on things a bit, aside from the refs slant towards the Oilers last night, the Flames did take a bunch of undisciplined penalties. IIRC< the last couple of year the Flames have been one of the least penalized teams in the league. Don't know if this is a direction the coaches and management want. But the PK better be what it was last night if hats the case.

Elliott was not his usual confident self, hopefully this is just an adjustment game and he can settle in for the long haul. Man he looked over zealous n his movement last night, but played really deep too. which was weird.

I sincerely hope Grossman never sees a game in a Flames uni again. His few blunders took any wind out of the Flames sails. I mean that give away on goal #1 was like quicksand. It's not that he made a bunch of terrible mistakes, but he really made a couple incredibly poorly timed devastating ones. And he just doesn't have the skill to rectify those when he does make them.

NEVER put Kevin in the doghouse. And Never...ever split up the top pairing again. Gio/Brodie are the anchors. Kevin and Hamilton are the #2. The rest is fodder other than Kulak. Those vets Wideman and Engelland should be on press box the rotation.

As far as coaching goes, Gulutzan played timid. But as with all new coaches, he needs more than one game and a weird training camp to get these systems in place.

And the PP needs to be better, still looks gross.

[thymebalm]

Originally Posted by dammage79

And the PP needs to be better, still looks gross.

Interesting. I didn't have a problem with the special teams. They generated a PP goal, and 2 more short-handed and created lots of chances.

I thought of all things, the special teams looked most immediately and obviously improved.