[PGT] Pens 1 Flames 2 in OT

[---Hatrick---]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

By the same token, there is no need to discuss Mike Smith into a PGT since he has threads of his own as well.

My point was more along the lines that in a game where GG criticism really wasn't warranted, it's still being spewed.
If he had visually made some questionable decisions or gafs then absolutely bring it up, as coaching is part of the game.

But last night he probably deserves praise for having his team re focused for the second period. The Pens were flying in the first and caught us sleeping. Something was said in the intermission, whether it was the coaching staff, or some players but they were a different team to start the second period.

GG also isolated Crosby with his line matching. 3M did a fantastic job of containing that line all night.

There's criticism to be made about that game, but GG was fine in my opinion.

[This post is terrible]

Hockey can't be played fast enough

We're at a point where the Internet gives us everything we need instantly. It used to be the season couldn't happen soon enough, now it's wins then games then periods can't happen soon enough. We micro analysis everything. It was hilarious at the start of the season whenever Brouwer touched the puck, someone was ready to jump on him no matter what he did. The Jankowski situation didn't last very long but the endless debate about it was nuts. In the 90's you'd open up the paper and read about Jankowski and his road to the NHL and be like "who". Now both Brouwer and Jankowski are old news, it's crazy.

[PeteMoss]

Even the first was relatively even except for the very beginning and Pens PP where they had 6 shots and about 5 dangerous chances.

The Flames have been fine lately for the most part. They've won the Corsi battle 5v5 for 6 games in a row. They've outshot teams 5v5 in 5 of those 6 games.

Issues have been the PK and scoring goals.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by This post is terrible

Hockey can't be played fast enough

We're at a point where the Internet gives us everything we need instantly. It used to be the season couldn't happen soon enough, now it's wins then games then periods can't happen soon enough. We micro analysis everything. It was hilarious at the start of the season whenever Brouwer touched the puck, someone was ready to jump on him no matter what he did. The Jankowski situation didn't last very long but the endless debate about it was nuts. In the 90's you'd open up the paper and read about Jankowski and his road to the NHL and be like "who". Now both Brouwer and Jankowski are old news, it's crazy.

I'm confused, this post isn't terrible?

[Geeoff]

Originally Posted by transplant99

long post

I think we can all agree that the Flames have not been great and that Mike Smith has bailed them out on at least half of their wins.

I don't speak for everyone but I don't have a problem with negative posts in general. What I do have a problem with is the posters who have one particular bone to pick with the team and repeat that same complaint 20 times in the GT. It gets very spammy after a while.

I think it's great to be critical and passionate for the Flames, I just find reading the same thing over and over again to be exhausting. So, I'll be honest, I just read the PGT and skip the GT.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by ---Hatrick---

My point was more along the lines that in a game where GG criticism really wasn't warranted, it's still being spewed.
If he had visually made some questionable decisions or gafs then absolutely bring it up, as coaching is part of the game.

But last night he probably deserves praise for having his team re focused for the second period. The Pens were flying in the first and caught us sleeping. Something was said in the intermission, whether it was the coaching staff, or some players but they were a different team to start the second period.

GG also isolated Crosby with his line matching. 3M did a fantastic job of containing that line all night.

There's criticism to be made about that game, but GG was fine in my opinion.

If GG deserves praise for refocusing the team heading into the second, then he deserves criticism for its complete lack of preparedness in the first. That's a two way street. Likewise, if we're going to praise Gulutzan because the 3M line did what it does, then we're going to have to criticize Gulutzan for the Stajan line spending most of the night getting their heads bashed in (and completely neutering Gio and Hamilton in the process when they were unfortunate enough to be on the ice at the same time).

These praises and criticisms don't just go away because Mike Smith stole one. And in the context of discussing the game, they are all valid statements.

[devo22]

the really positive thing is that the Flames have found ways to get points and win games despite still clearly having some issues and not playing their best hockey. Mike Smith has been a huge addition to this hockey club, having a reliable goalie makes such a difference. Much better start than last year from a standings perspective ... they'll be fine once the bottom six start contributing. I have no doubt that's going to happen soon.

[---Hatrick---]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

If GG deserves praise for refocusing the team heading into the second, then he deserves criticism for its complete lack of preparedness in the first. That's a two way street. Likewise, if we're going to praise Gulutzan because the 3M line did what it does, then we're going to have to criticize Gulutzan for the Stajan line spending most of the night getting their heads bashed in (and completely neutering Gio and Hamilton in the process when they were unfortunate enough to be on the ice at the same time).

These praises and criticisms don't just go away because Mike Smith stole one. And in the context of discussing the game, they are all valid statements.

Dude... lol

It's very rare you ever see a perfect game start to finish. There will be mistakes and there will be adversity.

If a team over comes it and finds a way to get a W, credit is due.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

But it is NOT a fact, so people have a right to complain. I agree that in the first five or six games of the season, the Flames were surrendering way too many shots. But a lot of the reason for this had to do with the number of penalties they were taking, and how many games they had played on the road. In another thread I showed how in the past six games prior to last night, the Flames were actually top-five in the entire league for shots allowed, so clearly an adjustment has been made and a correction has taken place.

So, what happened last night? They played the Stanley Cup champions, who were DESPARATE to win a second game in back-to-back nights for the first time this season, where they have been poor. The Flames came out predictably flat after a long break, and the Penguins hammered them in the first period. But again, a correction was made and the play evened out for the final two periods. In other words, the first period was an outlier, which in turn means the whole game was an outlier for the shot count.

I think that some of your concern about scoring is fair, as it is for the power play. But you are wrong about shots against and scoring chances allowed (you are also wrong about the penalty kill, which is starting again to look very good). The team still has some issues to sort out, but they have actually looked excellent in a number of areas for a few games now.

I love your enthusiasm and whatnot for this club, but I think you are lying to yourself if you think things are OK.

PP and PK are bottom 7 in the league....earlier this season they were top 10. How is that things trending in the right way?

Sorry Im not buying the old "all will be fine" mantra yet, as there has been no consistency from this club all season.

Honestly they could have lost to the Caps and should have lost last night. That game is likely 3 or 4 nothing after the 1st if Smith isn't channeling his inner Johnny Bower.

Those kind of efforts are not what a contending team comes up with when facing a team on the 2nd of back to back nights whilst playing their backups.

Simply not good enough and certainly not serious contender type of play and when combined with the laissez faire attitude they have demonstrated from one game to the next, a very real issue.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by transplant99

I love your enthusiasm and whatnot for this club, but I think you are lying to yourself if you think things are OK.

PP and PK are bottom 7 in the league....earlier this season they were top 10. How is that things trending in the right way?

I agreed with you that the power play is an issue, but the penalty kill has been 3/3 in their past two games. The best news in this is that the Flames have really dramatically cut down the number of penalties they were taking in the early part of the year.

Sorry Im not buying the old "all will be fine" mantra yet, as there has been no consistency from this club all season.

There are pretty good reasons to think that the issues with the team will correct themselves in due course, similar to how the Flames effectively improved their defence and penchant for penalties from the first several games of the season.

Honestly they could have lost to the Caps and should have lost last night. That game is likely 3 or 4 nothing after the 1st if Smith isn't channeling his inner Johnny Bower.

And if the Flames had scored on three posts that they hit in the Washington game, they would have blown out the Capitals. It goes both ways most of the time. Yes, they have won some games that they probably should have lost (the LA game is one), but the Flames have also lost games that they by rights should have won this year, such as against Minnesota where they were easily the better team.

Those kind of efforts are not what a contending team comes up with when facing a team on the 2nd of back to back nights whilst playing their backups.

It has been explained to you now numerous times precisely why the first period was so lopsided, and thus why the Flames allowed so many first period shots—one team was dialed in while the other was struggling to find their legs after several days off. This kind of thing happens pretty frequently, even to the best NHL teams.

But what I have a problem with is your utter refusal to acknowledge what happened after period 1 last night. You continue to rail on about how bad the Flames played, but that completely ignores the fact that they matched the Penguins—and by some accounts were actually better than them—through the balance of the game. No, it was not a 60 minute effort like against the Capitals, but the Flames deserve a hell of a lot more credit than you seem willing to concede for turning that game around last night.

Simply not good enough and certainly not serious contender type of play and when combined with the laissez faire attitude they have demonstrated from one game to the next, a very real issue.

It is probably not good enough just yet, but again, there are valid explanations for that and good reason to expect that they will continue to improve through the season.

Again, I concede that there are still issues, but you also need to give the team some credit for their play of late, which on the whole has actually been quite good. I missed the entire first period in last night's game, but despite the low score was thoroughly entertained by what I saw from both teams in periods 2 and 3. If the Flames can play like that most nights they are going to win a bunch of games.

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Honestly they could have lost to the Caps and should have lost last night. That game is likely 3 or 4 nothing after the 1st if Smith isn't channeling his inner Johnny Bower.

And they could have won against Carolina and Dallas. These kind of games tend to even out.

There's no doubt they can be better, but the grand discussion here seems to be about how this is supposed to be a fun pastime, and a select group of people obsessed with the negative have been berating this forum with spam like pessimism, over and over in multiple threads.


Not convinced this team will pull it together and find some consistency now that we're into the thick of things? Totally valid concern.

However those who take those concerns and make it their mission to shove them down everyone's throat ad nauseam in every thread are getting beyond tiresome.

As mention by a few people, the actual game threads are a complete write off this season. The suggestion to "just ignore" those who do it does indeed work... if you ignore the entire thread.

The team is getting stellar goaltending for the first time in years and has beaten a couple good teams recently. Things are good at present, with the potential to get a lot better.

[---Hatrick---]

Originally Posted by transplant99

I love your enthusiasm and whatnot for this club, but I think you are lying to yourself if you think things are OK.

PP and PK are bottom 7 in the league....earlier this season they were top 10. How is that things trending in the right way?

Sorry Im not buying the old "all will be fine" mantra yet, as there has been no consistency from this club all season.

Honestly they could have lost to the Caps and should have lost last night. That game is likely 3 or 4 nothing after the 1st if Smith isn't channeling his inner Johnny Bower.

Flames absolutely dominated that game outside of maybe 2 mins. That game is what I hope the Flames can consistently play like. You could probably count on one hand the amount of puck battles they lost that night. The close score was not a telling story of that game.

Hopefully they can start scoring more though

[jonesy]

what's this?

---Hatrick---
Backup Goalie

Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Red Deer
Exp:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by transplant99 View Post
I love your enthusiasm and whatnot for this club, but I think you are lying to yourself if you think things are OK.

PP and PK are bottom 7 in the league....earlier this season they were top 10. How is that things trending in the right way?

Sorry Im not buying the old "all will be fine" mantra yet, as there has been no consistency from this club all season.

Honestly they could have lost to the Caps and should have lost last night. That game is likely 3 or 4 nothing after the 1st if Smith isn't channeling his inner Johnny Bower.
Flames absolutely dominated that game outside of maybe 2 mins. That game is what I hope the Flames can consistently play like. You could probably count on one hand the amount of puck battles they lost that night. The close score was not a telling stay of that game.

Hopefully they can start scoring more though
__________________
It was in.
Last edited by Textcritic; 11-03-2017 at 12:39 PM.

[jonesy]

a Hatcritic?

Textrickery?

[---Hatrick---]

Originally Posted by jonesy

a Hatcritic?

Textrickery?

Lol I have no idea

[jonesy]

Originally Posted by ---Hatrick---

Lol I have no idea

It seems textcritic edited your post, then it switched to you approx. 1 minute later. Do mods have that kind of power?

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Geeoff

I think we can all agree that the Flames have not been great and that Mike Smith has bailed them out on at least half of their wins.

I don't speak for everyone but I don't have a problem with negative posts in general. What I do have a problem with is the posters who have one particular bone to pick with the team and repeat that same complaint 20 times in the GT. It gets very spammy after a while.

I think it's great to be critical and passionate for the Flames, I just find reading the same thing over and over again to be exhausting. So, I'll be honest, I just read the PGT and skip the GT.

I very much agree with this.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

stuff.

Sorry dude, not buying it.

You believe things are better than not.

I don't.

Very few things/players on this team are at a contending level, and that's what I am addressing. I do not just ignore that abomination of period 1, because they woke up and played better afterwards. The issue is these starts. They are horrendous. Again, if not for Smith this is game 1 level of a beat down. Doesnt matter that they hit posts against the Capitals...has zero to do with the way they have played most of the season.

Do I think they will get better? Yes I do, because of coaching and knowing some of the personnel can and have been better.

Again though, there are some real issues that simply are unable to be ignored. Some are minor (taking penalties as one example cause looks to be addressed), Sam Bennett is a huge one, the PP is another, and team defense is the biggest of all...(Cannot stress this one enough)

That's a LOT to be fixing all at once. Again im hopeful the rest of this homestand and practice time gives them everything they need to get things figured, but there is a long way to go yet.

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Sam Bennett is a huge one, the PP is another, and team defense is the biggest of all...(Cannot stress this one enough)

He drew a penalty last night and the Flames scored on the ensuing PP.

[dammage79]

The one thing I know about Bennett is that he shows up in the big games later on in the season. He's proven to be the kind of guy you want to have in your line up rolling into the playoffs. Yes he is snake bitten like no other right now but you can tell the dams about to give way.

Just like Iagr, I'd rather the player be at his peak in April May and June.