[PGT] Flames 6 - Canucks 1

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by kevman

That's exactly what they've done. Over the last 7 or so game the results haven't always been there but the effort sure has.

Yeah, I think they've had decent effort for a two or three weeks. The biggest difference between this game and the recent losses or close wins is that V=NG.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Kybb79

So you can't say your opinion around here or you get mocked? You have to love GG to fit in?

I would say more people on this board are anti gg not pro gg

[Eric Vail]

Originally Posted by kukkudo

Back on topic Jankowski is going to be a beast in the next few years. I wonder how John Weisbrod is feeling knowing he had a major hand in selecting him and he is doing pretty well.

I bet he is feeling vindicated after years of people questing the pick.

[Stanley]

I didn't read the whole thread so it may have been mentioned before but...

I LIKE DAVID RITTICH

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Stanley

I didn't read the whole thread so it may have been mentioned before but...

I LIKE DAVID RITTICH

That was easily Rittich's best game. In his other wins I felt he still was not tracking the puck well, though all other aspects of the game were good. In this game I thought he followed the puck way better.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

Good post about stats on Bennett, 5 on 5.

Was looking at this as well, so glad I saw your post before I typed a whole bunch of the same thing. Some more stats...

Since Nov 9th (and yes, that is cherry picking), Bennett is tied for 43rd in points, despite a complete lack of PP time. At even strength, he is tied for 6th with Johnny and a few others, with 14 points. MacKinnon and McDavid lead the league with 16.

And, unlike everyone else anywhere near those numbers, he only plays 14 minutes a night.

Best of all, he has looked good doing it, and seems to be gaining confidence with each game.

[Enoch Root]

Very solid game for the Flames, and just what they needed.

Hopefully this sends them off on a bit of a run. Because they really need it.

Really like the look of Rittich back there. Jankowski, Kulak, Hathaway and Rittich, are all looking like solid NHLers.

[AC]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Since Nov 9th (and yes, that is cherry picking), Bennett is tied for 43rd in points, despite a complete lack of PP time. At even strength, he is tied for 6th with Johnny and a few others, with 14 points. MacKinnon and McDavid lead the league with 16.

Saw this today:

@Fan960Wills
#NHL point leaders since November 28th. #Flames @SBennett93 tied for fourth on a list that includes some of the league’s best players.

[ForeverFlameFan]

I thought Bennett was a bust

[ComixZone]

Bennett had 0 points in his first 15 games.

Bennett has 15 points in his last 19 games.

Bennett has 1 powerplay point, and it came it last night.

[united]

What a satisfying game to watch. Complete domination in which I don't think there is a player on the team who would be too upset with the game they played. Solid top to bottom. The fact that came in game 3 of a 3-in-4 situation makes it even more impressive, even if it was against the pathetic Canucks. Hope the boys enjoyed a few well deserved beverages on the flight home.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

I thought Bennett was a bust

Playing center he was heading that way.

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by AC

Saw this today:

@Fan960Wills
#NHL point leaders since November 28th. #Flames @SBennett93 tied for fourth on a list that includes some of the league’s best players.

The stats look even better when you consider that all but 1 of those points have been even strength and he’s playing 3rd line minutes. Kid is starting to build big time chemistry with Jankowski and I think we may have found the next pairing going foward into the future.

[Toonage]

Originally Posted by Frank MetaMusil

Playing center he was heading that way.

This.

For every "thought he was a bust" comment, how many of us were taken to task for even suggesting that maybe he'd be better off on the wing?

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Frank MetaMusil

Playing center he was heading that way.

Playing centre with Troy Brouwer, and other terrible wingers, sure you can say “he was headed that way” but that’s entirely ignoring circumstance, and placing the blame on a young, highly skilled player. That’s what bad organizations do, and that’s what impatient fans do.

The whole “he’s a bad centre” is rubbish in my eyes, because while he’s played centre he has been saddled with awful players.

Bennett’s game started to turn around once he got to play with Jagr, and then really took off once he got to play with Jankowski.

Asking a 20/21 year old to carry a line by himself as a centre, while having to carry bad players, was a failure on the organization’s side, not Bennett’s.

[united]

From October 16:

Originally Posted by united

I've always thought of Bennett as more of a winger because he likes attacking from width and is such a tenacious forechecker.

With regard to his forechecking, he often chases other teams' defencemen behind their goal line in pursuit, relative to other centres, causing one of his wingers to have to play third man high in the offensive zone. Of course, when the other team successfully transitions to the neutral zone and then offensive zone, that results in said winger having to deploy as F1 in initial coverage. On the cycle, the main goal of the offence is to force switches and by Bennett having to switch with a winger later in coverage, they are doing the offense's job for them. Now, that is fine if you have good defensive wingers, but part of the issues Bennett's line had last year is neither of his most common wingers are particularly good defenders nor are they good outlets for clean breakouts through the middle.

For those reasons I have been hoping we'll see Bennett and Jankowski on the same line. That way, like the Sharks with Thornton and Pavelski, the two of them can competently swap roles on the fly when the situation calls for it. Bennett can remain at centre ice as a default, while Jankowski can adequately cover for Bennett as third man high and F1 when Bennett is relentlessly forechecking deep in the other team's zone. Or, maybe you deploy Jankowski at centre and let Bennett loose as a high-tempo two-way winger.

How good have those two been since? What a turnaround in Bennett's game. In fact, lately they have been dominant.

Bennett
Pre-Jankowski: 39.6 FF% with 0 5v5 points from 50.9% O-zone starts (8 games)
Post-Jankowski: 51.6 FF% with 14 5v5 points from 64.2% O-zone starts (26 games)
Post-November 28: 55.6 FF% with 11 5v5 points from 55.3% O-zone starts (11 games)

[GioforPM]

When Bennett was first put in the lineup, it was as a winger and a whole lot of posters were unhappy.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Bennett had 0 points in his first 15 games.

Bennett has 15 points in his last 19 games.

Bennett has 1 powerplay point, and it came it last night.

If not for a 4 point outburst last night we're talking about a pretty mediocre 11 points in 18 games. One could easily point out that 8 of those points have come in 3 games against inept teams like the Coyotes, Oilers and Canucks (who are decimated by injuries) as well.

Thankfully Sam is looking like a very different player since he was finally put back on the wing but it is way too early to suggest he has turned the corner and is now back on track to being the elite player he was drafted to become. The next 15-20 games will tell the story of Sam Bennett IMO. If he can sustain his play and continue to produce at a decent level, this conversation becomes much more valid with a decent sample size as a winger to draw from.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Playing centre with Troy Brouwer, and other terrible wingers, sure you can say “he was headed that way” but that’s entirely ignoring circumstance, and placing the blame on a young, highly skilled player. That’s what bad organizations do, and that’s what impatient fans do.

The whole “he’s a bad centre” is rubbish in my eyes, because while he’s played centre he has been saddled with awful players.

Bennett’s game started to turn around once he got to play with Jagr, and then really took off once he got to play with Jankowski.

Asking a 20/21 year old to carry a line by himself as a centre, while having to carry bad players, was a failure on the organization’s side, not Bennett’s.

I never said it wasn't the org's fault. I'm well aware of the circumstances also. Continuing to force it with him at center was dumb, and I was one of the posters who wanted him tried at wing for even a game or two. He hasn't looked back since.

Player deployment was going to cause Bennett to bust, not Bennett's skill level.

Better?

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by Kybb79

So you can't say your opinion around here or you get mocked? You have to love GG to fit in?

I think it's more that this is a PGT, where you comment on the game itself. If you have a gripe regarding specific matchups, deployments, line combinations etc. relative to the game that was just played, fill your boots and slag on the specifics all you want.

If you want to just drop a steamy dump on a pic of GG, there's another thread for that.