[PGT] Flames barbecue the Wings 6-4

[SebC]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

That seems like an awful lot of work just to get rejected in a different language.

Especially since "no" in Spanish means "no" in English!

[WhiteTiger]

Always nice to come home in the morning and see a W! Way to go, Flames!

[jlh2640]

Mike Smith can clearly do nothing good ever on here. He kept them in the game in the 1st period.

[tvp2003]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1086494549982076928

Typical Sam Bennett goal. Benny ending up on his backside and the goalie laying 5 feet out of the net with a concussion. So much carnage.

[ssjshmo]

Benny stache strokes as he skates by Red Wings’ bench

https://streamable.com/09r2g

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by ssjshmo

Benny stache strokes as he skates by Red Wings’ bench

https://streamable.com/09r2g

That’s worthy of Oilcan Harry and Dudley Nightshade. I like it!

[Lanny_McDonald]

Flames dodged a bullet in that one. Big line had a pretty quiet game. Thankfully secondary scoring comes through on the PP and the "whipping boys" almost have a perfect night. Ryan's best game as a Flame? Bennett and Neal finally taking advantage of opportunities. Only guy that didn't have a great night was Smith. He still continues to let saveable goals in. The run support this team provides him is ridiculous. Hopefully the Flames play better against the Oilers and make a statement against a possible first round match up.

[Monahammer]

Personally I thought smith was garbage again.

Really happy to see the third line clicking. Please feed me crow neal!! I will scarf it down

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

Bennett was good. I still think the answer is to move him to 3C and put a winger, maybe Mangiapane, with him and Neal. Even though Bennett, Neal, and Jankowski had great games on special teams, they just don't work as a line 5v5.

Yeah, Jankowski just isn’t a strong centre (yet?). With how good he is on the Pk though, I feel like he’d be dynamite on the left-side of Ryan on the 4th. I hope we find a way to acquire Schenn (or Duchene?):

Gaudreau - Monahan - Lindholm
Tkachuk - Backlund - Frolik
Bennett - Schenn/Duchene - Neal
Jankowski - Ryan - Hathaway
Mangiapane, Czarnik

That line-up would be so damn pretty.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

Getting an assist.

I know, it ended up working out. That doesn’t mean i have to like the decision. He had done it just before as well and it made me nervous. Just don’t like our goalie taking such a big risk in a one goal game.

[The Boy Wonder]

That game was actually perfect for the flames.

Sets them up nicely for tonight against the oilers after the top line took the night off.

Other things to like are Bennett Neal getting some bounces together, PP2 testing out new look (especially important to have diverse options as we’ve seen in playoffs past, the team with the best PP tends to win, and the more options you have who can contribute gives you more options to shake things up if a certain group isn’t working in playoffs), smith probably got a bit of confidence with that big save in the third, rittich got a rest, but the best thing is flames avoided a certain trap game, which in years past, even the iggy years, would’ve been almost an auto loss.

[Flash Walken]

something special about this team, this year.

what a great game from Bennett.

Absolutely loved when he came in like a wrecking ball behind the detroit net after Tkachuk started a bit of guff.

Second wing comes in to go at Tkachuk, Bennett comes swooping in like a mother goose, punch to face.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

The Flames haven’t been that sloppy defensively in months. This is the typical (and understandable) confirmation bias at play, which in fairness both goalies have earned. If Rittich let in the exact same goals, the narrative in here would be the team D let him down, with Smith in net, it becomes he was bad again.

I actually thought Smith made some big saves last night and every goal tgat went it was due to sloppy D. I think you can debated the short side goal in the second, but again if the microscope wasn’t already on Smith we’d likely shrug it off. I think he’s quietly getting his game back together and is starting to look like a decent back up option for this year.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by getbak

Pretty, pretty good.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1086497960660090881

That tkachuk is so lucky to play there!

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

The Flames haven’t been that sloppy defensively in months. This is the typical (and understandable) confirmation bias at play, which in fairness both goalies have earned. If Rittich let in the exact same goals, the narrative in here would be the team D let him down, with Smith in net, it becomes he was bad again.

I actually thought Smith made some big saves last night and every goal tgat went it was due to sloppy D. I think you can debated the short side goal in the second, but again if the microscope wasn’t already on Smith we’d likely shrug it off. I think he’s quietly getting his game back together and is starting to look like a decent back up option for this year.

The team has been sloppy defensively of late for sure and that includes the top pairing. That said this game was a pretty typical Smith outing. Some really good saves mixed in with some goals let in that plenty of NHL goaltenders routinely stop.

I'm really at the point with Smith where if they win when he starts it's a bonus. Not going to even bother overly critiquing his play as this is what you are going to get from him every night now. I'm just happy the team overcame the stoppable goals surrendered to their opponent. Long term this is not a recipe for success but in the mean time as long as they win I'm happy.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Doing the one thing he still does better than most goaltenders, I assume.

I’m not sure why him playing the puck is an issue. Usually a smart play to get it out of the zone.

If he leaves it the Wings have possession in the zone. He actually had plenty of time there.

On the ones he had to scramble on last night, it was mostly because his D didn't get good position.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

The team has been sloppy defensively of late for sure and that includes the top pairing. That said this game was a pretty typical Smith outing. Some really good saves mixed in with some goals let in that plenty of NHL goaltenders routinely stop.

I'm really at the point with Smith where if they win when he starts it's a bonus. Not going to even bother overly critiquing his play as this is what you are going to get from him every night now. I'm just happy the team overcame the stoppable goals surrendered to their opponent. Long term this is not a recipe for success but in the mean time as long as they win I'm happy.

I think your comment on looking at winning games with him in as a bonus just shows just how exaggerated how bad his play is on a nightly basis has become. He’s had some disaster games this year, but those have only been a handful, and I’ll admit he’s played a lot of games tgat weren’t a disaster but fair to expect more from him. But within all that, I think the Flames are 5 games above .500 with him in net. Not list on me tgat the team in front of him has even lights out, but it also shows tgat a feeling of any game he starts and we win being a bonus is silly. We win more than we lose with Smith, regardless what we think of his play.

[cannon7]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

It's not a ton, but since NYE, Neal has 5 points in 9 games. Not great stats, but more Neal like. He also has 4 in his last 4.

Really really really hope this is the beginning of a tear for Neal. Really.

And if Bennett can continue to show some chemistry with Neal, all the better.

Having three lines capable of making the scoresheet on any given night will definitely help down the stretch.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by cannon7

Really really really hope this is the beginning of a tear for Neal. Really.

And if Bennett can continue to show some chemistry with Neal, all the better.

Having three lines capable of making the scoresheet on any given night will definitely help down the stretch.

His deflection was quite nice and his assist was an underrated subtle play to put the puck back to Bennett. Not flukes like some of his other points.

If line three starts clicking, and Ryan continues to play well (that was his best game IMO) this team may not need any deadline acquisitions (seeing as how Valimaki is skating).

[steveo]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

something special about this team, this year.

what a great game from Bennett.

Absolutely loved when he came in like a wrecking ball behind the detroit net after Tkachuk started a bit of guff.

Second wing comes in to go at Tkachuk, Bennett comes swooping in like a mother goose, punch to face.

If I'm thinking correctly it was Mantha who he grabbed and started giving those jersey jabs to. Then Bennett started chirping him (might be some wishful thinking but I think it had to do w them remembering the Hamonic thing)