[PGT] 5-4 Blues in a SO

[Displaced Flames fan]

Wow. Baffled by the varied but undeniable prevalence of:

1. Johnny sucked
2. Starting Talbot was the wrong decision


Just don't get either of those arguments at all. Shootout loss to the runaway best team in the conference and defending cup champs with the backup goaltender in net. Perspective. Tonight's game is far more important than that lost point. Johnny made a handful of nice defensive plays along with being arguably the most dangerous skater on the ice. He was very good

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Johnny gets 4 points, and media talks about his best game of the season.

Internet rando: "Jonny was horrible."

All they remember is the two breakaways he couldn't bury

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by AustinL_NHL

Geoff Ward trying to be smarter than everyone else starting Talbot over Rittich coming off the break.

Zero sense. Always play your #1 on the first night of a back-to-back. Especially when it's against the defending champs and the best team in the West.

St louis coach played their back-up the night before on the first game of a back to back. I personally think it was the correct decision to play Talbot. Not coaches fault Talbot was hot garbage.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by SeanCharles

Stop blaming the coach for Talbot sucking.

Ward is a rookie head coach and it does show at times. Starting Rittich against the Senators was such a dumb decision in regards to goaltending management that even Craig MacTavish would question it. Starting Talbot is one thing but after two periods where it was evident to every single person in the building that he wasn't ready to play, the coach has to make the best decision in regards to winning the game. He was clearly upset on the disallowed goal so why not put Rittich in to finish the game as he's a professional athlete and should be able to play 4 periods in 24 hours just fine.

[transplant99]

There have been plenty of disappointing/bad losses for this team already this season.

This game was not one of them.

Played the SC champs even through 65 minutes and lose a SO? Not a bad night by any means.

Now the challenge is to play that way every night....starting tonight.

get 3 of the 4 points in the next 2 and this was a successful week.

[Phaneuf_Phan]

Buddy > Dube

[Toonage]

I was expecting a worse effort last night. I was pleasantly surprised by how much jump the team had but they were sunk by suspect defending and perhaps more suspect goaltending. I thought Rittich would get the start given the team's habit of using him more but I also understood why Talbot got the nod with Rittich the expected starter tonight.

Talbot had been lights out prior to being iced for so long, so its easy to see how he was so rusty last night. I expect he'll return to that form. Let's see how Rittich does tonight coming off the high of the ASG and right into the fire of this Edmonton game thats been hyped to unattainable levels.

[8sPOT]

Originally Posted by SeanCharles

Kylington doesn’t deserve to be in the same conversation as Talbot.

One made a big mistake that cost us and progressively got better afterwards.

The other couldn’t make a key save all night.

That’s your opinion. I thought Kylington constantly turned the puck over and got out battled. Talbot may have been the worst Flame, Kylington was 2nd worst.

[transplant99]

Yeah Kylington was getting his head caved in a lot last night and that was against the Blues bottom 6 for the most part from the eye test.

He was really starting to look good at times before the break, so lets assume he gets back to that place in short order.

Otherwise...yet another weak spot on a team that has more than a couple.

[Hackey]

Talbot was bad but debating about who should have started is pointless after the fact. Rittich could have started and lost and people would be saying why wasnt Talbot in the net after Rittich had to go to the All Star game. Then if we lost in Edmonton people would be complaining that we should have had our number 1 in net against a divisional rival etc. If Rittich started the game things would have played out entirely different and who knows if the results are any better. Maybe they are worse and we dont even get a point.

[Rubicant]

I’ve been as disappointed as anyone with Johnny this year, but I thought he was very good this game.

He was creating chances consistently for the first time in what seems like months.

He had two breakaways (and I know he didn’t finish... dude get a new move!)

Most importantly to me at least is he had some strong defensive plays. He was back checking and showing commitment to playing well when he didn’t have the puck. If we want to have a chance to win, we not only need our best players to play well with the puck but without it.

I hope the trend continues.

[Robbob]

After sleeping on it, I still am not mad. Like everyone mentioned, flames out of the break have not been good. Got a point, some players like Gaudreau, Monahan, and Jankowski looked a lot better then in recent games. If Gaudreau and Monahan can build off this game and look like the players we know they are, then this team will be in great shape.

The one thing this team is missing from last year is that next goal when they are up to build that momentum to put teams on their heels. The Flames had a great chance before the Blues tying goal in the third to extend the lead, instead the Blues come down and tie the game.

The good thing is 5v5, every line either scored or had really good scoring chances. Being able to roll 4 lines that can contribute like that makes a huge difference (i.e. see the Blues).

[Bingo]

Game Takes:
Blues 5 Flames 4 (SO)

- Monahan and Gaudreau have themselves a night
- Talbot struggles big time
- Flames get a point coming off the break

[EldrickOnIce]

The bad call by coach was not starting Talbot vs Sens, before break. BSD lit up there and Talbot with way too much time off.
Need to manage starts better than that

[BigRed]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

St louis coach played their back-up the night before on the first game of a back to back. I personally think it was the correct decision to play Talbot. Not coaches fault Talbot was hot garbage.

Talbot wasn't that bad. A few misses, but a few big saves. It evens out.

As far as who starts, on a back to back you start your #1 guy for the most winnable game. That's the Oilers, which is exactly what Ward did.

[Flash Walken]

Monahan played 1 minute of OT.

11seconds of the two full minute pp.

Lucic had 28 seconds of OT pp time










Why.

[BigRed]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Monahan played 1 minute of OT.

11seconds of the two full minute pp.

Lucic had 28 seconds of OT pp time


Why.

I think we were all stunned to see Lucic out in OT at all, let alone on the PP. Some experiments aren't worth trying, Geoff.

Plus, Lucic was having a rough night. OT is when he expected him to turn it around?

[dammage79]

Amazing how one rough game can undo everything Talbot was doing before hand around here. Impressive.

[442scotty]

Buddy Robinson looked great and I hope he stays up! Talbot was pretty bad. Giordano.... you had a one goal lead! Did you really need to press and pinch? Flames looked pretty good but need to be better covering for their pinching defence. Entertaining for sure

[jlh2640]

A loser point is acceptable in a game against a good team