[PGT] Flames beat Vancouver, 3-1!

[Red]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

But it is Dube that keeps getting benched. I have been happy with Dube's game, personally.

I didnt see Dube's missed checks someone mentioned. If he did, I hope he learns from that. He has been a good player early on, one with energy which seems to be missing in some of the vets.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Gotta give credit where it's due: Looch has been playing good hockey with little (if any) mistakes for about a week now.

He's hauling that 230lbs around well, skating with non-stop energy, making smart little passes with checkers on him, and he's been controlling the boards behind the net.

I know Looch doesn't fit the cap hit with his play, but I love that he's a part of this team. Stajan mentioned in one of the broadcasts a while back the importance of Looch as a leader on the Flames. Play aside, the guy is a respected leader in the dressing room. You have to look no further than the Canucks or Oilers to witness what happens to a team with no veteran leadership.

His play of late is icing on the cake.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

My only grip with the team's play at the moment is that they are relying on Markstrom a little too much. If Rittich was in net for the last three games the Flames probably lose all three of them. For a team that doesn't score as much as other teams in the division they need to give up less quality scoring chances IMO.

The Flames as a team generally don't give up all that much five on five.

I agree that they seem to struggle scoring so it could still be an issue, but system wise they've taken a step forward this year.

It would be interesting though to look at the terrible periods and the not terrible periods, but then I guess every team would have disparity doing the same.

Markstrom has been great, but his expected save percentage remains pretty close to his actual save percentage.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by 868904

Yea both Monahan and Nestorov were covering for Valimaki who was caught deep.

Valimaki has been caught deep a lot or made a lot of bad reads and decisions defensively. That’s to be expected of a young defenseman, but he gets so much love on this board and can do no wrong because he’s the new shiny toy. His mistakes are blamed on others. That’s the benefit of being a hot shot rookie, high draft pick, and being on a cheap contract.

He will be fine, I think he’s going to be a Rob Blake type of defenseman for us but he still has a lot to learn. He’s in the perfect spot as the third pairing defenseman.

On Monahan's penalty he wasn't "caught" deep as opposed to just going deep with Monahan covering, which is pretty standard. It just ended up as a bit of a mismatch and Monahan got tangled up trying to turn the Canuck.

I actually like Valimaki taking that chance, as long as there's coverage.

[868904]

Originally Posted by ---Hatrick---

He has made some mistakes, but what we’re seeing along with those mistakes is his increasing poise. You can see that he has more confidence with the puck in his stick, and he’s not afraid to hold onto it and make a move. His ability to get picks through crowds and towards the net is impressive already. He’s a young player, and his positives are now out weighing the negatives so as long as we continue to see that trend I think there will continue to be a lot of forgiveness from fans and his team mates

Yea I think he’s been great offensively, to my eye, he might have produced the most offensively 5 on 5 of all the defensemen, he just needs work defensively.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Red

Ya Chucky was awful. He had that noticeable shift early in the 3rd where a Canuck D almost passed to him in the slot. I rewatched that shift and he literally stopped skating letting a canuck skate to the Flames slot with the puck. This is the PLD type shift we were discussing lately.
At that moment I thought, wow, last we see of him tonight.
He was out on the ice a minute later again. Perplexing coaching.

Someone mentioned that he makes a play and then watches it standing still. That is so true and weird at the same time.

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

But it is Dube that keeps getting benched. I have been happy with Dube's game, personally.

I've said it before. Different players will react differently to benching. It seems Ward figures - you bench Dube and he comes back a lot better. You bench Tkachuk and maybe the reverse happens, especially if his trouble is confidence related. Peple were screaming for Lucic to be benched and I think Ward just wanted him to work through any issues.

[Bingo]

And it's not out of the normal to give vets or guys with letters a little more rope that essentially first year players.

[Blaster86]

Hello darkness my old friend

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

Hello darkness my old friend

phew, was worried about you

[CSharp]

Flames weren't playing all that great in that game last night. Markstrom bailed the team out. I don't know what all the hype is about Hanifin. He's out of place a lot of times and Tanev bails him out quite a bit. Third line and Gaudreau showed up again. I have to say, Lucic, Backlund, and Mangiapane line is the best line night in and night out. I love how Lucic pastes the guy into the board - that's the kind of size the Flames need!

[red sky]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

Gotta give credit where it's due: Looch has been playing good hockey with little (if any) mistakes for about a week now.

He's hauling that 230lbs around well, skating with non-stop energy, making smart little passes with checkers on him, and he's been controlling the boards behind the net.

I know Looch doesn't fit the cap hit with his play, but I love that he's a part of this team. Stajan mentioned in one of the broadcasts a while back the importance of Looch as a leader on the Flames. Play aside, the guy is a respected leader in the dressing room. You have to look no further than the Canucks or Oilers to witness what happens to a team with no veteran leadership.

His play of late is icing on the cake.

There was a shift where he just physically dominated Schmidt down low after he laid a big hit. Schmidt essentially gave up on the play and Flames cycled the puck in the zone for a good opportunity.

[Monahammer]

- I disagree heavily with the decision to bench Dube.
- Something is wrong with Tkachuk. Sit him so he can heal or get his head out of his rear,
whichever it is.
- Coaching decisions continue to be extremely puzzling. Why on earth was our 4th line out trying to defend the lead against the extra man attack in the last 2 minutes?
- Still a lack of consistent effort throughout the lineup

Markstrom is amazing and the dynamic duo continues to prove last season was an aberration. Lindy has been carrying around Tkachuk's lifeless corpse pretty well so far, but could use a hand. Gio finally had a good game last night Imo, hopefully he builds on that as backlund has recently.

I would like to see Phillips, Ruzika, and Gawdin put in soon. Nordstrom/Froese/Leivo are all varying degrees of pylon IMO.

[dino7c]

Did the fourth line even give up a scoring chance with the goalie pulled? Nordstrom and Froese were very good down a man last night. Nordstrom with a few really good shot blocks. Criticizing the coach for not giving the fourth line zero minutes is getting old.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Did the fourth line even give up a scoring chance with the goalie pulled? Nordstrom and Froese were very good down a man last night. Nordstrom with a few really good shot blocks. Criticizing the coach for not giving the fourth line zero minutes is getting old.

Markstrom made 2 great saves in the last minute. I just think we have better players to give a chance to if the coach is going to be married to playing that type of player in certain scenarios.

[dino7c]

Flames have outscored Vancouver 11-3 in three games

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Markstrom made 2 great saves in the last minute. I just think we have better players to give a chance to if the coach is going to be married to playing that type of player in certain scenarios.

IDK about that...2 routine saves maybe. Honestly were you ever worried in that 3rd period?

Vancouver had 7 high danger chances all night. Seems like complaining just to complain...fourth line was solid last game

[blankall]

I have to admit, that game was the one of the most painful Flames wins I've ever watched. The Canucks look defeated and have no finish. That and Markstrom kept us in the game. The Flames looked, overall, uninterested, and it made their play uninteresting.

The biggest positive for me is Backlund. He looks amazing. He's playing excellent defence and he seems to be coming up with new offensive moves and vision. There actually seems to be some great chemistry, with Lucic of all people. Part of that is that Backlund slows down the play enough for Lucic to keep up. Monahan also seems to be benefiting from the slightly reduced workload brought on by using Backlund and Lindholm more. Last season, Monahan stated he was focusing less on his offensive game and more on his overall play, which might be paying dividend.

The Flames really need to see more from their wingers. Gaudreau has been getting points, largely from fast breaks, but he coughs up the puck constantly in the offensive zone. I have yet to see him do a single spin move all season. There was a time when the opposition feared his ability to control the puck, and he seemed able to dodge the best defenders.

And Tkachuk, just seems to be missing something.

This team relies to heavily on the PP. The team is tied for 2nd in the league in PP percentage. If they want continued success, they need to do better 5v5 and they need the stars to be stars.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

Hello darkness my old friend

LOL your tears are saltier than the unfiltered waste water in Saanich Inlet!
Yum!

[---Hatrick---]

Originally Posted by blankall

I have yet to see him do a single spin move all season. There was a time when the opposition feared his ability to control the puck, and he seemed able to dodge the best defenders.

.

I dont know if you’ve watched every game, but minus the last couple games, he’s had moments where he’s absolutely been flying around with the puck. Much more this season than he showed all last season. Like, wizard Gaudreau style.

He spoke after the game last night in an interview about how he’s trying to not be as cute this year, and take more of a shoot first mentality, as teams are used to him looking to make a pass before taking a shot. I think this mentality has made him more effective this season so far. Not thinking as much and just reacting

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Mango scored the GWG

Originally Posted by CsInMyBlood

Who the fork is Mango?

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Mangiapane!

Originally Posted by SportsJunky

Nope

If Mangiapane is gonna have a terrible nickname, I say we go with:

NSFW!