Close game. XGF favoured the Leafs heavily. Bob was the difference. Leafs got killed in Game 1 against the Lightning so hoping for a similar response in Game 2 from them.
Tkachuk and Bennett are two of the highest picks in Flames history that are having playoff success for another team while they are still in their prime.
It would be ridiculous to expect a Calgary Flames fan site to not be talking about that and just focusing on the series
There is only one entity to blame for Tkachuk, Bennett and even Johnny for leaving Calgary, fans can look at character issues, small market Canada, weather, whatever all they want if it makes them feel better but that entity is the Flames management/ownership.
#Truth
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He was still young. He just needed time to grow into the comfort level required to play his style of play in the playoffs. Power forwards are a different breed... unless you're blessed with the size of Eric Lindros, it just takes longer to develop than other forward styles.
It took Iggy 5-6 years before he was a beast too.
I don't know. Bennett always flashed in the playoffs so I'm not surprised about his play. Tkachuk never flashed in the playoffs for the Flames, ever. I kind of feel that it's possible that Tkachuk was suppressed by some of the veteran players on the Flames as we know Gio didn't care for him and maybe Lucic and other vets found him immature. Panthers really don't have that kind of veteran leadership presence so as I said before it looks to me like he's playing with the shackles off in Florida.
Close game. xGF favoured the Leafs heavily. Bob was the difference. Leafs got killed in Game 1 against the Lightning so hoping for a similar response in Game 2 from them.
The difference in those numbers come from the PP. If you look at stats 5v5, xGF is 2.3 for Toronto and 2.29 for Florida. And CF% heavily favors Florida, 58% to 42% which matches the eye test.
Obviously if the penalty ratio is 5:1 in favor of Toronto they'll get a ton of opportunities against a weak PK and the xGF will be high.
It's not just chucky either. Bennett is playing a huge role for this panthers team especially in playoffs.
Our 26 year old 4th overall center and our 25 year old 6th over all winger are tearing it up on another team. Meanwhile we've gotten older, missed the playoffs and refused to try and reset our core.
This organization really stink to be a fan of sometimes, they don't seem to do much right.
The mishandling of Sam Bennett is probably one of the dumbest things in the NHL in the last while. Not recognizing Tkachuk as a franchise player is probably close 2nd
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I think with Bennett its always easier for the 2nd team that gets a guy like that. For the Flames - he was a guy who was picked 4th overall and everyone was waiting for a star to emerge so he was a disappointment. With Florida - those expectations weren't there so they can be happy with it.
A guy picked 4th overall who becomes Micheal Ferland minus the concussions is a bit of a disappointment compared to expectations (especially when the guy picked before him by your big rival becomes a superstar. But a Ferland type guy is pretty valuable and a guy most teams would want.
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The difference in those numbers come from the PP. If you look at stats 5v5, xGF is 2.3 for Toronto and 2.29 for Florida. And CF% heavily favors Florida, 58% to 42% which matches the eye test.
Obviously if the penalty ratio is 5:1 in favor of Toronto they'll get a ton of opportunities against a weak PK and the xGF will be high.
Yeah the Leafs were unlucky to not score on the PP, but calling that game's penalty ratio 5:1 is just so disingenuous it drives me crazy.
Before the double minor with 30 seconds left in the game the penalty ratio was 3 against Florida and 2 against Toronto. Florida was just able to score with their extra attacker as they had sustained pressue with for a long time with the extra man. The Bennett high stick is blatant no? He was bleeding pretty bad. So it's a double minor but the Leafs still only got 30 seconds of PP time out of it. Maurice is kind of a twat.
I think with Bennett its always easier for the 2nd team that gets a guy like that. For the Flames - he was a guy who was picked 4th overall and everyone was waiting for a star to emerge so he was a disappointment. With Florida - those expectations weren't there so they can be happy with it.
A guy picked 4th overall who becomes Micheal Ferland minus the concussions is a bit of a disappointment compared to expectations (especially when the guy picked before him by your big rival becomes a superstar. But a Ferland type guy is pretty valuable and a guy most teams would want.
Micheal Ferland was given a regular slot on the top line and as much as people liked him here, let’s be honest, he did not produce like a top line player.
Bennett was buried in a permanent blender mainly bottom 6
Good that he bet on himself, because this org failed to get the best out of him
Yeah the Leafs were unlucky to not score on the PP, but calling that game's penalty ratio 5:1 is just so disingenuous it drives me crazy.
Before the double minor with 30 seconds left in the game the penalty ratio was 3 against Florida and 2 against Toronto. Florida was just able to score with their extra attacker as they had sustained pressue with for a long time with the extra man. The Bennett high stick is blatant no? He was bleeding pretty bad. So it's a double minor but the Leafs still only got 30 seconds of PP time out of it. Maurice is kind of a twat.
The first two calls were non-calls especially in the playoffs. Bennett hit wasn't an elbow nor was it high. The second call your guy stepped on a stick according to Maurice in the post game interview. If you want to call the ratio 5:2 that's fine, but it's still totally absurd.
Watching the Bennett, Tkachuk, Cousins line playing yesterday I kept thinking they're a bit like a 2023 version of the old Legion of Doom line from the Flyers. They obviously don't have the size, but it's so rare to see more than one strong power forward on a line where they can come out and tilt the ice like that with both skilled and physical play.
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"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?"
The first two calls were non-calls especially in the playoffs. Bennett hit wasn't an elbow nor was it high. The second call your guy stepped on a stick according to Maurice in the post game interview. If you want to call the ratio 5:2 that's fine, but it's still totally absurd.
OK I won't go into that further other than saying that Bennett hit was one of the most obvious charges I think I've ever seen. If you want to let those hits go get ready for concussion city. They called it elbowing but he jumped and targeted the head. Dude could play NBA. He's got hops.
OK I won't go into that further other than saying that Bennett hit was one of the most obvious charges I think I've ever seen. If you want to let those hits go get ready for concussion city. They called it elbowing but he jumped and targeted the head. Dude could play NBA. He's got hops.
Bennett left the feet which in the regular season would be called as charging. But in the playoffs? He didn't target the head and he didn't hit the head, if he did Marner wouldn't have got up the way he got plastered. He hit shoulder to shoulder, you could clearly see it in the other angle where you don't have the ref infront. It's not in the numbers or a high hit. It's a clean hit.
Again, Maurice calling it out publicly in the post game interview is not something coaches do if they are completely wrong.
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I don't know. Bennett always flashed in the playoffs so I'm not surprised about his play. Tkachuk never flashed in the playoffs for the Flames, ever. I kind of feel that it's possible that Tkachuk was suppressed by some of the veteran players on the Flames as we know Gio didn't care for him and maybe Lucic and other vets found him immature. Panthers really don't have that kind of veteran leadership presence so as I said before it looks to me like he's playing with the shackles off in Florida.
Tkachuk was great in game 1 vs Edmonton.
He was also very good in the play-in round vs Winnipeg during the bubble.
He went missing the rest of times but it was far too soon to make assumptions he'd never be a playoff performer.
Sometimes it just takes a little while for a guy to get there in the postseason. The same "not a playoff performer" tag has been given to lots of great players who struggled early in their careers in the playoffs, and ended up being instrumental in cup runs and deep playoff runs.
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OK I won't go into that further other than saying that Bennett hit was one of the most obvious charges I think I've ever seen. If you want to let those hits go get ready for concussion city. They called it elbowing but he jumped and targeted the head. Dude could play NBA. He's got hops.
That’s ridiculous, shoulder to shoulder
Good luck pal, at least you know the refs are on your side
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In the end whether it was 2 minutes for charging or 2 minutes for elbowing it's the same thing and it's still correctly called a 2 minute penalty.
People can say it's the first couple minutes of a playoff game but as a ref that's probably why you're more likely to call it. Need to set a precident too and can't let things get out of hand.
