[PGT] Flames are two points out of a playoff spot! Beat 'Yotes 2-1 in OT!

[Bandwagon In Flames]

[QUOTE=Freddy;6011541]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I don't get it. The Flames play a "heavier" game without Gaudreau because they are freed from watching out for him? This doesn't make much sense to me.

How many Flames not named Gaudreau do you see shaking their hands after every slash, complaining to the ref from their ass, and looking like wet toilet paper in board battles. When games get 'heavy' and physicality escalates the Flames have 1 super juicy target for other teams to zero in on and he compromises the fact that every other Flame intends to win / survive the escalation.

I love Gaudreau and the excitement he brings, but he doesn't compliment a truculent team as well as a team built around speed, finesse, and avoiding a physical stand off.

What the hell are you talking about? When Gaudreau is on the ice he's the main focus of the other teams best players. Our other players aren't getting the same treatment because we don't have other players like Gaudreau. He's been a game changer ever since entering the league.

You aren't seeing other players shaking their hands after vicious slashes because our other players aren't getting viciously slashed. Size makes no difference to how well you can take a hit to the most vulnerable part of your body. It's not like Gaudreau has ever been injured before so there's no case that he's more brittle than bigger players.

Gaudreau doesn't compromise anything by being on the ice and your post makes 0 sense.

[djsFlames]

Whatever the case, they need to beat the Blackhawks tomorrow. Or at the very least not lose in regulation. We have to string together a long streak of games in which 2 points aren't left on the table to legitimately crawl back in, given the 2-3 games in hand several teams have.

[stone hands]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

I watched this one on TV.

Did I read whatever you just said correctly?

It's hard to explain...but it was this gif:



except instead of galaxies in the glasses, it was bouma glitching out and the word pickles at the top of the image with actual pickles flying everywhere

even the flames lampoon the hell out of sportsnet and it's hilarious

[Calgary4LIfe]

[QUOTE=Freddy;6011541]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I don't get it. The Flames play a "heavier" game without Gaudreau because they are freed from watching out for him? This doesn't make much sense to me.

How many Flames not named Gaudreau do you see shaking their hands after every slash, complaining to the ref from their ass, and looking like wet toilet paper in board battles. When games get 'heavy' and physicality escalates the Flames have 1 super juicy target for other teams to zero in on and he compromises the fact that every other Flame intends to win / survive the escalation.

I love Gaudreau and the excitement he brings, but he doesn't compliment a truculent team as well as a team built around speed, finesse, and avoiding a physical stand off.

I don't think it matters that much, to be honest. Look at the Flames throughout their existence in Calgary, and you will see slight and small finesses players in the lineup, but the Flames were for the most part a 'heavy' team.

For instance, the 1989 Stanely Cup winning version of the Flames featured:

Joe Mullen - 5'10" (generously listed, IMO)
Hakan Loob - 5'9"
Doug Gilmour - 5'11" (probably a couple of inches of generosity, though he was very physical)
Theo Fleury - 5'6" - his rookie year and not very physical or 'built' yet

This is a team that could beat you anyway they felt like it:
- Finesse game? Check
- Battle along the boards and cycle game? Check
- Bench clearing crazy out of hand games? Check

I agree with Bingo in that Monahan may defer to Gaudreau too much. Monahan is so criminally underrated in and out of this fanbase, but he is such a smart and versatile player who I think can drive any line he is on, though the start to this season has been sluggish admittedly.

If whenever a team targets Gaudreau, the team responds just like the '89 Flames did - crank up the physicality and make them regret it. They don't quite have enough horses in that department like that old team did with large and physical players who were also really good at hockey (not to mention, the most well-conditioned athlete of an enforcer, something that is not a part of today's game any longer), but they are getting there.

Ferland, Brouwer, Engelland, Bouma, Bennett and Tkachuk are all (or are becoming) physical players that are able to play that tough game and excel at it.

A couple more with skill and some experience, and this team should be able to play a very versatile game. You still have guys on the farm with some hope that can inject a bit of skill, or a bit of physicality - and in a few cases both.

I think what this team lacks is that certain swagger and confidence. They can't play along the boards against teams like LA, Anaheim, St. Louis and Winnipeg - so I hope Gulutzan makes adjustments that will focus on speed and plays up the middle more, but I do think this team can now (finally) compete against most teams along the boards and cycle well. They just need to keep winning a few games to get that confidence back, and have the young players gain more experience and physically mature a bit.

Gaudreau adds a different dimension to the team that gives options, rather that taking away the ability for this team to play physical. Just how I see it anyways.

[McG]

I liked the fact that we did a few stretch passes last night; it seemed to catch the coyotes off guard. Not as a pure tactic, but just every so often to keep the coyotes on the back heel.

Does anyone know if Shane Doan played last night?