[PGT] Growing pains continue! Flames still get a point!

[calgarywinning]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Baertschi's hustle and speed helped Monahan get his goal. Without him skating hard to get into the play that wouldn't have been a two-on-one.

Someone has to be the babysitter while mom and dad make a baby!

That is what my friend and I said, Baertschi was pivotal in the goal.

[jhunt223]

I care enough about Flames hockey to yell at the television again. The last time I could say that was when we first picked up Jokinen and the Flames looked poised to do damage in the playoffs, but then everyone got injured. Finally... it's been too long.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Haven't read this thread but I'm sure what I'm about to say has been posted many times already. Nice effort again, this team is fun to watch. So nice to see a team not struggle to enter the opposition zone, and I can remember the last time the flames put that kind of pressure on with a goalie pulled.

They were the better team most of the night. The Nucks certainly woke up a little in the 3rd. Disappointing that the 2nd and 3rd goal were not caused by Nucks pressure but unforced errors by veteran players. Great bounce back to salvage a point after the blown lead. Really enjoying watching these guys so far

[haiku]

Originally Posted by Dion

hey kid, sweet logo!
would you like to design the
flames next money grab third jersey?

[T@T]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Baertschi was 'the other winger' on three separate two on ones tonight.

All three times the other guy shot.

Personally from a birds eye view I thought he was the best flame on the ice tonight. (and yes Burke, I watch all 3 zones)

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by T@T

Personally from a birds eye view I thought he was the best flame on the ice tonight. (and yes Burke, I watch all 3 zones)

I suspect that Burke's comments deserve some credit for how good Baertschi has been in the first three games of the season, and he is no doubt thrilled. The difference from his training camp is night and day.

[Petert]

Butler is absolutely terrible.
How did we ended up with him for Regehr and BUF got a 1st instead...

Hope Monahan stays, very undeserving for the -3 tonight.
Is it just me or somehow he seemed to always end up with the horrible Butler-SOB?

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Ottawa is a foregone thought at this point.

Whoever starts bringing up the "year of his ELC", "not enough minutes", "offensive confidence" baloney can put a sock in it.

Kid 100% deserves to be here. He's not only NOT over his head but is being an impact player, and not a liability defensively. (no more than our seasoned vets)

I don't know if he's changed my mind completely on keeping him yet, but he definitely looks a heck of a lot better than the first game.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Petert

Butler is absolutely terrible.
How did we ended up with him for Regehr and BUF got a 1st instead...

The Sabres did not get a 1st round pick.

[getbak]

I was curious, so I decided to look up and see how many players who scored at least 3 points in their 9 games as 18/19 year-olds were sent back to junior.

Since the lockout season, I could only find 3 players:

• 2005-06, Gilbert Brule scored 2 goals and 2 assists in 7 games with Columbus before being sent back to Vancouver.
  
• 2005-06, Wojtek Wolski scored 2 goals and 4 assists in 9 games with Colorado before being sent back to Brampton.
  
• 2011-12, Brett Bulmer scored 3 assists in 9 games with Minnesota before being sent back to Kelowna.

All the rest were either sent back to junior with fewer than 3 points, or they were kept in the NHL (I didn't count Sven because he was an emergency recall and had to be sent back).

As long as he doesn't regress over the next six games, I don't see how Monahan doesn't spend the season in Calgary.

[Lanny_McDonald]

The Flames really need to improve the bottom pairing. SOB and Butler are brutal and can't be trusted out there. I would rather see a pairing of Wotherspoon and Sieloff than the two monkeys we have out there blowing games. At least the rookies would be learning from their mistakes. We also need some goaltending. Every shot on goal feels like the red light is destined to go on. Your best defender is your goaltender and we haven't had much back there this year. Already a GAA of 4.33. Not good.

On the bright side, the kids look great! Love the Baertschi/Monahan combo. The only young guy not quite sharp is Colborne, but I think he's going to need a few weeks to get the Maple Leaf stench off of him. Things are looking pretty decent for a team tagged to finish dead last. Definitely look better than what is going on up in Edmonton!

[Caged Great]

Effort and smart plays lead to wins. It is disappointing that we only have 4 NHL defensemen out there and two very marginal goalies. If it wasn't for the lack of talent in those areas, the Flames might have been a possibility to make the playoffs.

The fact that both MacDonald and Ramo are well below average goalies, that will pretty much relegate the Flames to a top 8 overall pick, which doesn't really shock anyone.

[Resolute 14]

That third period was certainly a Butler-hater's wet dream. The trashing is well deserved, but one has to wonder what the hell he and O'Brien were out late in a tied game for anyway. Ahh well, at least it sparked a last second goal.

Wideman's play in OT was what really disappointed me though. He was already behind Bieksa when he went for the hip check. He had no hope of ever making that, and all he did was take himself out of the play. Still a nice pass to the middle though.

C'est la vie though. This is what we signed up for.

On the plus side, Kris Russell is quietly proving an astute pickup. He was especially noticeable on our second goal. He was all over the defensive zone and really made that breakout play happen.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

Effort and smart plays lead to wins. It is disappointing that we only have 4 NHL defensemen out there and two very marginal goalies. If it wasn't for the lack of talent in those areas, the Flames might have been a possibility to make the playoffs.

The fact that both MacDonald and Ramo are well below average goalies, that will pretty much relegate the Flames to a top 8 overall pick, which doesn't really shock anyone.

I think it's a little too early to call Ramo a marginal or below average goalie. He has played one NHL game in 4 years. I think we should let him get a good sample size in before we judge. You can't expect instant gratification.

Out of the 4 goals he let in, only 2 were ones that he maybe should have had, and neither was eyepopping bad. Every single goalie in the league has games like that from time to time.

[Meers]

It was unfortunate for the Flames to blow a multiple goal lead in the third period against a team that was playing the second game of a back-to-back.

Still, the team played with a lot of hustle in the first and second period and deserved the point.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I think it's a little too early to call Ramo a marginal or below average goalie. He has played one NHL game in 4 years. I think we should let him get a good sample size in before we judge. You can't expect instant gratification.

Out of the 4 goals he let in, only 2 were ones that he maybe should have had, and neither was eyepopping bad. Every single goalie in the league has games like that from time to time.

There are about 40 good goalies in the NHL, with another 10 or so okay ones and some place holders. Ramo fits in around the 35-50 mark, which doesn't mean he's terrible, it's just that there are a lot more goalies that are better.

Look at some of the names on the stat list last year and count the number of names that you would think are better than Ramo right now, there should be at least 30

[Poe969]

I don't care about the score at all, heck I don't even care who scores for the other team or how many times they score. I'm not expecting the Flames to win many games I'm just having fun watching the young forwards play and see what they're made of. On D, well we know our D needs help and we have nothing special out there. Our goaltending is horri-awful so the amount of goals the other team scores doesn't matter.

It was fun to watch most of the team and I think we're all in for a treat with Monahan, kid looks legit

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

There are about 40 good goalies in the NHL, with another 10 or so okay ones and some place holders. Ramo fits in around the 35-50 mark, which doesn't mean he's terrible, it's just that there are a lot more goalies that are better.

Sample size of 1 dude.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

There are about 40 good goalies in the NHL, with another 10 or so okay ones and some place holders. Ramo fits in around the 35-50 mark, which doesn't mean he's terrible, it's just that there are a lot more goalies that are better.

Look at some of the names on the stat list last year and count the number of names that you would think are better than Ramo right now, there should be at least 30

It's only been one game and he wasn't that terrible in that one game. Ramo wasn't in the NHL last season so I don't see how any judgements based on NHL stats from last season apply to him.

One thing is for sure though, with a young team that is defensively challenged, the GAA for any goalie is going to be inflated. Half the goalies in that top 30 would have GAAs close to 3.00 on this team (and would have last season).

[4oh3]

I think this team could make the playoffs if we had an exceptional goalie. But we got the worst tending in the league and it's gonna show this year