Smith was obviously the first star, but I also think the Pens shot quality was a little lacking in the first.
Janko looked a little afraid of making mistakes, made a few nervous looking line changes. I think he still needs to settle in a bit before we see the best out of him.
Haven't looked at the stats but Backlund & Monahan seemed to have much better nights than normal in the circle. over the past 6+ years or so, I have gotten used to flames chasing after every important face off.
The top 4 D were really steady tonight, I think its the reason the shot quality for the pens was not as good as feels like it should have been.
The last time I saw Kulak live he was flat footed and giving the cup up like crazy. Nice to see him looking like a stable #6 for a game.
Thank-you Smith!
Gaudreau looked dangerous all night
Hamilton could have had a couple of goals
Tkachuk with an amazing move on Crosby in OT
Janko and Bennett really looking good together
Love Hamonic's toughness
Brodie and Gio good game
Kulak is in the lineup indefinitely, strong game
I did think Frolik struggled tonight but that's me nit-picking
Great win Flames!!!!!
100% agree on Frolik... Really struggled. My biggest concern is the Amount of give aways in our zone when not under pressure.
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I'm fairly surprised that nobody seems to have noticed that Jarry played a very good game. Monahan's goal was a fluke off the defender's skate and there were a lot of shots through traffic and some skilled tips too. Not to mention a breakaway save on Jankowski that was pretty impressive. Game could have gone either way tonight.
-Tkachuk is just great... I'm so happy he's on this team
-The Penguins are such a good team... they don't make very many mistakes and they play the game incredibly fast. The Flames tried to make long passes for a while in the third period and the Pens D just wouldn't let them do it. Very impressive.
-Gaudreau was the best skater on the ice by a mile
-Smith was excellent... it has taken some time but I am a genuine fan of the guy now. Having a true starting goalie is just different than guys like Hiller and Elliot, even when they're hot
-Hamonic works his tail off every game... he's not the best D on the team but I love the honest effort night in, night out
-This was Lazar's best game in my opinion... I am not a fan at all but I think he actually showed some skill tonight to go along with his admittedly consistent hustle
-Bennett-Jankowski are showing promise... they just need a bounce or something and it looks like they could make a big difference with this team
GO FLAMES GO
edit: Oh yeah... worth mentioning that Kulak looks like a good defenceman. His skating is high level and when he plays with confidence you can see that he's a smart player. Really good development.
Last edited by Savvy27; 11-02-2017 at 11:45 PM.
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honestly 40 shots these days is not what it used to be
Agreed that all shots are up ... But how are they counting them differently?
Maybe I've been too far under my rock the past month, but weren't they always supposed to have been counting a puck sent to the net that would go in without the goalie intervening? Are they counting something else as a shot now too?
Seems like Backlund elevates his game whenever facing Crosby...World Juniors and now a few years of line matching from coaches and mostly he smothers him. Watching two great thinkers of the game go to battle is awesome to watch from the stands where you can watch each of their movements away from the puck. What a player Backlund is. If only the Flames coaching staff saw the obvious five years and deployed him in the key shutdown role.
Credit to Tkachuk and Frolik, too. Obviously Backlund doesn't do it all himself. The chemistry the three of them have on the breakout - perfect timing bumping the puck to Backlund in the middle - and through the neutral zone is incredible. Plus their ability to read off each other on the forecheck. The line is a clinic on the defensive and transition roles of the forward positions.
Brett Kulak is going to be a good #5 defenceman for years to come. He's starting to settle into the league and get comfortable. No reason to see Bartkowski in the lineup aside from an injury.
Kris Versteeg is really struggling this season. Hopefully he can find his way out of the slump, but early returns aren't good. At $9,375,000 is there a worse bang-for-buck line in the league? Yikes.
Mike Smith has been in God mode. I usually reserve judgement on goalies until they've played 1,500 minutes, but, at halfway there, he's been nothing short of incredible. Absolute steal of a trade if he maintains or reverts a little.
Why was Curtis Lazar worth a second-round pick? Puzzling at the time and stranger as the season goes on. Likewise with Stone getting $3.5 x 3.
__________________ "I think the eye test is still good, but analytics can sure give you confirmation: what you see...is that what you really believe?" Scotty Bowman, 0 NHL games played
I'm starting to wonder how many cups and how much money Smith left on the table playing for that garbage franchise in Phoenix.
I've been around since Vernon, and he's one of the best this franchise has ever seen. It's a damn shame he spent all that time playing in Arizona.
I've been saying this for almost 9 plus years now.
No one ever believed me. He just played ####ty team's
Tampa at the time wasn't very good. Phoniex for one year rode him hard to the western finals but outside pf this season was crap.
I think Dallas made a mistake trading him . He posted the same numbers as Turco for a few years. They practically gave up 3 players for a bag of pucks. Richards did nothing out side of one season and a goalie no one even knows he exists out side the Swedish elite leuage.
In all hidsight Smith may still be the number 1 goalie for Dallas still to this day. He has numbers considerably better stats than any of the goalies from Dallas, Tampa or phoniex have in his time in the leugue.
There is a few seasons where Bishop has a minoot edge but he was playing on a much better team.
I've wanted Smith in a Flames jersey for a very long time.
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Aside from Smith, Favourite thing tonight is how Backlund made the best player in the world disappear.
That said, biggest problem is still what I thought would be the strength of this team, bottom 6 scoring. Thankfully the top line bailed us out again but something seriously has to change. Lotta people (rightfully) saying we’d be nowhere without Smith but we’d also be nowhere without Johnny and Mony producing the way they have. Jankowski line looked better but needs to finish scoring chances. Seriously, how long into a season can a team go without a single offensive goal from bottom 6? Light at the end of the tunnel is that this absurd cold streak has to end and when it does things could potentially look great.
Last edited by jonkaupp; 11-03-2017 at 12:04 AM.
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Hey first time calling into the fan. That was kind of fun.
I was the wierd dude. Not the super wierd dude.
And I'm sure you all care. Did I mention how much this effects my fantasy hockey.
Anyways...
I haven't felt this way since with a goalie since Kiprusoff and I think we've all missed it so much and are so scared we only have it for maybe a year or two that we don't want to let it go to waste and go back to the graveyard of goalies.
I hope we figure it out. If Smith shows one more full month of this I'd like to see some way in offensive help.
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- Kulak / Stone pairing at 58% in terms of shot attempts
- Third line looks dangerous but can't put one home.
- Mike Smith
- Top line rolling
- Matthew Tkachuk channelling some 50's NHLer
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"Top line" scored a power play goal. So really it was top PP unit.
And who drew that PP?
Bottom Sixer Sam Bennett.
The bottom six still aren't scoring, so what is your point?
And good on Sam Bennett for finally drawing a penalty instead of being the new Curtis Glencross by giving the ref an easy makeup call every damn time the other team draws a penalty.
That's two times now in recent years I recall where we've made Sid go into sulk mode and remain invisible at the Dome.
The other one was where the refs sent him to the box after he got german suplexed by Russell. That completely shattered his mood for the rest of the game too. The famous "baseball bunt" goal between Monahan and Gaudreau may have been on the ensuing powerplay.
__________________
Until the Flames make the Western Finals again, this signature shall remain frozen.
