Can’t win every game, and a 4-0 sweep of this Canucks series was always unlikely. The way they lost tonight was ugly. But it happens.
The unfortunate part is it means you probably have to start Markstrom again and then Rittich in the fourth game. The next two games are very important to keep pace in the division and put space between us and the Canucks.
Kind of telling that having an elite goaltender has not really moved the dial on the team’s trajectory. Still the same mediocre bubble team.
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Couldn’t tune in until the third period. My 9 year old said at the end of the game ‘why are the Canucks so happy to win, when the flames didn’t care if they won or lost?’
The Canucks haven’t won in 6 games, and threw all they had at it, and barely eked out a win, so they are desperate and relieved
The Flames are 3-1 in their last 4 now and have 2 more games against the Canucks who may be challenged to keep up the one game intensity
It’s perspective and composure. Grown ups have it
Last edited by DeluxeMoustache; 02-13-2021 at 11:38 PM.
Reason: Stupid autocorrect put three instead of threw
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I know you're a coaching apologist as is timbit so this will be in one ear and out the other because apparently if you're a coach you're too smart to have to hear that coaches have to actually coach.
But the Flames' issue is not an "inability to make or receive simple 5 foot passes".
These are pro athletes who can do things with precision that us normal humans can't even fathom if we were out there on the ice.
So way do passes end up in skates or too far ahead or behind the target?
Because the game is played between two teams.
The other team doesn't give our players wide open targets to pass to. This is because they have scouted our pitiful breakouts and countered them.
This was obvious six periods ago.
We wonn the previous game because the puck went in the net, not because we outplayed the other team for sixty minutes.
In fact, the Flames have yet to outplay an opponent all season.
Even when they outchance the opponent, it is because of individual talent.
Never do our systems put our players in position to play at a level exceeding the sum of the parts.
We do not utilize the middle of the ice in our breakouts.
We do not break out with pace, but instead make D-to-D passes with zero urgency.
We have zero strategy for keeping the puck in the offensive zone when the other team is breaking the puck out. We just passively back up and wait to get the puck back.
We have zero strategy in the neutral zone. Bingo posted a chart the other day about how we're one of the worst teams in the NHL at zone entry denial. What does that have to do with five foot passes, huh? You don't even need the puck to play tight gaps and force dump-ins.
When the other team has scouted our breakout as Travis Green's Canucks have, we have no counter to it. We just continue trying the same thing over and over for six periods. Yeah, if we get a lead, we can maybe dictate the play a little bit more, but that shouldn't be so situationally defined. We should be dictating the play whenever possible.
But according to coaching apologists, the players should just go out there and play and if they win, that means the coaches did a good job. And if they lose, that means the players did a bad job.
Sorry, but not making five foot passes is a symptom, not a cause.
I would say this is also much more apparent this season when we play the same teams over and over again. Not only does the other team come prepared to counter our play, but they actually get good at their counter moves over the games and we look worse.
This was painfully obvious against Dallas in the playoffs. If not for injuries I think Maurice beats Ward last year too.
But hey, he's really cheap.
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Couldn’t tune in until the third period. My 9 year old said at the end of the game ‘why are the Canucks so happy to win, when the flames didn’t care if they won or lost?’
They get hyped up over Ottawa wins, so beating the Flames unplugged controllers is probably a glorious feat by their standards.
I can see Gio being a problem as his output has been questionable at best, but Backlund carries the team more than the top line guys do. Frankly, Backlund would be my top captaincy pick. The other would be Andersson. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable awarding it to any one else. I love Lindholm's output, but he doesn't strike me as the captain type.
There’s the root of it.
Not a single player on this team is deserving of being captain because not a single one of them cares
1. Ownership won’t pay too dollar for a top coach or,
2. Tre tells ownership he doesn’t want a top coach and wants to groom one or.
3. Ward sucks and can’t make adjustments and can’t motivate players or.
4. The players can’t be bothered to be motivated
If it’s 1. There ain’t much to do but hope the flames either move or get sold to someone who cares.
If it’s 2. You hope ownership tells Tre to find a good coach or fire him
If it’s 3. Just fire the guy
If it’s 4. Get Gio and Backs the F out of town because they clearly are the problem as this team has had its GAF meter at 0 for years now... even going back to the iggy years where he “led by example”
If it’s all of the above you quit watching and start cheering for the panthers or something
Gio should be stripped of his captaincy, but problem is there’s nobody else to give it to.
Entire leadership team and top players are just happy to be here and happy to play pro hockey for a living but don’t actually care enough to do the little things that make you perennial winners
I don't think it's 1, as the Flames were paying Peters something like 2 million a year. He did get them into President's Trophy contention so they shouldn't be too shy to pay to get the most out of their roster.
The problem is that I think it's 2 (and 3). Tre just doesn't want to risk a power struggle with a well-respected and tenured coach.
__________________
Until the Flames make the Western Finals again, this signature shall remain frozen.
Hard to blame that on Ward but the reason I do not like him is that I think this team, like the 04 team, needs to have a coach that is the heart of the team. This lineup does not lack skill, he lacks a guy like Darryl Sutter. It has an all star goalie, enough front-end talent to compete, but it does not have the natural leaders in the dressing room. There is no way that Darryl Sutter would have 60 minutes of effort like that. It will never happen but I would love to see what Sutter could do with this team.
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Didn't think they were that bad, other than a few shifts that went off the rails. Actually think they would've won had Backlund not been injured. Hughson and DeBrusk made it seem 10x worse than what it was.
Not a single player on this team is deserving of being captain because not a single one of them cares
I’m certainly someone who believes it’s ok the players
But I don’t think it’s a matter of care or effort
It’s a matter of commitment and mental toughness
This team is mentally soft which manifests itself as inconsistency within games and from game to game, the ease of which you can knock them off their game and poor decision making
But I don’t buy that they don’t care
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PGTs after losses are perhaps the most powerful examples of confirmation bias there is.
You can predict the following:
- Johnny Makarov will blame Gio, in a downright personal way too
- Kennan87 and Bubbsy will blame Tree
- Lanny will blame Sam
- A whole bunch of people will blame the coach
- Jiri (and maybe Timbit) will blame Johnny (except Jiri didn't watch much tonight so he can't)
- That-guy-who-hates-Sean-Monahan-but-I-can't-recall-the-name-of will blame Sean Monahan
None of us are immune to it, but when you look at PGTs through that lens, they are kinda funny. Just everyone saying the same things they always say.
Currently accepting applications for a Tkachuk blamer.
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Listened to Ward's presser. He knew ten minutes into the first they wouldn't be competitive. Really?? The smartest man in the world did nothing about it!! I think I will rename him NAW - no adjustment Ward. Cripes!!
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People naturally start to float at anything in a team environment when there is a casual atmosphere and a lack of accountability.
It's not about handling it childishly like Gulutzan did. That buys you short term effort and then you've already exhausted your "limits" and guys probably stop taking you seriously.
But it's about being firm and calling a spade a spade when certain players are letting the group down. It's about not letting them off the hook when they decide to have efforts like tonight. That approach is what helps you minimize efforts like tonight.
The team needs accountability to keep them engaged.
"Always earned, never given" was the best motto this club ever had. Wish we could get back to that.
People naturally start to float at anything in a team environment when there is a casual atmosphere and a lack of accountability.
It's not about handling it childishly like Gulutzan did. That buys you short term effort and then you've already exhausted your "limits" and guys probably stop taking you seriously.
But it's about being firm and calling a spade a spade when certain players are letting the group down. It's about not letting them off the hook when they decide to have efforts like tonight. That approach is what helps you avoid effort like tonight.
A strong coach would either staple tkachuk to the 4th line for next game or put him in the press box
