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

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

How many dudes do we need to make a good sample? 4 dudes, 5 dudes?

Depends on how many dudes are required to remember the comma.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I would really like to see Butler replaced with Smith at this point.

I don't think Butler is hot garbage, but there is really nothing to his game that is really good. Seems to have low hockey IQ, his first pass is NOT good, he doesn't have offence, and he is not great defensively. He is simply a 'meh' defencemen.

Smith has at least much better composure, and can both skate the puck out of the zone and makes a much better first pass. He isn't much better defensively I think, but he makes a much better pass out of the zone.

Hopefully Breen heals up quick. Really want to see him play a few games (and expecting rust to start with) and see how he starts trending.

I still think trading Sarich away for O'Brien was a bit of a mistake. Initially I didn't like Jones at all either, but he is definitely proving me wrong. I don't see the 'bit mean defencemen' in O'Brien yet, and I bet Breen ends up stealing his job.

Also, people are saying that Monahan's -3 was because he was victimized for being on the ice with O'Brien and Butler. However, both those defencemen finished at even. Don't get me wrong, Monahan was pretty good defensively I thought, but seems a bit disingenuous to blame O'Brien and Butler for the -3.

I would really like to see a bottom pairing of Smith - Breen at some point soon. How close is Breen away from returning?

[Resolute 14]

You can almost guarantee that Breen gets handed a ticket to Abbotsford when he is pronounced healthy.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Bandwagon In Flames

D.Jones - This guy seems to be returning to his old self. I see a power forward who has a nose for the net and has been producing results from day 1. Colorado last year was just a mess, that locker room must of been cancerous. There was too much going wrong at every turn for Colorado and it looks like we may have benefited from that. I don't care if SOB is hot garbage, if Jones can return to a 25+ goal scorer than we won that trade. Yes Tanguay may put up more points in Colorado, but we couldn't fit him into our top 6 and inject youth. .

For the record after 3 games D.Jones has 4 points and Tanguay has 3 (in two games). I have to admit I am happy with the addition as he adds some greatly needed size and speed to the line up.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by Robbob

For the record after 3 games D.Jones has 4 points and Tanguay has 3 (in two games). I have to admit I am happy with the addition as he adds some greatly needed size and speed to the line up.

Also Jones is at the opposite end of the Pouty Meter from Tanguay.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

Also Jones is at the opposite end of the Pouty Meter from Tanguay.

I guess that is what an extra $500k is worth.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I would really like to see Butler replaced with Smith at this point.

I don't think Butler is hot garbage, but there is really nothing to his game that is really good. Seems to have low hockey IQ, his first pass is NOT good, he doesn't have offence, and he is not great defensively. He is simply a 'meh' defencemen.

Smith has at least much better composure, and can both skate the puck out of the zone and makes a much better first pass. He isn't much better defensively I think, but he makes a much better pass out of the zone.

Very much this. I've always thought Smith is the better defenseman. Nothing special, but just less mistake prone than Butler, and Butler doesn't really seem to be improving at all.

[djsFlames]

I'm not convinced that we know exactly what we have in Ramo yet.

He's played 1 game this season, and 3 of those goals against 99% of goalies out there wouldn't have stopped.

Can't believe people are already throwing him in the 50-60 rank for goaltenders. It's an 82 game season. Can we wait until about 20 GP for Karri to start to make an educated evaluation on where he stands? I think we're dismissing him wayy too early.

[Street Pharmacist]

Couldn't watch the game last night so I watched it on my pvr today. The nice thing about that is you know what happens on the big stuff, so you can focus on the little things.

-Cannot understand the hate for Glencross. He was the first backchecker back, and the first forward in on the forecheck almost every shift he was out there. He was taking a beating on front of the net in the tying goal. He made at least 5 strong defensive plays to stop the Canucks from keeping pressure. On his giveaway, he made the smart play, but the puck bounced as it hit his stick and he didn't get much on it so it went softly to Sedin. I'm curious, what should he have done there???

-No way did the flames dominate at any point in the game save for a couple stretches in the second. Overall possession would be on the Canucks side by a fair bit. Shots may have favored the flames, but they came in bunches and many were low chance. Scoring chances and to be in their fair by the end of I was counting.

-Despite their person numbers, Flames were good at not showing shot lanes. Really kept the shots down it seems

-The Sven/Monahan/Stempniak line is fast and fun to watch, but they sure were on the ice for a lot of goals.

-Sven's speed is the straw that stirs the drink on that line

Edit:
-Russell seems scared of contact
-SOB is an adventure, but Butler leaves no doubt what the result will be. Any supporters left?

[djsFlames]

Oh, and I want to add that Ramo had a .931 SV% even strength vs the Caps facing over 30 shots. The whole problem was that damn lethal poweplay of theirs and our inability to contain Ovy.

Can't wait to see how he does wednesday against the Habs.

[Bertuzzied]

As per the title...

"Mikeee! Boners at the door!"

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

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.

He also chased behind the net to force a Canuck D to turn the puck over behind their net in the 2nd period (forgot who), then cycled the puck to Stempniak who drew a penalty behind the net.

I'm happy with the direction and hope the stragglers will up their game. But if the meritocracy is to exist, it looks like we should get a couple of call-ups from Abby in 3-4 weeks to relieve under-performing starters.

[Petert]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

The Sabres did not get a 1st round pick.

Two 2nds, my bad.

[thymebalm]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

You can almost guarantee that Breen gets handed a ticket to Abbotsford when he is pronounced healthy.

Normally I would agree with you, but at this point, lets see what all those minutes in Abby did last season, maybe he's a step up? I've always liked Derek Smith in a bottom pairing, hopefully he gets his due as well.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Petert

Two 2nds, my bad.

You were so close that time.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

You were so close that time.

Well the Sabres did buy the 2nd rounder on sale. $3million for a 2nd rounder! what a steal.

[Bandwagon In Flames]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Couldn't watch the game last night so I watched it on my pvr today. The nice thing about that is you know what happens on the big stuff, so you can focus on the little things.

-Cannot understand the hate for Glencross. He was the first backchecker back, and the first forward in on the forecheck almost every shift he was out there. He was taking a beating on front of the net in the tying goal. He made at least 5 strong defensive plays to stop the Canucks from keeping pressure. On his giveaway, he made the smart play, but the puck bounced as it hit his stick and he didn't get much on it so it went softly to Sedin. I'm curious, what should he have done there???

-No way did the flames dominate at any point in the game save for a couple stretches in the second. Overall possession would be on the Canucks side by a fair bit. Shots may have favored the flames, but they came in bunches and many were low chance. Scoring chances and to be in their fair by the end of I was counting.

-Despite their person numbers, Flames were good at not showing shot lanes. Really kept the shots down it seems

-The Sven/Monahan/Stempniak line is fast and fun to watch, but they sure were on the ice for a lot of goals.

-Sven's speed is the straw that stirs the drink on that line

Edit:
-Russell seems scared of contact
-SOB is an adventure, but Butler leaves no doubt what the result will be. Any supporters left?

I think what you have to keep in mind is that many posters only watch the highlights of games and don't take the time to actually watch the game play to play.

Glencross is a goal scorer who is typically solid defensively, can check and drive to the net. He will get emotional and take a dumb penalty once in a while, yet just about any team or hockey fan wants Glencross on their team. You should look at how HF has been littered with Glencrosss trade proposal threads.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by Bandwagon In Flames

I think what you have to keep in mind is that many posters only watch the highlights of games and don't take the time to actually watch the game play to play.

Glencross is a goal scorer who is typically solid defensively, can check and drive to the net. He will get emotional and take a dumb penalty once in a while, yet just about any team or hockey fan wants Glencross on their team. You should look at how HF has been littered with Glencrosss trade proposal threads.

I watched the full game and have to disagree with Street Pharmacist. I thought the Flames outplayed the Canucks for the first 2 periods. Didn't crush them, but were well deserving of a 2-1 lead at the time. Third period was terrible, with too many giveaways, but they showed some jam at the end.
As for Glencross, I haven't seen the player that I was hoping for. Stempniak, in my opinion, has been the player to step up from the Stempniak/Stajan/Glencross trio. That said, still early and I don't want to see him traded, like some on this site.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

I watched the full game and have to disagree with Street Pharmacist. I thought the Flames outplayed the Canucks for the first 2 periods. Didn't crush them, but were well deserving of a 2-1 lead at the time. Third period was terrible, with too many giveaways, but they showed some jam at the end.
As for Glencross, I haven't seen the player that I was hoping for. Stempniak, in my opinion, has been the player to step up from the Stempniak/Stajan/Glencross trio. That said, still early and I don't want to see him traded, like some on this site.

I agree the flames deserved the lead after 2 as they had the better chances and more of them, but it was not domination save for a couple stretches

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Lots to happy about at this point for the Flames:

Pros:

- Monahan. That is all.
- Backlund has been our best centre IMO. Looks like he's not under the shadow of Iggy anymore.
- David Jones is playing great. Not sure if he's a streaky scorer or not, but he's doing well.
- Brodie is typical Brodie. Wins 99/100 one-on-one battles he's in and still connects with a pass that he has no business making.
- Wideman looks really good on the PP.
- Giordano's playing like a captain. Probably some of the best games I've seen from him in the last year.
- Stempniak's 200ft game is impressive.
- Russel's small. We all know that, but he's elusive and makes a good outlet pass. Can't complain.
- Ben Street. Holy crap. I mean, I knew he could play, but his confidence is growing every game. I can't believe Hartley's got him out there in all situations, even overtime. Good for him.
- The team is putting up upwards of four goals a game, so that's certainly a positive.

Cons:

- They can't hold a lead for the life of them. As a fan, I'm prepared for that. I'm prepared to have that happen. Holding onto a win will come with time, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating.
- Goaltending has been shaky.
- O'Brien and Butler just doesn't work. My god it's frustrating to watch those two together.
- Glencross is being his usual self most of the time. He's lazy, disinterested, sweeps at the puck with his stick instead of moving his feet, doesn't play defence. He's downright frustrating to watch most of the time.
- Converting on 9.1% of your PP chances is atrocious. That needs to get better.

Overall, we all knew this season was going to be tough. But I really like what I see in terms of effort and speed. It's what I was hoping for this season - just a lot of effort. If the outcome is a loss, so be it. Just show me that you can play.