This team didn't hang their heads and give up. They kept going. This is starting to sound like a broken record, but I haven't seen this level of compete out of them for a few seasons. They come out in the third periods with MOXY.
Bennett was great all night. Not just for sticking up for Jankowski, but his playmaking was great, and he was once again having a fantastic all-round game. Points are going to start coming sooner rather than later.
Giordano. Giordano. Giordano.
4th in points among defencemen (2 shy of first place). However, he is a +10 this season - this leads ALL defencemen. Some whispers of "Norris" has to start happening soon, no? Name me one single defencemen ahead of him that is as good in every zone.
Smith - yeah, he looked shaky at times, but he also did really well at times. Like it or not, the Flames are tied to him this season. They need to run with a 1A and a 1B. I bet Smith will come around. Either way, a win is a win is a win.
As for Ryan - and I am no fan of his play - he had a strong game tonight. Even at the end I was cringing when he was battling MacKinnon along the boards, and he won that board battle which almost led to an empty netter by Gaudreau. Will still keep my eye on him, but at the very least, he had a strong game tonight.
Huge shout-out to Backlund's line tonight. Tough assignment trying to neutralize the NHL's best offensive line. Boy did they do a heck of a job. The ice was so tilted whenever the 3M line was out, that I thought they were going to fall against the boards in Colorado's end and really hurt themselves.
Tkachuk get most of the praise league wide as he is so young but get the majority of points/ draws penalties but Backlund/ Frolik are so over looked. Frolik in Particular . He doesn't have the same flask as the other 2 but has 6 goals in 12 games. Outstanding.
I don't recall a flames team being this deep ever. Could be an exciting year.
That was an absolute garbage call on Cole for a perfectly clean hit. That said nice to finally see a garbage call go our way and nice to see the Flames take advantage of it.
Talk about being ####ing wrong. Count the strides.
I'm one of the first people to say this leuge is becoming to ##### but that was a charge 20 years ago and it is a charge today.
Last edited by combustiblefuel; 11-02-2018 at 12:52 AM.
Love the hit, Neal's shot itself is pretty ridiculous because he's reaching forward and sliding on his knee, but Johnny jumping into Neal's arms is the cherry on top.
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Talk about being ####ing wrong. Count the strides.
I'm one of the first people to say this leuge is becoming to ##### but that was a charge 20 years ago and it is a charge today.
Sure, but it’s probably a 2 minute penalty at most. Not sure the 5 and a game was warranted but at full speed the hit looked worse than it was so I suppose I can see where the refs were coming from.
That game felt like it was 2014-2015 again! My thoughts:
- Smith should have had the 1st and 4th goals. The 2nd and 3rd goal were bad coverage and an unlucky bounce of Andersson. It was an adventure every save for Smith. I think Rittich should start the next few games.
- Gio was awesome. I thought he looked like he lost half a step at the beginning of the year, but then he comes up with a dominant performance like that. 1G, 2A, +2, 7 shots, 26:15 TOI (game high) and shut down the Avs top line. It would be criminal if he wasn't in the Norris conversation.
- Continually impressed by the young dmen. Last game was Andersson stepping up in Buffalo. Tonight it was Valimaki -- they both look like vets out there.
- What can you say about Bennett? Sticking up for Janko -- that scrap turned the whole game around. Hopefully the puck starts going in the net for him because he's been playing really well.
Pretty awesome to see the Flames 1st in the Pacific and with 4 Flames in the top 25 scoring leaders.
Hey, Giordano really had a 4 point night and they gave the assist to Brodie instead. Gio should have the second assist on Frolik's goal, you can see the C on his chest and everything, Brodie was nowhere near.
How do we get the league to correct that? Gio should really be above a point a game after last night, 15 points in 14 games.
Love the hit, Neal's shot itself is pretty ridiculous because he's reaching forward and sliding on his knee, but Johnny jumping into Neal's arms is the cherry on top.
I love everything about that play
__________________ TC
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Talk about being ####ing wrong. Count the strides.
I'm one of the first people to say this leuge is becoming to ##### but that was a charge 20 years ago and it is a charge today.
Valimaki skated virtually the same distance....
It was a horse#### call.
__________________ It's only game. Why you heff to be mad?
The mental toughness shown by this team is remarkable. That never would have happened last season. Great finish, glad I was rewarded for sticking with the game.
