[PGT] Canucks 5 Flames 2. Oh no! We suck again!

[tfi racing]

No big deal or need to panic,it is only two points after all. Sadly,those two points lost tonight may well be the ones needed to make the playoffs,or the difference between seventh or eight place at the end of the regular season...

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

We had 12, Gio himself had 3 or 4 of those.

Not sure what you mean. Valimaki, Neal, Brodie, lots of guys taking slap shots. You’re too deep down the hole, man!

Valimaki got absolutely stoned from point blank on one .

Gotta give Markstrom kudos. He played pretty
Good.

[Barnet Flame]

Glad I didn’t get up at 3 am to watch that.

That and the 827,438 Arrive alive, drive sober commercials would’ve had me reaching for a gun.

If I had a gun.

[JohnnyB]

Didn't get a chance to watch the game, only the extended highlights, but seeing the Flames giving up a tonne of high quality scoring chances while out-shooting an opponent is a familiar old story for this team. Losing to an opponent they should certainly be able to beat is too. How long until the Gulutzan washes off, or is this going to be Peterson's MO too?

[Machiavelli]

Pretty bad that Hamonic had to answer the bell AND was the only one who seemed to be looking to lay the body on Pettersson.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

3 Reasons Why We Lost:

1. Canucks out skated the Flames tonight. Team looked slow and sloppy and a step behind all night. Couldn’t string together plays cleanly and everything was contested.

2. Powerplay: Same old PP. Not a lot of purpose to their passing, puck movement was too slow and telegraphed. Could not bury the few chances they did have.

3. Odd Man Rushes: Not sure if this is just a result of the new pairings, but there were way too many breakdowns and mixed signals. Every goal was a result of odd man situations that favored the Canucks, all of them. Breakways, 2 on 1s, open man in front of the net. Just piss poor defensive coverage today. Peters better figure this part out quick or we’re in serious trouble.

This.

All the other analysis proclaiming the season over or player x now sucks, or player y is past his prime is....well, is pre-premature a word?

Some systemic things to work out. New players getting used to each other obviously. Peters has some old habits to coach out of these guys. That's to be expected a little. The Canucks were aggressive and pressured all over the ice, causing a small amount of panic. When people panic they rely on their instincts, and those instincts are still Gulutzan's instincts from 2 years of his coaching style. They played a different brand of game in the preseason but forgot all that on game one. The team started to figure it out in the third.

But yeah, those 3 things above need immediate correction. I expect to see a different team on Saturday.

[Monahammer]

Whole team was bad but it's really telling that Petersen could make a big difference in 10 minutes of ice time while Bennett + janko were invisible

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

If that's true then 100% Pettersson's parents had more airtime than him.

I’m beginning to miss Eddie Lack’s dad.

[Dr. Doom]

I thought Mike Smith kept us in it early don't get me wrong.
And the Flames were flat as a board.

But there's something about this teams goaltending that screams slightly above average and hanging on by a thread.

If Smith is working that hard for the first half of the season we'll be lucky if he can hang on much longer mentally or physically is my concern.

[Rick M.]

The Flames need to figure out how to use Neal. He’s not very fast and not a great puck handler. What he is is a shooter who needs to get the puck in shooting position and fire it instantly.

[Joborule]

Nothing inspired confidence that game. All of the same old crap. Flat energy, unable to take advantage of opportunities (PPs), opposing team holding momentum majority of game.

My expectations for the team completely plummeted since nothing change. I won't expect much from them this season until they prove otherwise. 'Good' on paper, and expecting them to work it out all season long when they continue to falter doesn't interest me.

[Flames_F.T.W]

At least they were kind enough to #$%@ the bed early enough in the third that I could go to bed early. That's my positive takeaway.

[Vinny01]

Not the end of the world but still concerning none the less. It doesn’t help that I am extremely skeptical that Bill Peters is the right coach for this team but it sure did look like Gulutzan’s Flames our there last night. According to Canes fans that is what we should expect. We out shot them but Smith has a horrendous save % due to several grade A chances against.

[Saqe]

I'll just point out that the Panthers had a terrible start last year after a coaching change and a lot of new players coming in. They gradually got better by the end of the year and the were the second best team in the league in the second half of the season.



Hopefully the learning curve isn't as steep but this team will go through a similar process.

[Matata]

Sub par goaltending, garbage PP, no depth scoring, couldn't finish watching the game out of disgust. Flames hockey is back!

[Resolute 14]

Well, for those talking up Bill Peters as better than Glen Gulutzan, that was an inauspicious start. The Flames were just as unprepared to play last night as they were the past two years.

[Monahammer]

It sucks because I think hes been a good gm, but I think that trelivings career is tied to Peters now. I'm was not confident in the peters choice from the beginning, and yesterday could have been a gulutzan game. Not very encouraging for a start.

If we start out real slow and look out of it by Christmas are we going to see a core trade?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Well, for those talking up Bill Peters as better than Glen Gulutzan, that was an inauspicious start. The Flames were just as unprepared to play last night as they were the past two years.

It's just one game and yes Peters could not solve the opening night woes but this is an issue that goes back several coaches. I think players that have been around for all these bad openers like Gio, Monahan, Gaudreau, Brodie, and Backlund need to look in the mirror as none of them brought their A-game last night. Locker room leadership has been poor for this core of players and last night was more of the same.

Most concerning to me is that once again a Flames goaltender was badly outplayed by the opposition netminder. Mike Smith has not been a very good NHL goaltender since January of last season. I'm not blaming him solely for this loss as he made some good saves early but over the course of the game he leaked goals and this team will go nowhere if the best goaltender on the ice is on the other side of the ice most nights like last season.

[Resolute 14]

Oh, no doubt. There are a number of players that need to take a long look in the mirror this morning.

And I'll throw James Neal into that mix of players you listed too. He's one of the guys Treliving brought in to try and shake up the dynamic. And he wasn't all that good either.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

It sucks because I think hes been a good gm, but I think that trelivings career is tied to Peters now. I'm was not confident in the peters choice from the beginning, and yesterday could have been a gulutzan game. Not very encouraging for a start.

If we start out real slow and look out of it by Christmas are we going to see a core trade?

Treliving's fate IMO it more tied to his goaltenders. He's failed miserably in this area. A really good goaltender can make a team, coach, GM look a lot better than they are and goaltending has not made anyone associated with the Flames look good. No GM has made more big moves since he took over the Flames job but no matter how many forwards, defensemen, and coaches change the goaltending has been bad more than not. The truth is that the Flames would have probably been better off if Treliving only made one big move his entire tenure and it was for a competent (better than average) starting goaltender as good goaltending covers lots of warts.