I wonder what it does to Gillies longterm confidence in his game if he witnesses a game like that tonight and the coach still does not have confidence to put him in between the pipes. If I am Gillies and Smith is starting next game and I am on the bench I really start to wonder if I have any future on this team. It would certainly be a blow to his confidence.
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Gotta be the equipment change. Shots are consistently going through him. Shots are slipping through his arms like they never have before and you can see that teams are exploiting this. They’re purposely targeting his body. I can’t even recall seeing any significant glove saves he’s made this season.
This is why the Flames need to find a replacement. The opposition is taking advantage of this team’s persistence and stubbornness to get Mike Smith “going” while the rest of the hockey world laughs at us and the opposition salivates at their chance to shoot at Mike Smith from everywhere and anywhere.
He could wear the Michelin man bubble outfit and he would not do well.
He does not move or react to the play or square himself to the shooter. You can't sit back in your net and go back and forth on the blue line a bit and expect to stop many pucks.
Smith cost us and all that, but I’ll add a few more points so as to not pile on. PP needs to be better. Especially the 5 on 3 which was awful. No urgency tonight and they just didn’t do a good job. Second unit especially really needs to get going or at least do something positive. I don’t even know what to do with that unit. Don’t like Backlund as the primary puck carrier, don’t like Ryan on the point and Neal and Bennett just not getting it done. Time to change things up on that unit.
Slowly running out of patience with Neal. Long time coming I know. What did it tonight was that one icing. Gets the puck and just needs to skate two strides, but instead he just fires it down for the icing. I haven’t yelled at the tv that loud in a long time. Just no awareness out there. It’s like he’s lost. Just so perplexing to me. Just don’t understand how he can be this bad.
Top line is carrying all the weight and we need the secondary guys to start playing better. Backs(I know he scored tonight), Bennett, Neal, Ryan, Jankowski need to be better. Can’t count on Johnny getting 4 points every game. Need these other guys stepping up more consistently.
Tough game to lose as it was definely a game they could have had. Just rebound on get back in the win column on Saturday. Hopefully Rittich is good to go by then.
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At this point I'm ready to just pull the goalie for the entire game. They have played with the net empty 14 times. They've scored 3 goals and have let in 3. I'd prefer having the extra skater out there. It gives us the option of having one guy cherry pick, or one guy playing the point a little more. The Flames have a success rate of 21.8% on the power play and have only allowed 4 shorthanded goals.
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Boston is a good team. Mike Smith sucks in back-to-backs. All things considered, I’m surprised he only let in 5...
I also think Smith has a lower body injury that is limiting his lateral mobility and resulting in (i) ugly goals when he plays so deep in his net, and (ii) him cheating on the pass and opening up the five hole like on the fifth goal. Add to that the smaller chest protectors causing goals to leak under his arms and his .915 easily becomes sub .900.
Sad because he’d be a nice veteran backup for a guy like Rittich but is quickly wearing out his welcome in the last year of his contract.
Before I get flamed-on for what I'm going to say, I will put this part right up front so that I can point to it when the angriest of angry posters ignore it completely and accuse me of being a Smith apologist:
Clearly, there were at least two goals that Smith should have had. He is struggling physically and, seemingly, mentally. He plays far too deep in his net, neutralizing the effectiveness of his size. I don't know if this is all on him or if there's a coaching/positioning-instruction issue too, however, the Flames would not be doing their due-diligence if they didn't look for another goaltender at this point.
Having said this, I will again present my case that--assuming we are a playoff team--we need another solid, strong, net-front-clearing defenceman who can play on the bottom pairing (at least) and in the bottom four D (at best).
Smith's ongoing struggles mask some of our issues on defence because it is all too easy to point fingers at Smith--and rightfully so. Nevertheless, on two of the Bruins' goals tonight, two of our young DMen (Hanifin and Kylington) were caught up ice and out of position. On one other, a young DMan (Andersson) was outmuscled in a net-front battle (deflection goal).
While I think Andersson has been the best of these three young men, he is not a physical player and Kylington is even less-so. A stronger net-front presence is required, IMO.
Hanifin remains a work in progress. His positioning/man-coverage is sometimes horrific (see: New Year's Eve game against SJ). He often flies the zone before we even have full possession of the puck.. While Hamonic is a solid partner for Hanifin, there have been many times where Hamonic and/or Rittich have bailed out Hanifin. Having another strong bottom-four option would, IMO, greatly improve our defence.
Ultimately, I think we have a very good chance to make a deep run in the playoffs. But I also think it's important to acknowledge all of our areas of need, over and above Smith. Right now, I think Smith's struggles are blinding us from some of our other needs and I fear we ignore them at our own peril.
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At this point I'm ready to just pull the goalie for the entire game. They have played with the net empty 14 times. They've scored 3 goals and have let in 3. I'd prefer having the extra skater out there. It gives us the option of having one guy cherry pick, or one guy playing the point a little more. The Flames have a success rate of 21.8% on the power play and have only allowed 4 shorthanded goals.
It doesn’t work like that.
Shorties are allowed with a goalie.
Every shot on net with an empty net is a goal. You need to consider shorthanded shots on goal allowed.
I'll throw out a few positives I saw from the game since we can only talk about how bad Mike Smith was for so long.
- Johnny Hockey was fantastic. Again. He's really taken his game up a notch this year.
- Lindy scored #20. As someone who wasn't a fan of the deal when I first heard it, he has been unreal this season, and that trade is looking like a steal now.
- Czarnik played much better. Still a ways to go and he needs to be consistent but at least he showed more of the speed and playmaking skills I believe he has.
- Jankowski with another shorthanded point tonight. He just keep racking them up.
- Good effort in the 3rd against a good team on the 2nd of a back to back.
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Janko has really become an elite PK... i am just surprised he isn't able to do this on he regular shift more? Yeah, his linemates haven't been exactly great, but for a man of his size, i'd thought he'd be better along the wall? Regardless, he's been invaluable as a PK'er
the thing about Lindholm is that not only is he proving to be a top end scorer, he is great on the PK and you can play him in any situation... Loved Ferly, but he wasn't a guy you could put out on any situation.
its amazing how much Johnny has improved this year? definitely is faster and more confident with the puck...i'd be curious to see if he's added more muscle as his shot seems better too this year.
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Came to see the Smith-bashing. Left....feeling grumpy.
He's not the (only) reason the Flames lost. A really crappy 5-on-3 (after defending one!) and several missed PP opportunities, poor D coverage on three of the goals, and not enough physicality.
