I wish the Flames would send Coronato a Huberdeau lifetime highlight pack and offer him rookie max and say sign the contract and come score 20 goals like Caulfield in the second half of the season. Alas, that won’t happen. But I don’t think the Flames need to burn a pick to find Huberdeau a RW, it is already in the system.
As much as we can point to the refs, posts, bad luck, possession stats, or anything else, ELITE talent wins in this league
It was arguable if JG and MT were elite talent, but watching this team there is no player who would scare the opposition and have them game planning to stop them.
I just cant see any scenario where this team is a realistic threat? - (OK one scenario that Markstrum become prime Kipper)
This team could (should?) make the playoffs, but they are lacking elite talent to be dangerous. And that's effectively the Flames M.O. for the last 15 years
As much as the Cinderella run in 04 seemed impossible, they had the best goalie and arguably the best forward on that team. You can acquire/develop depth and character for a deep playoff run if you have the elite talent.
You can't be a serious threat with Coleman, Mangi, Backund and Lucic combining for 53 points and counting for 21 million on the cap half way through the season.
Expecting Kadri and Huberdeau to compete with the elite teams top players just isn't realistic. And we don't have a 30 minute a game top D anchoring the backend to fall back on
Really the only hope this team has is a goalie gets super hot and carries them. (ALA St.L and Binnington)
I think our D and goaltending is good enough now that they have gotten the kinks out from the start of the year.
This team’s problem is it takes 30 shots to score a goal. Super frustrating to watch as theg control the play alot with zero to show for it. They’ll do fine against non playoff teams with horrible defence. But against quality teams the 47 shots from the point and hope for a rebound strategy isn’t going to work.
There’s very little imagination amongst the forward group outside of Huberdeau. I don’t see anyone from the farm changing that. Also don’t see a coaching staff encouraging it.
Only way the Flames go on a run in the playoffs is to have a GAA under 2 or to make some moves to add more scoring prowness in the forward group. Don’t think the first one will happen.
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I am going to bring a bit of positivity to this thread. Yes officiating was bad. Yes we did not score enough.
But man,that might have been the best loss I have seen the Flames play ever.
I was at the game and it was super entertaining. Oilers were coughing up pucks left right and center especially in the third. Their D is absolutely atrocious. Skinner is going to worn out by March at this rate especially if Campbell continues his subpar season and plays much less.
16-6 in high danger chances and 3.5-1 in shot toward net advantage. No Woodcroft we weren't just shooting from the red line. We dominated your defense.
If we clean up the dumb offensive zone penalities and Markstrom continues to trend toward even 910 SV% we should have a great second half. Huberdeau is starting to feel it. Not sure Lucic is the right winger for him but will give Sutter a bit more time to see if it could work.
If Woodcroft thinks that was a good game plan and his team was fine. The Oilers will be the least of our concerns come the post season.
I won't be a bit surprised if this game is just the kind of game that finally gets the boys to really believe in what Sutter is trying to sell them. That sure looked like the style of play that wins playoff games!
Agreed. Very entertaining game. Really surprised at the negativity in the thread - well, not really, but it is completely unfounded.
Lots of Oiler fans around me last night and all I heard from them was "why can't we get the puck out?" "we are getting absolutely dominated" "this is embarrassing" and so on.
After the game, despite the win, Oiler fans were very quiet walking out of the building - they knew the Oilers were the second best team, by a large margin.
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Which team has top end players that actually put up points tonight?
Lower your pom poms bud, we all want the flames to be a good team. There's no shame in calling them out when just aren't a good team this year.
Agreed that there's no shame in calling them out if they aren't a good team. Except they are a good team, and very much were a good team last night.
"Which team took dumber penalties?" LOL. The Oilers took more dumb penalties than the Flames did last night, but they weren't called. Pretty silly to blame the players for that, IMO.
I think I saw somewhere in this thread someone say “the Flames had more shots, the Oilers had more chances”.
Scoring chances were 43-16 for the Flames. High danger scoring chances were 16-6 for the Flames.
Let’s not kid ourselves here. The Flames completely dominated this game. Not worried. Move on
It's amazing how fans can completely ignore the evidence when drawing conclusions about their team. For most fans, it is blind homerism. But for Flames' fans, it is blind negativity.
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Location: Wondering when # became hashtag and not a number sign.
Exp:
So many still believe this teams woes are centered around offensive abilities.
Thats simply not the case.
Look at the Leafs and all their offensive "talent" as an example. The Flames have scored 5 fewer goals thus far.
Where the real difference is though? Cgy has given up 25 more.
Obviously goaltending had a lot to do with that earlier in the season, but its also a group of forwards and dmen still adjusting to a new system and more importantly, new roles on a team.
The "eye test" tells me they are really starting to get there however and last night was a pretty good indicator of just that. Shooting % will even out over time and with them figuring it out as collective in their own zone, the upside is there.
IMO this team is real close to breaking out and going on a run. Not sure they will be scoring 4 or 5 a night, but i see a lot of tight 1 goal games in their future. Which should come as no surprise on a Sutter led group.
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So many still believe this teams woes are centered around offensive abilities.
Thats simply not the case.
Look at the Leafs and all their offensive "talent" as an example. The Flames have scored 5 fewer goals thus far.
Where the real difference is though? Cgy has given up 25 more.
Obviously goaltending had a lot to do with that earlier in the season, but its also a group of forwards and dmen still adjusting to a new system and more importantly, new roles on a team.
The "eye test" tells me they are really starting to get there however and last night was a pretty good indicator of just that. Shooting % will even out over time and with them figuring it out as collective in their own zone, the upside is there.
IMO this team is real close to breaking out and going on a run. Not sure they will be scoring 4 or 5 a night, but i see a lot of tight 1 goal games in their future. Which should come as no surprise on a Sutter led group.
I feel the same way.
You can talk offense all you want, but the Flames' biggest problems this year have been defensive coverage and goaltending, IMO. And both have been much improved in the last 10 or 12 games.
They are still playing without much confidence, but it is coming. And when it domes, they will start winning a lot of hockey games.
This is a really strong team that just hasn't been able to put it all together yet.
It's great. Do we want them to have a coach who actually calls the team out when they don't play well, or one who coddles them and doesn't force them to be better.
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Woodcroft smugly tries to take credit for lucking into a no-brainer coaching situation - hang on as best you can and wait for a power play.
Reminds me of the old line about George W: “He was born on third base and thinks he just hit a triple!”
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There were a lot of things to like about the way the Flames played last night but the thing I liked most (other than the way Backlund owned McDavid) was how much the defensemen were pinching. IMO, the 2 main reasons that they dominated zone time were that the defense played great in their own end, getting the puck out quickly, and they pinched all night, hemming the Oilers in.
We have talked about slow play a lot this year, and how they played fast last year, but reverted to playing slow this year. Well, last night was much better on that front - they moved the puck up ice very well.
And on a similar note (to the slow play), but something we haven't talked as much about this year, is the way the defense has been backing up - not pinching on the O-line, and giving up too much gap at the D-line. Last year, they pinched well, and controlled gaps well, so it is hard to understand why they have been so poor at those things this year.
However, last night was, IMO, the best the defense has played all year. They constantly held the Oilers in, creating so much extra zone time. If they continue to play like that, they will start to rack up the Ws.
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Woodcroft is great. I mean he’s completely unlikeable, smug, and dim, which makes him perfect to just add to how much I despise the Oilers.
There’s no wrestling with “he’s seems like a good guy, even though he’s an Oiler”.
It is a pretty bold strategy to take credit for that game last night, and act like they played their game plan to a T.
Most coaches would be ripping their team, saying they didn't play well enough, were lucky to win, etc. But nope, not Woodcroft! He took credit for the W, and then escalated it with the shots from center ice comment.
He is going to have a very short shelf life behind the Oilers bench, I would think. He's in way over his head.
I thought that the flames played great and deserved a better fate.
I also thought that Huberdau had one of his better games and is tending up. I also thought that Weeger played his best game as a flame. He did a great job in both ends of the rink imo.
For all of the wishing for Huberdau to shoot more and pass less I would like Kadri to start using his linemates more. He is trying to one man everything and isn't getting it done. I feel like at this stage of the season that Kadri has the biggest job to start gelling out of the new guys.
Ruzicka quietly one of our best skaters again.
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You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. Winston Churchill
There were a lot of things to like about the way the Flames played last night but the thing I liked most (other than the way Backlund owned McDavid) was how much the defensemen were pinching. IMO, the 2 main reasons that they dominated zone time were that the defense played great in their own end, getting the puck out quickly, and they pinched all night, hemming the Oilers in.
We have talked about slow play a lot this year, and how they played fast last year, but reverted to playing slow this year. Well, last night was much better on that front - they moved the puck up ice very well.
And on a similar note (to the slow play), but something we haven't talked as much about this year, is the way the defense has been backing up - not pinching on the O-line, and giving up too much gap at the D-line. Last year, they pinched well, and controlled gaps well, so it is hard to understand why they have been so poor at those things this year.
However, last night was, IMO, the best the defense has played all year. They constantly held the Oilers in, creating so much extra zone time. If they continue to play like that, they will start to rack up the Ws.
This is not a loss to feel bad about as they played McDavid as well as they ever have 5 on 5. It's just one of those games where one player's poor decisions altered the outcome.
