[PGT] Game 2 curse strikes again

[BoLevi]

Originally Posted by Itse

I'm worried about how the Flames seem unable to dictate the style of play.

The Dallas-series was exactly the style Dallas preferred, and this series is turning into exactly what Oilers prefer.

It's good to be able to play multiple styles of hockey, but it's a lot harder to win a series if you always let the opponent pick the style.

neither of these teams is getting by Colorado or the Blues anyway.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Itse

I'm worried about how the Flames seem unable to dictate the style of play.

The Dallas-series was exactly the style Dallas preferred, and this series is turning into exactly what Oilers prefer.

It's good to be able to play multiple styles of hockey, but it's a lot harder to win a series if you always let the opponent pick the style.

Dallas series was Calgary's style thwarted by Oettinger and good net front protection.

This series so far has been Flames hockey (at least to start) but without the defensive checking required by all 5 skaters that spiraled out of control from lack of discipline as the games wore on.

Edit: Better put, it was 40 minutes of Flames hockey in the first game resulting in a win, and 20 minutes last night resulting in a loss.

[Classic_Sniper]

Few Tidbits


- Noticed that the Oilers really dropped back and decided to clog the neutral zone up. Very ironic because that just confirms that the offensive juggernaut that is the Oilers is actually scared of the “old & slow grinding” Flames

- It appears the Oiler forwards are doing a good job of fronting the Flames’ blue liners and taking away the points which has been imperative to the Flames high shot volume style this season

- Very good adjustment by Woodcroft as he turned our advantage into a disadvantage. Oiler forwards caught the Flames’ D napping several times getting behind them for breakaways because of this

- Flames should counteract by focusing on funneling everything down low instead. If the Oilers want to take our point shot away, then that should open up the slot

- Smith is making too many plays with the puck thwarting our forecheck, team needs to focus on more diagonal dump ins so Smith can’t play the puck so much. That should take away some of the easy breakouts they had

- Markstrom now sporting an .876 sv% against the Oilers in his last 15 games. He looks more like an AHLer when playing against them. This isn’t a small sample size either

[Classic_Sniper]

Oh also, RNH-Hyman line was a major X-factor tonight. As good as McDavid was in spurring his team’s comeback, I thought the RNH line made all the difference in Oilers being more competitive tonight.

This is a big problem because the Oilers already have the better superstars between the 2 teams, so if they have formed a good second line too, then the Flames will need more from their bottom 6 to make up the difference.

Unfortunately though, the 3rd line has been an absolute black hole for offense in this playoffs.

Dube - Nothing in 9 games
Toffoli - unimpressive 5 on 5
Jarnkrok - 26 games as a Flame - 0 goals...wtf

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by BoLevi

neither of these teams is getting by Colorado or the Blues anyway.

That's the optimism I'm looking for.

Just win. You never know. There's no team that's unbeatable.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by BoLevi

neither of these teams is getting by Colorado or the Blues anyway.

Deeply worried after such an authoritative statement from the hockey authority that is BoLevi that whoever wins the BoA is in the Stanley Cup final. Flames better win 3 more games.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Disappointing game. Markstrom continues to be terrible against the Oilers. Time for him to step up and get his game together.

Sutter should maybe start thinking of ways to counteract McDavid and Draisatl because they continue to cave the Flames' heads in. Maybe try matching some lines or something. Six points for each of them over the first two games in the series is pretty pathetic. Woodcroft made adjustments to take the Flames strength away from them, time for Sutter to have his team make an adjustment and not let these same players feast on your team.

TSN Turning Point was Backlund losing the puck on his breakaway after the Yamamoto turnover in the first. Cash that in and the Oilers fold like a cheap tent. After that the Oilers strung together a series of changes that Markstrom managed to whiff on and give the Oilers hope. The Flames need to take advantage of their opportunities because the Oilers are very much going to take advantage of theirs.

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

Oh also, RNH-Hyman line was a major X-factor tonight. As good as McDavid was in spurring his team’s comeback, I thought the RNH line made all the difference in Oilers being more competitive tonight.

This is a big problem because the Oilers already have the better superstars between the 2 teams, so if they have formed a good second line too, then the Flames will need more from their bottom 6 to make up the difference.

Unfortunately though, the 3rd line has been an absolute black hole for offense in this playoffs.

Dube - Nothing in 9 games
Toffoli - unimpressive 5 on 5
Jarnkrok - 26 games as a Flame - 0 goals...wtf

Ya, not sure how Hyman looked like Jagr out there. Flames Team defense needs to really pick it up. When a Dman pinches a forward needs to cover, also this team cannot let anymore breakaways happen. We are getting burned.

As far as Jarnkrok, I was his biggest Cheerleader but the time for just being reliable is over, get a goal son. Doesnt matter if he offensively more effective on the wing, need to figure it out and pot one soon.

[Samonadreau]

If the Flames stick to their game and make better choices with and without the puck, like we know they can, they win any 7 game series against the Oilers. I am confident they will come out with a more complete game on Sunday.

GFG!

[Southside]

Markstrom needs to be better. No doubt on that.

We're missing Tanev.

We need to pressure their D better. Flames forwards need to lean on them every chance they get.

[CliffFletcher]

Flames have to show some discipline with the chippy stuff and after the whistle shenanigans. Disrupting our 5 on 5 rhythm with all the 4 on 4 is playing right into the hands of the Oilers.

[CGY12]

Originally Posted by Lanny_McDonald

Disappointing game. Markstrom continues to be terrible against the Oilers. Time for him to step up and get his game together.

Sutter should maybe start thinking of ways to counteract McDavid and Draisatl because they continue to cave the Flames' heads in. Maybe try matching some lines or something. Six points for each of them over the first two games in the series is pretty pathetic. Woodcroft made adjustments to take the Flames strength away from them, time for Sutter to have his team make an adjustment and not let these same players feast on your team.

Draisatl hasn't been that noticeably dominant to me, despite the points. Hes a good player and he capitalizes when he has space/time. Both his goals have come on breakaways where the D just becomes brain dead.

McDavid on the other hand, if we aren't making him defend, always looks dangerous and its pretty astonishing because you watch him against other teams and its not this dominant when hes on the attack, in terms of all the time.

The game plan around being overly physical on him is back firing, as soon as he gets the puck forwards and or dmen are immediately closing the gap and trying to body him, that is a MISTAKE. They have to be smarter about laying the body on him and closing the gap, you can't immediately rush him when he gets the puck, your playing into his hand when you do that, especially when you close and by the time you get to him he already has full control of the puck. He is easily absorbing the body and gaining position to do whatever he wants. They have to be more aware of that, if its a 50/50 puck go, but when he has full control, rely on your position and maintain your gap so that you can take away his options. Instead all they are doing is bum rushing him and hes either absorbing and turning off the contact to attack the open ice or he moves the puck quickly to a teammate and leaves the defender to recover when he moves away from him.

I mean I understand hes the best player in the world and I know the coaching staff is recognizing this too (I hope) but the players on the ice are either forgetting and reacting in the worst possible way, or the game plan is to close no matter what when he touches the puck (worst possible strategy). You have to maintain a strong gap control in certain situations and eliminate his options.

[JohnnyB]

The Oilers were far more aggressive in this game than the first game. They were pressuring the puck more quickly in their zone, they were hitting more and they were battling harder on the boards. Those things improved their team defense, and then McDavid continued to run wild with the puck. The Oilers showed up with a better game than last time.

That said, the reffing still was awful and ruined a lot of the game. NHL reffing is just terribly inconsistent across the league. It's the worst part of the NHL.

[Inferno099]

Originally Posted by Steve Macfarlane

Whatever you think about the refs tonight, the Flames put themselves in a position to take too many penalties and that gives the Oilers fuel for their stars.

Sutter likes to flip pressure though.

https://calgaryhockeynow.com/calgary...series-game-2/

Would be interesting for media to challenge the NHL calling embellishment penalties on Gaudreau, and then not the same for almost every time McDavid gets touched if not scoring opportunity he does down like a rag doll at least 5 times per game....
but then will pull & hold the defense stick all night to get into scoring position as he is strong on his skates.

Referees need to start calling McDavid on what they have been calling holding or hooking against him as more often than not he is instigating the "hold or hook" for tactical advantage.

[Royle9]

Originally Posted by AC

https://twitter.com/user/status/1527860733119283200

Nurse doing this after a goal where he was at fault, then Tkachuk shoving him in return, with both being called for another 4-on-4 was the biggest joke of the night IMO. It certainly didn't look like the refs were going to call Nurse prior to Tkachuk skating over and giving him a shove.

This happens, and it should have been an easy call for another Flames PP after scoring with the chance to go up 4-1.

Forcing 4-on-4 situations when they aren't warranted has been brutal so far these playoffs.

This sequence was an absolute #### show.
Not sure they showed it on TV but nurse wasn’t even going to get a penalty.
The ref immediately blew up and grabbed Tkachuk and dragged him to the box.
The only reason nurse got called was because a Linesman came over and had to explain what happened….

That’s the turning point in ref bull####. Giving Tkachuk one for this was stupid and how they managed to “miss” the obvious call on Nurse is embarrassing.

[Coach]

McDavid was hard to beat last night for sure. It feels like you need to maintain a two goal cushion because he’s a threat to score basically anytime.

Hoping as the series goes on he burns out a bit as he’s overplayed and has to fight through the Flames.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Thoughts on the game:

Officiating-I didn't have a big problem with the calls that were made. I thought they got it right almost every time, but that Zadorov call to end the first simply didn't happen, and they missed a few picks/interference plays that the Oilers committed. The no goal calls were fine for both teams. The even up calls were fine too. My only problem was that they felt the need to insert themselves into the game, where if they simply don't call some of those scrum plays, there's a lot more flow to the game. That lack of flow really hurt the Flames more than the Oilers. The 4 on 4's and PP's favour Edmonton's game plan much more than the Flames who would rather play 5 on 5.

Oilers-I thought their defensive play was improved quite a bit, and Smith played well. Again, the flow of the Flames attack was severely affected by the number of calls in the game. McDavid is unreal right now, and Hyman continues to be a problem that needs solving. Draisaitl is capitalizing on McDavid's play and nothing more. Nurse is brutal out there and a cheap shot artist.

Flames-As said above, couldn't get back into their game after all the calls. I thought Zadorov had a brutal game trying to defend McDavid, but many have struggled with him. Didn't love the duo of Hanifin/Andersson tonight, thought they were walked a few too many times. I actually think Markstrom was pretty great tonight, they just gave up far too many high quality chances against. I don't know what save people thought he should have made outside of Keith's early goal. A little scrambly at times, but he bailed his team out time and again. I didn't like the top line's game at all. Tkachuk was far too focused on agitating and took some dumb penalties. Gaudreau couldn't get on track, and Lindholm was fairly invisible while also taking a dumb penalty of his own. Lines 2-4 were better, but they needed one of those lines to make a big momentum shift later in the game, and it didn't happen. Really ####ing hated Coleman's goalie interference penalty. Just ####ing stupid.

Lessons were learned tonight. Stay out of the box. Maintain discipline. Play strong 5 on 5 hockey. Play with emotion but don't cross the line. Don't play too aggressively against McDavid because he'll torch you every time. Back off on him and let him skate around the perimeter. Just stick with the other players and he won't have anyone to pass to. You still might get beat, but it's better than having wide open players for them to tap in.

[I_H8_Crawford]

Flames had a PP in the third in a tie game and what do they do? Give up a SH breakaway goal.

Refs didn't cause that. Flames playing like ass caused that. Then minutes later, let's give Drai a breakaway. Not going to win many games playing as brain-dead as they played last night

[Infinit47]

Pretty terrible game all around. Flames first line and Markstrom need to be way better.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by nieuwy-89

Yes. Flames quit playing when it was 3-1. If they lose the series, tonight’s game will be the reason.

If they lose the series, it will be because they lost 4 times.

It's one game, you put it behind you and get ready for the next one.