[PGT] Flames 1 Sharks 4

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

The next seven games will give you all you need to know about this team and it's fortunes for the balance of the season.

They play Vancouver three times, Colorado twice, and once each against Arizona and Anaheim (in CGY).

They realistically should go 5-2 in those 7 games at a minimum. If they accomplish that, they will be on pace to push for that elusive playoff spot. Anything less than that, and you can increasingly look forward to which RW the Flames will be taking in the top 10 this year. You cannot surrender more than a couple points to lousy teams and expect to be a playoff team. 6/10 of the remaining games in January are against good teams, coughing up points early makes it significantly more difficult to get them against the better clubs.

Pretty much this. Last season they fell off after making an almost identical push (just look at the snakes). What will set this season apart or not is whether they can rebound with another stretch of more winning than losing. Since the 6-0-1 run they are 1-3. They can't afford to fall back from their pace any more than they have, or dwindle at .500. Teams that make the dance start to pull away around this time, those that don't continue to win 1/2, lose 1/2. I'd argue that they even need a 6-1 or 5-1-1 record in this span if they want to keep their chances healthy when they go into that stretch of playing more difficult competition again.

Hope they can beat the teams they should beat and make hay.

[Erick Estrada]

This is essentially last year's team with better goaltending, same poor defensive play, and underachieving forwards. The better goaltending has been cancelled out by the offense not being able to put the puck into the net with the same frequency. I expect by the end of the season the team will finish in the same area of 5-10 from the bottom of the league.

Not sure if we have simply overvalued the talent of the team as it's now two straight seasons of bad hockey or if Treliving is the one GM that whiffed on his offseason coach hire (Avalanche doesn't count because of the circumstances) as all the other teams that hired new coaches in the offseason are well above last season's pace.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Finished watching this game this morning. A few thoughts:

-This is the first game in a long time that I can say Gulutzan was out-coached. The Sharks did everything right, but the Flames kept trying the same plays that weren't working and were shut down time and time again in the offensive zone. That led directly to transition offense for the Sharks, and/or long periods in our zone. It looked like they were beating their head against the wall, not making the adjustments in-game they needed to in order to win.

-We had difficulty with their size tonight. It hasn't happened as much this year, but the Flames were outcompeted physically. Could be back to backs on the road, but they just didn't have much jam to their game. Big drop off from the physicality they displayed in Phoenix.

-Decent 1st and 3rd periods. Horrible 2nd period. Guys just kept losing their coverage for no discernible reason. I didn't like Hamilton's game tonight. He was not very aware of his assignments. You're not going to win a lot of games giving up 4 goals, especially when they're all 5 on 5.

-The special teams were good yet again tonight, which is encouraging because most nights the Flames win the 5 on 5 battle, or at the very least tie it. If we keep up the special teams play, I suspect we will win quite a few games going forward.

-The refereeing was fine tonight. The Flames are still guilty of undisciplined play, and when you're chasing the puck a lot, you're bound to take more penalties. That's why possession is such an important part of the game. It's pretty rare to take a penalty when you have the puck. ***Also, the CP collective needs to start watching replays and stop assuming the refs are out to get us. Every call tonight was legitimate and should have been called. Get over it.

I suspected this would be a loss tonight. San Jose is playing very well these days, and the Flames are still a playoff bubble team at this stage in their development. Nights like this will happen, especially back to back on the road, but they need to come back stronger next game before the Christmas break.

[Resolute 14]

Not a good time to go back to playing crappy hockey night in and night out. The Christmas break is well timed, at least. Just get through Friday's game, rest and reset.

[Toonage]

Silver lining time!

Flames still in a playoff spot this morning!

Gulutzan reads all the news sites, so Hathaway will be back in on Friday!

Vancouver, Colorado & Winnipeg are all coming up!

The OOT didn't go too bad for the Flames!

[Ashasx]

Darren Haynes ‏@DarrenWHaynes
His 8-10 mins doesn't make the difference last night but you may recall the impression Hathaway left on SJ in March.

[Resolute 14]

Hathaway is an energy guy, and this team is lacking energy right now. Even a small pick-me-up could translate. And Bouma is not providing that.

[flamesforcup]

Bouma needs to be benched. I hate politics just go with the best players. But because of Boumas contract they have to play him.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Not a good time to go back to playing crappy hockey night in and night out. The Christmas break is well timed, at least. Just get through Friday's game, rest and reset.

Ironic because they played their best hockey in the most condensed part of the schedule. Their play has really dropped off after they had that 3 day break.

[Firebot]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Hathaway is an energy guy, and this team is lacking energy right now. Even a small pick-me-up could translate. And Bouma is not providing that.

Bouma hasn't provided much of anything in the past 2 years since his new contract. Granted he had some injury issues, but he is pretty much invisible. I much prefer Hathaway.

Playing a back to back on the road against a rested and strong San Jose team would have been a very tough game no matter what happens. They lose against a very good Columbus team, and put up a stinker against the Lightning, who also happens to be a very good team with some injury issues. Not the end of the world yet. The next games will be very telling.

[Erick Estrada]

Not sure if it's injuries catching up with him or not but IMO Bouma isn't an NHL every night player anymore. Not only should he not have a regular spot in the lineup, Treliving has to seriously consider buying him out in the offseason as he looks like he's done.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

Darren Haynes ‏@DarrenWHaynes
His 8-10 mins doesn't make the difference last night but you may recall the impression Hathaway left on SJ in March.

Which was...

Darren Haynes ‏@DarrenWHaynes (10:32 PM - 7 Mar 2016)

Brent Burns on Garnet Hathaway: "What did he draw, five penalties tonight? He plays hard. Those are guys that you want on your team."

[calumniate]

They mad so many little passes into skates, inside the blue line. Opposite of pucks in deep!

[Inglewood Jack]

Bouma cashing in on the Backlund effect and accomplishing nothing afterwards is the reason that Big and Local Joe didn't get signed here...so yay I guess?

the GM and coaches can make mistakes, that's fine, I just don't want to see it happen multiple times or on larger scales. I do see improvement in the decision making as time goes on, but it sure doesn't make the bumpy transition here much more tolerable.

[CsInMyBlood]

How many times have we seen the Sharks have a 4 goal outburst in a period against us? Seems like way too many.

I thought this would be a tough go, that 3rd period in Arizona took a lot of energy and physical toll on the guys, it was intense. Back to back situation vs the Sharks is a tall order.

Hathaway may have dragged our guys into the fight as we've seen him to on multiple occasions. We needed something and the way he made the Sharks players chase him around the ice last game would have been perfect.

Not sure why the coaching staff doesn't see the value he brings nightly.

[northcrunk]

I hope all of you defending Wideman yesterday are hanging your heads in shame today. What a goof.

[Justin]

Originally Posted by flamesforcup

Bouma needs to be benched. I hate politics just go with the best players. But because of Boumas contract they have to play him.

I stated several weeks ago that Hathaway had made Bouma expendable (at that point) and several posters jumped all over me saying that Bouma is twice the player Hathaway is with more heart and better leadership. Saying that Hathaway will be traded or sent back to the minors.

Give me a break. Someone would have to try extremely hard to convince themselves that Bouma is superior to Hathaway. Contracts aside, the quality of heart and skill set on the ice is proof enough.

[Jbo]

Hate to admit it, but this is the first game I turned off all year. Once it was 4-0 I was to upset to watch the rest.

Life is to short to watch bad hockey.

Hope the boys come out flying Friday.

[Resolute 14]

On the bright side, Gulutzan was wrong in arguing that if we started against the Sharks the way we did Phoenix that we'd be down 6-0 within 10 minutes. Just a shame that Johnson couldn't keep holding the fort in the second.

[calgaryblood]

That 4 goal onslaught started with another bad shift for Bouma where he was caught out way too long and couldn't get off the ice. That led to a series of bad changes and the Flames couldn't recover and the Sharks took advantage. One play can change a game as we've found out in this league. A little momentum for the Sharks and they couldn't be stopped. I'm a big believer that sometimes one hit or one goal can totally change the outcome of the game with the momentum it creates.

Hathaway has given us many momentum changing moments. Bouma throws a hit and is then caught out of position. His defensive coverage has been real bad for years and even on the PK he doesn't read plays really well. He will block a shot with his face though.

Not blaming the loss on Bouma but he definitely hasn't done anything to earn his spot in quite some time. He's not even an NHLer at this point imo.