[PGT] Avs 3 Flames 2 on the brink

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Nah. IMO they'd have been better against SJ at the very least. Maybe also the Preds. They'd also be better against the Stars if they could solve Bishop. Ditto Vegas and Fleury.

Yeah. Maybe the Avs were the worst matchup.

[868904]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

The series seems to be following a a first round pattern of dominant players/lines taking over and winning. The Wheeler/Mark Scheifele/Connor line in the Winnipeg series, Benns line in Dallas, Stasny's line in the Vegas series and McKinnon in this one.

Certainly you cannot win a cup with one line and problems will come up later on when injuries occur and depth is more important. It seems to be good enough in the first round though.

In light of the comments above, it's important to note that Benn and most of the others were not 1st or 2nd overall. You can certainly find players like that in the draft. Vegas's dominant line was picked 22nd(Patches), 178th(Stone), and 44th(Stastny). Benn was drafted 129th.

What do all those top lines feature along with high end skill? Size.

You can win the regular season with smurfs but you can’t in the playoffs. Flames and Lightning, the two teams who relied on small skilled players were thoroughly dominated by bigger teams.

I don’t know how the Flames fix this. It’s not like they will be able to find fast skil with size. It’s why they were so desperate to sign Neal (size and supposedly skilled).

[cannon7]

The Avs were supposed to be one line, but guys like Compher, Jost, Calvert, Nieto, etc. are all badly outplaying the Flames. So much for all that depth....

The Flames look tired already. What chance is there that they can win one more game in
this series let alone three in a row?

Unless Peters is willing to make a big change here. It's not happening.

And a big change should have already happened. Now it's a season ending game and Peters has no more wiggle room to send a message to his roster.

[Toonage]

James Neal can sit. Thats about the biggest thing he could do now. Czarnik or Dube. Get some speed in there and empty the tank.

[djmichaelk]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Huntingwhale]

Sober thoughts from the next morning...

As horrible as this classic Flames' choke was, you have to give credit to the Avs. They came into this series with pretty much nobody giving them a chance. Game 1 looked to confirm that. Then they found not only an extra gear, but multiple gears that the Flames just won't match.

I actually thought it was a super exciting game and the Flames played much better then game 3. But still, the Avs dominated most of the game, although the Flames did push back.

I actually thought Johnny wasn't that bad. But some poor decisions on his part to not SHOOT when he was in the slot. As Ray Ferraro said on the NBC broadcast, dangles don't work in the post season. You take it to the net hard. They actually showed a montage of MacKinnon vs Gaudreau doing exactly that. One play took it hard to the net. One player tried to dance through 3 players like it was an exhibition game.

Feels like a waste of Smith's performance. He's brought out his inner Jesus yet again, peaking at the right time. Yet the Flames couldn't take advantage of that.

The officiating sucked. But that's not why we lost. Back to back 50+ shots on goal is a recipe for disaster.

Neal is completely useless. Next time his agent is in negotiations to overpay one of his UFA clients, the GM should simply pull out a photo of James Neal in Flames' silks and pop in a VHS tape of Neal 'earning' his hefty UFA contract and knock 75% of the signing. Players like Neal are why I have absolutely no issue with GMs low-balling players on UFA day. His whole 'flip the switch in the playoffs' is such a cop out. It's something people say simply calm down media scrutiny and make themselves feel better about how disappointing a player is. The list of players who flip the switch like that is very short league-wide, and Neal ain't one of them.

Monahan has been terrible and it will be funny during the summer listening to some people defending him about being a true #1 C. ''But he put up 30 goals". "He's a top 15 scoring C". That means sweet #### all when you can't elevate your game when it matters. In the end, he is what he is. But I remember it wasn't too long ago people were arguing he was better then Mackinnon. Laughable and sad some of us actually thought that.

The Avs fanbase is intimidating and rowdy. Have to give them credit. That is one hostile building to play in.

I will say though, Brady Tkachuk is awesome. Wearing a shirt with a Flames' logo, tossing out GFG on national TV, up in his seat during various moments. The kid is awesome and I wonder if he'll catch some flack from the Sens organization for wearing another team's colors. Would love to see him in a Flames jersey one day.

[AltaGuy]

Clearly we’re not going to match the Avs physically - why not try to at least match their speed? We have Czarnik and Dube available - play them!

[Karl]

James Neal can sit out for the rest of this series then he can go into the sunset afterwards.

It's crystal clear he's got nothing more left to give and that he's not an NHL level player anymore. He is just too done.

So much for 'he'll turn it up for the playoffs' thing.

[Corral]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

The Flames are done. They have shown zero heart when facing adversity in 2015, 2017 and this season. Horrid performances by anyone not named Bennett, Hathaway, Mangiapane, Ryan, or Smith.

Gutless bunch of wonders here. Simply the most pathetic excuse for a performance I have watched from the Flames ever. In 06-07, at least the Flames were the 8th seed when they played like this.

This is the essence of the Calgary Flames as a franchise - with the exception of spurts where the team was led by either an inspired Bob Johnson (1986), Iginla (2004) or Fleury (1991). I'm not including 1989 because they sort of got lucky getting past Round one and then really coasted thru the rest of the playoffs that year.

[Saqe]

Was pissed off last night even though I'm not a hardcore fan. Can't imagine how some of you guys feel.



Something came to my mind this morning. When coach Q had his press conference in Florida he was talking about Toews and Kane and how they took their game to another level. The bigger the game, the bigger the moment- these guys rose to the challenge.



We're not seeing that from Monahan and Gaudreau. In fact it looks like they take a step back in the playoffs. Ultimately I think this is the biggest problem and downfall for this team. It's like this team is missing a first line come playoffs.

[Joborule]

I'm worried that Flames may be stuck with having Monhan as their best centre for years, and this is going to be Iginla all over again for Johnny; not having a true #1C/ impact player to compliment him; thus making it easy to shut down and frustrating Johnny, and stunting the Flames from being any legitimate threat for another several years.

[Rando]

Originally Posted by New Era

It ain’t over, but it looks over. The fans should be behind their team, not ####ting all over them. As has been said, with a little luck - and the Flames have had none this series - the Flames could be up 3-1. Yes, it’s disappointing, but it isn’t a burn this team to the ground moment. People need to step back and breathe.

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Nonsense. The Avs are firing 50+ shots a game on net, and the only thing preventing each of the last three games from being a comical blowout is Smith standing on his head.

How is that nonsense? What a brutal reply!

The team could be up 3-1, easily. That doesn't mean they haven't been dominated, that doesn't mean Jankowski, Neal, Monahan, Gaudreau have been ghosts, that doesn't mean Smith hasn't been standing on his head saving out butts.. because despite all that this series could easily be 3-1. The last two games went to overtime and because Colorado the Flames have huge chances in both games. Frolik in game three, Backlund last night in game four.

I get wanting to be overly negative, I get being a passionate fan and ignoring logic but those two saves go the other way and Calgary is up (an undeserving) 3-1 in this series.

That didn't happen, we lost both but that doesn't make New Era's post "nonsense". Be better than that.

[Toonage]

Originally Posted by Karl

James Neal can sit out for the rest of this series then he can go into the sunset afterwards.

It's crystal clear he's got nothing more left to give and that he's not an NHL level player anymore. He is just too done.

So much for 'he'll turn it up for the playoffs' thing.

This is going to be a fascinating off season when it comes to James Neal.

He was brought in for 5 years to provide
- veteran leadership
- playoff experience
- grit
- consistent goal scoring

The leadership part is maybe the only one we can't say assuredly that he didn't deliver on as we aren't around the team. Playoff experience is an intangible but he doesn't seem to be lending anything that resembles it.

What do they do? Obvious answer is bring him back next season and see if he regains any semblance of his former self. They gave Brouwer 2 years after all.

But does James Neal even want to come back? He never seemed happy here. He thought he'd be getting top line minutes. Even if he did his play all but guaranteed he wouldn't stay there. I'm not sure Peters is a fan of his at all.

You can't buy him out. Even with his lack of trade protection who is going to take that on? Can't imagine what Treliving is thinking right now.

[Philly06Cup]

Among the flames, I'm most surprised by Backlund and Tkachuk. We already knew about Brodie and Neal and Janko. We knew the top line was in a funk. The 2nd line was supposed to be our consistent backbone. Backlund lead all forwards in +/-. Tkachuk's pesky game is supposed to rise in the playoffs. I was not expecting them to be as poor as they have been.

[Toonage]

Tkachuk got drilled by Zadorov at the start of Game 2 and he's been MIA since. He'll muck it up occasionally, as thats a stationary activity, but his play has dropped considerably. I think he's hurt.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by Toonage

This is going to be a fascinating off season when it comes to James Neal.

He was brought in for 5 years to provide
- veteran leadership
- playoff experience
- grit
- consistent goal scoring

The leadership part is maybe the only one we can't say assuredly that he didn't deliver on as we aren't around the team. Playoff experience is an intangible but he doesn't seem to be lending anything that resembles it.

What do they do? Obvious answer is bring him back next season and see if he regains any semblance of his former self. They gave Brouwer 2 years after all.

But does James Neal even want to come back? He never seemed happy here. He thought he'd be getting top line minutes. Even if he did his play all but guaranteed he wouldn't stay there. I'm not sure Peters is a fan of his at all.

You can't buy him out. Even with his lack of trade protection who is going to take that on? Can't imagine what Treliving is thinking right now.

Guess I just might have to accept that Neal may just be going the way of Lucic.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Rando

I get wanting to be overly negative, I get being a passionate fan and ignoring logic but those two saves go the other way and Calgary is up (an undeserving) 3-1 in this series.

It's not overly negative to point out the Flames have been dominated for the last three games. Every hockey commentator in Canada - most of whom aren't Flames fans - are saying the same thing. Even the most dispassionate, logical, analytics-based pundits are saying the Flames are getting crushed in this series.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Saqe

Was pissed off last night even though I'm not a hardcore fan. Can't imagine how some of you guys feel.



Something came to my mind this morning. When coach Q had his press conference in Florida he was talking about Toews and Kane and how they took their game to another level. The bigger the game, the bigger the moment- these guys rose to the challenge.



We're not seeing that from Monahan and Gaudreau. In fact it looks like they take a step back in the playoffs. Ultimately I think this is the biggest problem and downfall for this team. It's like this team is missing a first line come playoffs.

Monahan is a big reason for Johnny's struggles lately and I don't think that is being considered enough. A small, passive yet extremely gifted winger cannot take over a playoff series on his own. Even when Iginla was in his heyday, he still had a guy like Conroy or Langkow at centre to just work their butts off and play with passion down the middle alongside him.

I was on the fence with him the last year or so and was cautiously optimistic he had figured it out this season after a pretty strong 50 or so games under Peters. The last 2 months have been a joke in terms of his compete level will to win. The guy plays like a cream puff and does nothing for the team unless he's getting fed glorious chances in the low slot.

This team won't be going anywhere in the post season with that kind of player in the #1C position. Just look around the Conference and what some of these better teams currently role out as their #1C:

Couture, Karlsson, Getzlaf, Kopitar, Johansson, Schiefle, Seguin, O'Reilley

There isn't a single guy on that list that you could argue a case for Monahan being even close to in terms of 200' game, puck play and just hating to lose hockey games. For me, he's a number 2 guy on an good team that is recognized as much more as a Flame due to his role on this team.

[Rando]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

It's not overly negative to point out the Flames have been dominated for the last three games. Every hockey commentator in Canada - most of whom aren't Flames fans - are saying the same thing. The Flames have not been unlucky - the Avs have hit more posts and crossbars.

New Era never said the Flames weren't being dominated, he never said the results of this series was because of poor luck. He simply stated with a bit more luck (The Frolik chance in game 3, the Backlund chance in game 4) both in overtime for example and we could be up 3-1. Despite all the domination and luck or unluck the last two games have been overtime wins for the Av's that could've easily swung the other way.

It was a simple point that really didn't deserve a "nonsense" in reply.

[Royle9]

THE GOOD NEWS is the Flames just released game 7 tickets!!
Get em while you can..