[GDT] Flames vs Stars, 7:00 MST. Sportsnet One, Fan 960

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Seven Things to Watch for Tonight

1. Sam Bennett will tie Doug Gilmour in games played as a Flame tonight with 266 games. They will share the 70th spot for a moment.
   
2. Sean Monahan is one point from tying Craig Conroy and becoming 20th in all time points as a Flame.
3. Mark Giordano is one point from passing Jay Bouwmeester and becoming 106th in all time points as an NHL defenceman.
   
4. David Rittich is only one win away from tying Jeff Reese and Jamie McLennan becoming 19th in all times wins as a Flames goalie.
5. Mark Giordano is one goal from tying Tim Horton and becoming 69th all time in NHL scoring as a defencemen.
6. Johnny Gaudreau is one assist from passing Craig Conroy and becoming 17th in all time assists as a Calgary Flame.
7. Sean Monahan is one game from tying Curtis Glencross and becoming 29th all time in games played as a Flame.

Obviously the games played ones will happen., But I also predict all the scoring ones will too.

[The Professor]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

LOL he stool in your cereal or something?

He has a daily segment on the show that's actually pretty informative.

Gross

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

No. The Flames should have their eye on playing deep in the playoffs, and with the goalies they have on the roster this means managing their starts all the way into the stretch-drive. There is a real danger that the Flames ride Rittich and he falters, and a real chance that a rusty and deflated Smith is not in a position to pick up the mantle.

What makes you think Smith is capable of picking up the mantle? He's played poorly so far, what makes you think that he's going to get better?

Come to think of it, what reasoning are you using to assert that Rittich is going to falter?

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

LOL he stool in your cereal or something?

He has a daily segment on the show that's actually pretty informative.

Wills mentions things that others might not be aware of, being closer to the team. I understand someone not liking him doing radio PBP, but his talks on F960 are very good.

For example, he elaborated on how differently the practices were between the Coyotes and the Flames, having sat in on both. The Coyotes were disorganized, had poor execution and players looked a little out of it. In contrast, the Flames practice was fast paced, crisp, and intense to the point that Peters had to stop the session early for fear of injuries.

You practice how you play. I am extremely happy to find out that Peters runs his practices like Hartley's or Tortorella's.

[IliketoPuck]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

News Update

Pat Steinberg @Fan960Steinberg
David Rittich in the starter’s net this morning. Looks like he’ll start tonight vs. Dallas. Will confirm shortly.

Pat Steinberg @Fan960Steinberg
Projected #Flames tonight vs. Dallas:

Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm
Tkachuk-Backlund-Bennett
Czarnik-Ryan-Neal
Dube-Jankowski-Hathaway

Giordano-Brodie
Hanifin-Hamonic
Kylington-Andersson

Rittich

Good call by Admiral Vanilla on Smith starting.

[direwolf]

I predict a big game from the top line tonight.

Go Flames!

[Karl]

From reading here, I've noticed Wills has been very wrong about alot of goalie lineup news recently.

Steinberg is way more reliable with his pulse on the team.

[868904]

Hoping for a hat trick from Neal with Czarnik and Ryan assisting on all 3.

Couple of points for Bennett and Lindholm would be nice too.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Karl

From reading here, I've noticed Wills has been very wrong about alot of goalie lineup news recently.

Wills is often wrong about many things.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Which is a problem that needs to be fixed, and the only way to fix it is to get Smith some consecutive starts. I would prefer he gets this sorted out sooner rather than later.

Or its a great way to tank us right into a playoff bubble team. You can gamble with our current standing by trying to give Smith chance after chance or you can go with the guy who gives you a chance to win every night. Mike Sullivan has two SC in Pittsburgh and we saw how he went about it and how much improved the Pens have been lately and that is with a young goalie with two SC rings. We have got off to a great run with Rittich in goal, let's not F around and spoil it just to see if the old man can finally find his game when so far that has failed multiple times.

[Browndog71]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Wills is often wrong about many things.

I miss Peter Maher...

[Red]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Which is a problem that needs to be fixed, and the only way to fix it is to get Smith some consecutive starts. I would prefer he gets this sorted out sooner rather than later.

Starting Smith at home is not helping him, it's throwing him to the lions. He's looked good in one home game this season, Boston. The guy simply can't handle the pressure playing at home. He should get starts on the road untill he has several good games before he plays at home.

[dissentowner]

The great news is we are back to evening games so the frog will be back watching. Only one loss so far when the frog enjoys his Flames hockey!

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Or its a great way to tank us right into a playoff bubble team. You can gamble with our current standing by trying to give Smith chance after chance or you can go with the guy who gives you a chance to win every night. Mike Sullivan has two SC in Pittsburgh and we saw how he went about it and how much improved the Pens have been lately and that is with a young goalie with two SC rings. We have got off to a great run with Rittich in goal, let's not F around and spoil it just to see if the old man can finally find his game when so far that has failed multiple times.

Young goalies can break out I agree. But by no means was Murray thrown into his situation. 2015-16 he was eased in. 2016-17 they pretty well split the season evenly. The winning formula is to have your starter play fewer than 60 games so that they are not worn out by the time its play offs.

• 58 GP Marc-Andre Fleury 2015-16
  
• 13 GP Matt Murray 2015-16
  
• 49 GP Matt Murray 2016-17
  
• 38 GP Marc-Andre Fleury 2016-17
  
• 54 GP Braden Holtby 2017-18
  
• 35 GP Philipp Grubauer 2017-18

Edit: The last goalie to play over 60 Regular season games and win the cup was 2011-12
Jonathan Quick had 69 starts. Before that was Marc-Andre Fleury 2008-09 with 62. So only twice this decade has a goalie who has played over 60 games brought a team to the cup.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Seven Things to Watch for Tonight

1. Mark Giordano[/B] is one point from passing Jay Bouwmeester and becoming 106th in all time points as an NHL defenceman.

This is just nutty. Giordano's first full season was 2009-10 and Bouwmeester had really entered the NHL in 2005-06. Bouw also already had 36 NHL points from his rookie NHL stint already under his belt, and Gio had 35 NHL points from his. They started off pretty evenly, but 4 years apart.

At the end of Gio's 19 point rookie year, Bouwmeester added 29 points to his total (lowest since 2003-04, with his new team) to his 232 point total

He wasn't the 40ish point defenseman we thought he was, and he hasn't been since he left Florida - but that is a pretty good defenceman Gio is passing at the same age.

Gio just blew the doors off the kid a lot of people were fawning over at the start of the race. He also started back in Russia and didn't reach the starting line before Bouw was approaching the mid-way point.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Seven Things to Watch for Tonight

1. Sam Bennett will tie Doug Gilmour in games played as a Flame tonight with 266 games. They will share the 70th spot for a moment.
   
2. Sean Monahan is one point from tying Craig Conroy and becoming 20th in all time points as a Flame.
3. Mark Giordano is one point from passing Jay Bouwmeester and becoming 106th in all time points as an NHL defenceman.
   
4. David Rittich is only one win away from tying Jeff Reese and Jamie McLennan becoming 19th in all times wins as a Flames goalie.
5. Mark Giordano is one goal from tying Tim Horton and becoming 69th all time in NHL scoring as a defencemen.
6. Johnny Gaudreau is one assist from passing Craig Conroy and becoming 17th in all time assists as a Calgary Flame.
7. Sean Monahan is one game from tying Curtis Glencross and becoming 29th all time in games played as a Flame.

I don't know where you get these stats, but like the ATL report after a win, I love random stats like these before games.

Good job!

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

I don't know where you get these stats, but like the ATL report after a win, I love random stats like these before games.

Good job!

Quanthockey and HockeyReference. I have been nerding out over these sorts of things for a long time, figured I may as well share what I am looking at.

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Karl

From reading here, I've noticed Wills has been very wrong about alot of goalie lineup news recently.

Steinberg is way more reliable with his pulse on the team.

I think Steinberg is at least waiting until he finds the pulse to report on it

[Sutter_in_law]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

No. The Flames should have their eye on playing deep in the playoffs, and with the goalies they have on the roster this means managing their starts all the way into the stretch-drive. There is a real danger that the Flames ride Rittich and he falters, and a real chance that a rusty and deflated Smith is not in a position to pick up the mantle.


You could not be more wrong about this. Like I said above, this is a reactionary panic-play with no view to how long the season is, nor how dramatically things can change from one week to the next. I expect the coaches will select their starter on the basis of who looks best ready to win, and with a view to how best to keep them both on top of their games. Not based on some knee-jerk fear about who is most likely to fail.

We need to make the playoff before worrying about faltering in them. If Rittich gives us the best shot to pick up points now and he is ready to play (especially at home) you play him and look to rest him on the road.

Originally Posted by Gaskal

Wills mentions things that others might not be aware of, being closer to the team. I understand someone not liking him doing radio PBP, but his talks on F960 are very good.

For example, he elaborated on how differently the practices were between the Coyotes and the Flames, having sat in on both. The Coyotes were disorganized, had poor execution and players looked a little out of it. In contrast, the Flames practice was fast paced, crisp, and intense to the point that Peters had to stop the session early for fear of injuries.

You practice how you play. I am extremely happy to find out that Peters runs his practices like Hartley's or Tortorella's.

Completely disagree, he offers very little insider information or insights and often contradicts himself or just spews of things that are flat-out wrong.

I try to tune him out for his Fan960 stuff but it's hard to do.

His PBP is fine, not great but it doesn't bother me - almost anyone is going to be a major step back from Maher and I have come to terms with that.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Split98

I think Steinberg is at least waiting until he finds the pulse to report on it

Yeah. Steinberg doesn't speculate much. He reports what has been confirmed. Wills likes to speculate.