[PGT] Flames Lose to Canucks by a lot of goals

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by midniteowl

This is the problem, Ward is looking more and more like Gulutzan, insisting on rolling 4 lines ALL game long. Those forward lines were working well last season, why in the world he changed them? And then, in the middle of the game, just throw them into the blender?

Agreed.

The flames are not good enough to roll 4 lines. This is a 3 line team and they should do that.

Maybe if they are in a position like the leafs or Habs where they are confident in playoffs then you start trying to get your lines into a 4 line attack to prep for postseason hockey but the flames need to win games now just to make playoffs and they need to shorten the bench to do it

[Infinit47]

The more teams play us the better they look and the worse we look...why could that possible be?

Ward is beyond lost. congrats on winning in the DEL, but that clearly doesn't mean squat in the NHL.

There is a reason no other NHL team was hiring this guy as a head coach. He bounced around as an assistant. I get keeping him last year, but not getting a real coach this off-season should cost Trelieving his job.

I don't care if he only had 900k to spend. Go get an AHL coach who actually has head coaching experience.

All we hear about is how hard working Tre is. But apparently when he has to hire a coach he is only allowed to make one phone call.

Pathetic.

[bubbsy]

Realize we aren't supposed to speak openly and show any cynism with the team, despite the same patterns they always show...

As such, umm, coach is good. Roster is good. Solid effort against a team that's in a much more desperate spot than the flames. Take this as a moral victory, play like they did as they did in this 4 game series, flames will definitely win... Umm, at a 0.500 clip.

But enjoy those wins, or be considered a fair weather fan.

��

[mile]

I would love to hear what Treliving and the front office are thinking right now, he can't be happy with the overall body of work.

Vancouver was on a 6-game losing streak going into this mini-series and we were bad enough that they were able to get some life with 5/8 points.

When Ward said few games back that they would have to call guys up because the current depth players weren't getting it done, I thought Gawdin and Phillips would've gotten a look by now. Instead they've tried Rinaldo, Robinson, Froese, Ritchie, and Simon (again). Why not try them at this point?

I'd love to see a coaching change too, but I don't see it happening with COVID.

Ritchie was fine, but massive eyeroll at the SN guys making it sound like he was a big difference maker tonight. The fact that they gave him and Simon significant minutes in that spot is troubling.

[nik-]

I want to wake up from this perpetual nightmare!

[Khel]

I'm just done with this team. I hate how much I love the Flames, I just wish they cared as much as I did.

[old-fart]

Embarrassing effort by an embarrassing team.

Edmonton is going to blow this team out on the weekend.

[nieuwy-89]

Can’t keep losing series to teams we are fighting for playoff spots. Canucks are now back in the mix and the Flames are in the same position they were before the series. At least as bad as they look, they are treading water and just a win streak away from being in a comfortable playoff spot.

Seasons always have highs and lows. Hopefully this game is rock bottom and they turn it around. You have to think the offence will start clicking at some point.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

Not sure if it's Ward or Treliving or Lindholm or a combination of all 3, but it seems like the team is insistent on leaving Lindy at center. So now the Flames have to figure out what centers are going to play the wing, what the line combos are, what 4th liner will play on the top line, etc.........Lindy is so good everywhere he plays, putting him back at RW on that top line solves a lot of problems at once. I sure wish they'd give it a shot.

I don’t think they trust Bennett to be a full time third line centre even if he had a good game or two with Dube and Lucic. I also think they want to give Lindholm a really long leash at centre.

They may be forced back into Lindholm at RW which would be a little sad, given how much we made fun of Draisaitl having to play with McDavid.

[Infinit47]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

That was the first decision I found just not arguable. Minds you, the Ritchie thing sort of worked, except Johnny and Monahan couldn’t score tonight.

I’m all for a coaching change but I don’t think it solves much. The team is just not there.

It is absolutely insane he is not playing Lindholm on wing with Gaudreau and Monahan. This is grade school level coaching. It allows him to line up the 2nd and 3rd lines properly.

[Chingas]

Mangiapane and Ritchie were our best forwards tonight.

If I'm Ward, Tkachuck doesn't see the ice for the rest of the game after that embarrassing effort on the fourth goal. Guy is sitting on his ass watching the whole play. Never going to get any accountability with this squad when BS like that goes unchecked by one of your "core".

[Calgary4LIfe]

In this 4 game series against Vancouver, I would say that Vancouver mostly outplayed Calgary overall. They are less talented, but the pulled together, they started playing good defence, and I think they both out-worked and out-manoeuvred Calgary for the most part. This shouldn't happen in a 4 game series against what should be an inferior opponent. You might see a bad game, might seem some bad periods, but you shouldn't see the worse team be the better team over 4 games.


Some things that I haven't liked:
Markstrom is getting chirped, and does anyone do anything? Come on, get in Pearons' grill and face-wash him, go and muck it up with Boeser. You don't have to take a penalty, but you have to stick up for your goalie who has been the ONLY reason why this season hasn't been an embarrassment thus far.


Defense: It sucks. Way too many glorious gifts over and over again. Markstrom should have signed for 8 million a season given the workload he is facing.



I don't know what is going on with this team, but they are not playing right. They can't string together 3 straight periods of good play, much less 3 straight games.



I liked Ritchie tonight - he seems to be (so far, given only one game) the best of the 'grinders' rotating on the Taxi Squad. That said, he shouldn't be on the top line - over and over again. So far this season, the top line RW'er on this team has been more often than not a taxi-squad scratch. Other team taking liberties against Gaudreau? Sure, throw one of those players on that line for a couple of shifts - but that's it.


I don't see a team here that is gelling. I see a team that is coming unglued at the seams. Going to be an interesting game on Friday.


I don't want to see anyone losing their job, but I don't think the Flames are being coached properly. What are you going to do now? Just wait and see if things can be ironed out? 16 games in on a shortened season.



It isn't all doom and gloom. There are bright spots (the biggest being Markstrom who is like the big beautiful sun that makes you want to stare at him and bask in his warmth until you go blind). Something has to happen sooner rather than later. Either the team starts to 'get it' and play better, or Ward starts to 'get it' and figure out how to get the most out of this team. I know which side of the fence that I am firmly on.

[GioforPM]

I do think Vancouver is already in desperation mode and they played like it tonight.

[Mass_nerder]

I missed most of the third, but I thought Ritchie didn't look out of place on the line with Monahan and Gaudreau. It felt like every time we had sustained pressure, it was that line that got it going. He wasn't pushed off pucks easily, like Lucic, but seemed to be a little faster, and therefore maybe a better match.
Short of bringing in an actual top line rw somehow, I'd be okay seeing that line for another game or two.

[Manhattanboy]

So you have a money goalie to build your team around. And you have some decent assets.

Identify your untouchables and get to work.

If Tre is not the guy to do it then fire him now.

[Infinit47]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I don’t think they trust Bennett to be a full time third line centre even if he had a good game or two with Dube and Lucic. I also think they want to give Lindholm a really long leash at centre.

They may be forced back into Lindholm at RW which would be a little sad, given how much we made fun of Draisaitl having to play with McDavid.

You know what's not sad? Winning hockey games.

[AC]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

Realize we aren't supposed to speak openly and show any cynism with the team, despite the same patterns they always show...

As such, umm, coach is good. Roster is good. Solid effort against a team that's in a much more desperate spot than the flames. Take this as a moral victory, play like they did as they did in this 4 game series, flames will definitely win... Umm, at a 0.500 clip.

But enjoy those wins, or be considered a fair weather fan.

��

Oh please. Criticisms are fine and completely valid at any point IMO.

Posters objected to one of the first replies in a PGT win thread proclaiming they wished we had lost instead. Of course that would get met with criticism.

Then someone else jumped in to justify how little they care for 25+ posts while crying about being censored.

The martyr complex people have here is honestly amazing.

Don't like something about the team? Bring it up, talk about it, justify it. But don't come in talking about preferring the team loses, or ridiculing others for caring or even watching the games to begin with. There's no point to that.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

Not sure if it's Ward or Treliving or Lindholm or a combination of all 3, but it seems like the team is insistent on leaving Lindy at center. So now the Flames have to figure out what centers are going to play the wing, what the line combos are, what 4th liner will play on the top line, etc.........Lindy is so good everywhere he plays, putting him back at RW on that top line solves a lot of problems at once. I sure wish they'd give it a shot.

I hear where you're coming from but it doesn't solve anything.
It would put us exactly where we've been for 5 years without the #1 centre we need, and Lindholm is becoming.

It may result in a short term improvement but they'd still dissappear in the playoffs (if we made it) and we'd be having the same complaints about Johnny & Mony as every post elimination.

Lindholm as our #1 centre is the best possible scenario for this team.
Breaking that to fix other issues isn't a real fix.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by nieuwy-89

Can’t keep losing series to teams we are fighting for playoff spots. Canucks are now back in the mix and the Flames are in the same position they were before the series. At least as bad as they look, they are treading water and just a win streak away from being in a comfortable playoff spot.

Seasons always have highs and lows. Hopefully this game is rock bottom and they turn it around. You have to think the offence will start clicking at some point.

Canucks are not back in the mix...Calgary is 4-2 against them and has 4 games in hand. Canucks are still done

If the Flames are worried about the Canucks catching them they aren't making the playoffs anyway.

[JohnnyB]

Anyone have a clip of Tkachuk on the 3-1 goal?

Highest paid player on the team must be deflating for his teammates to watch. No hustle to come back on the 5-1 goal either.

Maybe it's from a concussion. If not, it looks like emotional disengagement and not feeling interested to sacrifice for the team. If that's the case then changes to the core roster could be on the horizon. No team is going far if the leadership is divided and the highest paid player is sulking instead of leading.

If it is concussion related, I hope he gets time off and recovers instead.