[PGT ] Calgary Loses 2-1

[Poe969]

Gaudreau only scored one goal! Trade the bum!!! All hope is lost....

It was a good game. The isles are slowly becoming a good team. We can't win them all but they still played a pretty good all around game, you have to know there is still Rome to improve in every area for the Flames, just give them time.

[Dr. Doom]

Never seen an Isles team so composed and willing to play a low-scoring defense-first game.
They are for real.

But with that said I think we brought enough to (at least) tie this game, had it not been for Halak. He's tough to beat.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

That's true, but the Flames generated absolutely nothing for long stretches. The Isles threw almost twice as many shots towards the net as we did if you don't count the powerplays. That's not a great recipe for success.


Having said that, that's been a problem all year. You'd never know the flames are getting that outplayed until you look at the shot charts. An interesting trend appears. They kind of "rope-a-dope" teams.

They have lots of stretches where they don't even attempt a shot at the opposition. Two stretches over 5 minutes long. That's not going to win you many games. They seem to be really good at capitalizing on the rush so they don't get 3rd, 4th shots in tight. But when the other team clogs things up the flames have no response

It doesn't explain the giant discrepancy... but the Flames in general don't direct the puck at the net enough. Colborne never shoots. Glencross has a good shot but too often tries fancy plays when he's in shooting location. Gaudreau doesn't shoot a ton and he's second among forwards in shots. The big thing the team needs up front is shooters.

They also need a more skilled guy to play with Gaudreau/Hudler. Love Jooris, but he's not a PP or big offensive line guy.

[Gaskal]

I can't really find a scapegoat for last night but I did notice some uncharacteristic mistakes. On the 5 on 3, when the puck went back to the point, 2 out of our 3 PKers went high to cover - Jooris and Brodie(?) when it really should've just been the centerman. In a 5 on 3 scenario the point blast is considered a lower percentage play; you have to worry more about the cross-crease pass.

The 2nd D-man moving up to put pressure on the blueline allowed the Islanders to move the puck back down low, leaving only Gio alone out front to futilely defend the cross-crease pass.

Other than that, I think everyone's puck decisions last night were a little iffy. Or maybe that was just due to the Islanders ridiculously aggressive forecheck, '04 Flames style. Either way, we have to be prepared better for those kind of teams. The Flames looked very lost out there trying to track down the play and being first on the puck and didn't manage to adjust until the 3rd.

[steveo]

Blame the loss on the annoying guy who sat behind me with the nasally voice screaming
'shoot!! '
' pass! '
' give it to Johnny! '
With about 10 minutes left in the third.
' pull the goalie! '
Then his kid started joining in.
' we are losing because we didn't pull the goalie'

And the annoying guy who kept saying 'johnny, johnny, johnny' and his friend 'oi, oi, oi'

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

I can't really find a scapegoat for last night but I did notice some uncharacteristic mistakes. On the 5 on 3, when the puck went back to the point, 2 out of our 3 PKers went high to cover - Jooris and Brodie(?) when it really should've just been the centerman. In a 5 on 3 scenario the point blast is considered a lower percentage play; you have to worry more about the cross-crease pass.

They played it exactly how you're supposed to play a 5 on 3, you have to take away the D to D one timers as best as possible or they'll just sit inside the top of the circles and tee off and a goalie isn't going to stop many of those from that close. The only criticism that could be made is that Jooris didn't drop back down fast enough to cover that cross crease pass when the puck went down low.

But realistically it was a full 5 on 3 for 2 minutes, teams have a tendency to score on those, 3 guys can't take away every option everytime.

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by steveo

And the annoying guy who kept saying 'johnny, johnny, johnny' and his friend 'oi, oi, oi'

I HATE that guy.

[locsofblu]

Hard to beat a team when you can't complete tape to tape passes. Also the Flames kept making the same bone head plays on the pp and couldnt get a shot through if theyre life depended on it. Alot of people are praising the Islanders on how easily they controlled the game but the flames did it to themselves . It was just an Awful game to watch from an effort stand point.

[danny darko]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

except the criticism of his performance tonight is warranted. He was the worst player for both teams and caused major problems for the offense throughout the game with bad turnovers and careless passes.

Yep someone really needs to tell him that those wrist shot passes back to the point are never going to work.

[Rick M.]

I only saw the first 2 periods but I noticed that we kept trying the long stretch pass even though the man was covered. When lucky, the puck only got swatted away; when unlucky, it led to good scoring chances for the Isles. It was as if we had no idea what to do if the opposition took away the stretch pass. Did we adapt our attack in the 3rd period? If not, I fear we are becoming too predictable.

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by calgarywinning

You need to get real, extremism is sucky. He makes smart moves and smart plays. He doesn't make selfish choices many of the times. The flames were pinned in their own zone for most of the first (because of penalties). They were on the defence most of the night.

He smartly cleared the puck out a couple of times without icing it, unlike his counterparts. He was playing with new line mates tonight and I clearly remember a pass to an open and unwitting participant that didn't know what to do with it.

I didn't think Monahan was good for Monahan. I said I didn't think he was their worst player tonight. I never said he was selfish. I just didn't like his overall game compared to how he usually plays, but you could say that about most guys tonight. He just seemed off to me. For the record I'm a huge Monahan fan, I even have his jersey, but I'm not going to blindly drool over the guy every night. If you saw it differently then fair enough, but I thought he had an off game.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Rick M.

I only saw the first 2 periods but I noticed that we kept trying the long stretch pass even though the man was covered. When lucky, the puck only got swatted away; when unlucky, it led to good scoring chances for the Isles. It was as if we had no idea what to do if the opposition took away the stretch pass. Did we adapt our attack in the 3rd period? If not, I fear we are becoming too predictable.

Our system has worked incredibly well but I also fear that teams are adapting to it, and when they figure it out, our breakout gets shut down and the opposition controls the neutral zone. I agree that this was happening last night. Our top 4 D are good at relieving pressure or skating it out themselves when the stretch isn't working, which is our saving grace, but when they're fighting the puck we get into real trouble. We're also really susceptible to bad bounces and turnovers are usually serious because our forwards are so far away from our D, and we ice the puck a lot when it's not working.

Speaking of bounces man the ice looked bad last night wow.

[taxbuster]

I thought the Flames looked slow and slightly confused, meeting an almost-mirror image of themselves.They met a team that was willing to play a slow, patient game, and take the opportunities when they arrived. The Isles simply did that much better than the Flames did. Good learning game for the team.

I thought Monny looked unwell - not much smiling on his face - he usually seems to have quite a grin; and his play looked uneven. Russell had a difficult night as well - his usually accurate passes just weren't there. Really, the whole team had a tough time adjusting to another team that doesn't "engage". With the Kings there were hits to get them going, with the Isles, not so much....and no real rivalry. The Flames juices didn't really get going methinks.

Anyway - time to rest for a tired team. Regroup, learn and move on.

[browna]

Lots of struggles out there last night. Again, would've been somewhat glossed over with Gio or Granlunds shots being an inch or two the other way in the last two minutes.

Glencross had trouble handling the puck. Colborne was getting knocked off the puck far too easily. Byron is only good when he's got room to accelerate and very rarely did he seem out wide. Stajan did ok on the draws but plays dies on his stick too.

The Flames have one legit scoring line. And that scoring line generates more of its chances on the rush then zone time. They are also the line that generates any momentum.

Until they can get some legit help for Monahan on the second line who can finish off chances, and then a third line that can be a grind line that can effectively cycle and change the momentum for the team, this team is going to be walking the tight rope every time night offensively.

I don't see Backlund bringing thst sort of impact, either. Bennett? A long shot.

The Flames will have to decide by the end of January what they want the goals to be this year. A playoff push will need more options up front and defensively depth. If the goal is longer term, then some roster players come into play to get a nice return for.

[OzSome]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

Flames lose a game and everyone has to find a scapegoat. More often than not it seems to be Glencross. I just don't get why everything falls on him when plenty of players didn't play well enough last night.

It's just possible that the Islanders played an excellent game and deserved the win. Not saying the Flames couldn't have played better at times, but they played to the level I've expected from them most of the year and it wasn't quite good enough resulting in a 1 goal loss to a great team. So be it. I couldn't pick out an individual player that had a bad game. Engelland was overmatched on the 2nd Tavares goal, but that's to be expected. Not a whole lot to get upset about in this game, but then people like to invent reasons to get mad about to justify their anger I guess.

It's a good time to get a break without a holiday distraction so the boys can work on a few things and fine tune their game. A loss before that much time off is good motivation. I expect them to come out flying next game.

I agree. Everytime the Flames lose Glencross is the person to blame by a lot of posters here. I thought the Flames were flat early on but started to get their legs late in the first quarter. It sucks that the Islanders got the favourable calls in the first quarter. It is very rare that 2 penalties on one team gets called at the same time but it is a rule and I cannot blame the referee in calling those penalties on Stajan and Bouma. I am probably okay with Bouma trying to stop the Islander player and get penalized but Stajan's penalty is just dumb on his part.

Flames power play was awful in this game and they didn't get much chances at all. I actually like it better if Colborne is playing on the 1st unit with Gaudreau and Hudler. Jooris, Monahan and Glencross in front of the net as the 2nd unit. Give the Islanders PK though and of course Halak was good and he didn't give up a lot of rebound.

Islanders capitalized on their two goals. First a 5 on 3 power play then the second goal, the Flames got caught with the 4th liners and 3rd pairing defensemen against the Isles top line. We lost to a good team. Too bad we did come back late in the game to tie the game but we can't win it all. I have no complaint with any of the Flames players at all. I thought Engelland was very physical all night and Hiller was sharp. It's over with and now go back to preparing for the Red Wings game. I wonder if Mason Raymond will play next game or will sit out again. My guess is he will play and maybe have one of the 4th liner sit.