[GDT] Game 3. Stars @ Flames at 8:57 on CBC

[Corral]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I'm going to have to disagree. Last year, the Av's owned the Flames in the 2nd game. Flames started to push hard in the third IMO, and had Dallas on their heels a bit. I don't really see very much similarities to be honest. Maybe it's because Dallas doesn't have a game breaker like MacKinnon this time around.

Not really. The spark was reider’s incredible SHG. Until then this was headed to a 5-2 final.

Too many soft and/or small forwards on this roster. Wasn’t fixed from last year. Same results likely this year.

[Corral]

No reason to bump talbot. Yes he let in a softy but the flames only had like 8 shots by mid 2nd. Hard to blame goaltending for yesterday’s loss

[Dion]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I'm going to have to disagree. Last year, the Av's owned the Flames in the 2nd game. Flames started to push hard in the third IMO, and had Dallas on their heels a bit. I don't really see very much similarities to be honest. Maybe it's because Dallas doesn't have a game breaker like MacKinnon this time around.

The Flames are playing a different style of game than the ones they played against the Avs last year. They rebounded after a loss to the Jets in the qualifier and continued with their aggressive forecheck to win the series. I expect the same to happen tonight.

[united]

All right. Split on the road now the Flames have two home games to get up 3-1. Let’s see how the coach utilizes last change against the Stars.

Need the top line to show up at both ends of the ice. Would be nice to see Monahan take charge as the >$6 million number one centre and not defer to a badly struggling Gaudreau all the time. Be a leader not a passenger.

[Corral]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I would just love to be a fly on the wall to hear what if anything is being said to the guy.

Do they just leave him alone and assume he'll work it out?

Or are they saying the obvious things to me ...

1. Stop forcing plays that aren't there
2. Stop with the impossible angle shots - they only go in 0.1% of the time, but generally create a turnover the other 99.9%
3. Change it up. If they have a book on your throw out the book

But is he listening to this advice?

[genetic_phreek]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

As much as I hate the Canucks, Johnny can learn a few things from Pettersson and Hughes. They seem to take a lot of punishment, but they work through it with minimal complaints. Johnny just needs to suck it up and play harder. Maybe he doesn't have another gear and can't adapt, I don't know. But if not, he's not going to have much playoff success.

Not sure if anyone has seen Matthew Phillips play but he's smaller than Johnny yet plays with some edge and high motor with no fear going to retrieve the puck.
Johnny grew up playing against bigger guys, you would think he is able to adapt. Let's just hope he can figure things out this year.

[Kovaz]

I think there's a chain reaction between Gaudreau and Monahan (to a lesser extent Lindholm as well) where it's hard for one of them to change their game without the others. Most of their success is built on Gaudreau carrying the puck and finding Monahan open in the slot. And over the years it seems they've gotten more rigid in their roles - Gaudreau does almost all of the puck-carrying work, and Monahan does almost all of the finding a soft spot in coverage, and Lindholm does almost all of the aggressive forechecking, etc. And they've gotten predictable, and teams key on Gaudreau in the neutral zone and Monahan gets covered in the slot, and Lindholm gets double-teamed on the forecheck, etc.

I think the missing play here is Gaudreau getting rid of the puck quickly to a streaking Monahan/Lindholm, but it takes all three guys to recognize that. If I recall correctly, it's something he did much better in 2017 against Anaheim - I remember a lot of Monahan-Ferland 2 on 1s that were created by Gaudreau reading a double-team correctly and chipping the puck up ice. The problem is: if Monahan cuts aggressively up the ice and Gaudreau doesn't look for the pass, it's wasted. And if Gaudreau makes a one-touch pass to Monahan cruising around, waiting for Gaudreau to cut up the ice, it's also wasted. Both guys need to change their game at the same time. And I think it's tough for them because Gaudreau scored 99 points on the back of holding onto the puck, and doing the opposite of what's worked in the past is unintuitive.

But there's gotta be role for a guy with Gaudreau's hands to be more of a quick distributor and less of a puck carrier, and I think as soon as that happens it'll start opening up chances for him to carry the puck again.

[Harry Lime]

It's hard to change lines up during the playoffs, but when you lose a main piece like Tkachuk, I think that you do the best with what you have.

You don't touch the third line.
I think that you look at Johnny in Tkachuk's spot.
Move Ryan up to play with Monny.
Trust Janko to play a fully defensive role on the fourth.

Gaudreau - Backlund - Mangiapane
Ryan - Monahan - Lindholm
Lucic - Bennett - Dube
Quine - Jankowski - Reider

[bigrangy]

Split Gaudreau Monahan Lindholm across the rest of the lines

Lucic-Bennett-Dube
Gaudreau-Ryan-Mangiapane
Janko-Monahan-Tkachuk
Rieder-Backlund-Lindholm

If Tkachuk’s out then go with next guy up.

Work hard and win the game

[schteve_d]

Originally Posted by Corral

No reason to bump talbot. Yes he let in a softy but the flames only had like 8 shots by mid 2nd. Hard to blame goaltending for yesterday’s loss

He has let in one softy per game. A couple of those were brutal! He has played well though but just due to the back-to-back I think we need to give BSD a shot.

[AustinL_NHL]

Somehow, someway, Johnny Gaudreau finished with as many points as this monster of a man named "Nathan MacKinnon" last year.

The difference: MacKinnon turns it up a level in the Playoffs while Gaudreau does... well... you know.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by AustinL_NHL

Somehow, someway, Johnny Gaudreau finished with as many points as this monster of a man named "Nathan MacKinnon" last year.

The difference: MacKinnon turns it up a level in the Playoffs while Gaudreau does... well... you know.

And that elite performance is now well in the past
He’s been mediocre now for about a year

[schteve_d]

Both Klingberg and Heiskanen are lanky bodies: 6'2" 180 and 6'1 185. They have to be feeling the effects of those big bodies constantly beating on them. Full credit to the both of them, especially Heiskanen who is only 21 years old, for playing through it and at least pretending to be unphased!

Whether they are showing it or not, it just has to be wearing on them. Keep up that pressure, and not just on those two but the whole crew, and it will pay off in the coming games.

We need a start like game one where we come out crashing on the first shift and then just keep it there. I'm expecting a high tempo, fun to watch game tonight.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Honestly, I don't care about individual performances.

If the Flames score more goals than their opponent, and do that 15 more times this post season, I don't give a flying flipper if Gaudreau doesn't score any of those goals, or if Brodie is on the ice for every goal against.

All the end of the day, just win.

[Wastedyouth]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

And that elite performance is now well in the past
He’s been mediocre now for about a year

I think he can turn it around, he's too talented not to.

But yep, he sure is frustrating to watch fumbling the puck around like a 4th liner. The puck used to stick to his blade like it was glued there, not its like he has a rubber paddle for a hockey stick.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Kovaz

I think there's a chain reaction between Gaudreau and Monahan (to a lesser extent Lindholm as well) where it's hard for one of them to change their game without the others. Most of their success is built on Gaudreau carrying the puck and finding Monahan open in the slot. And over the years it seems they've gotten more rigid in their roles - Gaudreau does almost all of the puck-carrying work, and Monahan does almost all of the finding a soft spot in coverage, and Lindholm does almost all of the aggressive forechecking, etc. And they've gotten predictable, and teams key on Gaudreau in the neutral zone and Monahan gets covered in the slot, and Lindholm gets double-teamed on the forecheck, etc.

I think the missing play here is Gaudreau getting rid of the puck quickly to a streaking Monahan/Lindholm, but it takes all three guys to recognize that. If I recall correctly, it's something he did much better in 2017 against Anaheim - I remember a lot of Monahan-Ferland 2 on 1s that were created by Gaudreau reading a double-team correctly and chipping the puck up ice. The problem is: if Monahan cuts aggressively up the ice and Gaudreau doesn't look for the pass, it's wasted. And if Gaudreau makes a one-touch pass to Monahan cruising around, waiting for Gaudreau to cut up the ice, it's also wasted. Both guys need to change their game at the same time. And I think it's tough for them because Gaudreau scored 99 points on the back of holding onto the puck, and doing the opposite of what's worked in the past is unintuitive.

But there's gotta be role for a guy with Gaudreau's hands to be more of a quick distributor and less of a puck carrier, and I think as soon as that happens it'll start opening up chances for him to carry the puck again.

I was actually about to write something similar. The whole top line has been a off, and last game was just the worst. A lot of it is just execution. Monahan when he's on is extremely good at finding space. It's not like it took teams very long to figure out what they were doing with Gaudreau, but Monahan especially (and Lindholm to a lesser extent) was just so good at what he did that it worked despite the opponents best efforts.

While I don't think Gaudreau has played well, I think much of the issue is that neither Lindholm nor Monahan are finding ways to get themselves open. This frustrates Gaudreau, who isn't being smart with the puck when there's no spot open. It doesn't help at all that he's playing so much with Gio, yet another guy very far from the top of his game.

[Corral]

Originally Posted by schteve_d

He has let in one softy per game. A couple of those were brutal! He has played well though but just due to the back-to-back I think we need to give BSD a shot.

I think the empty building is affecting the focus of goalies. Seen plenty of bad goals in this tournament where the goalie just seems to not be ready or is sloppy. The goalie has more time to notice just how odd the setting for these games is. Unlike the other players who are always focused on the play.

So I would stick with talbot

[Robbob]

Bounce back game. Home advantage. They got this.

[Matty81]

Last line change should help 4th line is getting #### kicked when Dallas gets to choose their match-up.

Id like to see robinson come in for janko way series is going and janko is playing. Hes like a luxury penalty killer who is a major liability at even strength and never shows any push back.

I think Ryan has the speed and d skill to take his place on that pk unit.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Or are they saying the obvious things to me ...

1. Stop forcing plays that aren't there
2. Stop with the impossible angle shots - they only go in 0.1% of the time, but generally create a turnover the other 99.9%
3. Change it up. If they have a book on your throw out the book

I'd expect coaches have been saying those things to Gaudreau for a couple years now. Maybe he just isn't listening.