[PGT] Flames fall to the Oilers 2-0

[CaptainCrunch]

Meh I ain't mad, the Oiler with a healthy lineup needed help (brutal goalie interference call, and even more brutal call that lead to the pp goal) to beat a Flames team missing a top 6 forward and two of their top 3 defensemen.

But to give the oilers credit that was probably the best defensive game they've played in a decade.

[puffnstuff]

Breen has to hit waivers. He cant play here. Either he gets through and can work on a lot down in Abby or he becomes someone elses problem. And clears a contract spot for the Flames.

[Badgers Nose]

ah well, i have a party of ddm fans to attend tomorrow. should be fun

the refs in this league are a gong show

[I_H8_Crawford]

So are we going to see a Terry Jones article today nominating Dubnyk for Team Canada? I mean, 1 game is all it takes apparently.

[OzSome]

Originally Posted by Goodlad

Oh, and I've finally come around to the "Breen sucks" team. I really wanted to see him get a chance and maybe see if he could develop into something worth keeping, but with only 4:24 of ice-time he had a brutal giveaway that almost ended up in the back of the net and did absolutely nothing to block out Smyth on what ended up being the gamewinner. He's not ready for the NHL, and might never be. Put him on waivers, try to send him down. If he gets claimed, oh well. (I really don't think he will).

It does beg the question of who we can call up to fill those minutes. I'm not sure how much longer Wideman is out, but we can't rotate 5 defensemen forever. Time to bring Smith back up?

Edit: Just remembered Smith was already recalled. I'm tired, leave me alone

I don't think Breen is a bad player but he is not an NHL ready defender. He needs to play a lot more in the AHL to get more experience. Having him here in Calgary and occupying a roster that someone else should have and just play 5 minutes or less is not doing any good with his progress or Flames situation. I think he's got potential but not right now. Just look at Byron, he was terrible in his first few stints in Calgary. He looks slow, tentative and he was just comfortable playing in the 4th line. But after a few more seasons in the AHL, Byron looks so much better. I get it that the management are probably afraid that someone might pick him on waiver but that's the gamble they have to take.

[moon]

Much like the Buffalo game that was a game that shows why those two teams are at the bottom of the standings. Terrible efforts from both teams.

I imagine the Oilers will try and take something positive from that but hard to see anything positive from either team.

Billins looked equally terrible in his own zone as Breen did but at least he can play on the PP to give the other guys a rest/contribute.

I know Smith offers nothing going forward for the team and understand why they don't want him up here but if all you are going to do is play Breen 5 mins a game once a week or so I don't see the point.

[Vinny01]

Really glad that I did not end up getting any tickets for that game last night. Refs screwed the Flames.

[JobHopper]

Terrible blown call on Giordano's goal by the ref, how is that called off?

Flames currently 14th in the league at home on the powerplay at 20%. It's kinda surprising considering how unorganized it looks at times.

Stempniak and Backlund can't be traded soon enough. Stempniak is a third line grinder and Backlund a third line center at best. Neither one should be on any top 2 lines, period.

This game was handed to the Oil by the refs no question about that.

Flames went 0/2 on the powerplay, won more face offs and had more hits.

Tough game to lose at home and there will definitely be some big changes coming in the next couple weeks here.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Really glad that I did not end up getting any tickets for that game last night. Refs screwed the Flames.

The Flames terrible play screwed the Flames.

That was a bad no goal call but the Flames had plenty of time to overcome that and they did zero after that to create chances or put pressure on a garbage Oilers team.

The bad call sucked but it shouldn't overshadow a terrible effort from the Flames.

[Resolute 14]

Yup. Like I said. The officials won the game for the Oilers. But the Flames lost the game all on their own.

[CSharp]

Can't believe the Flames are still ahead of the Oilers in the standings, even after this loss.

[Buff]

The game wasn't particularly interesting. For me the most interesting part was seeing some chick holding napkins to her head and blood gushing down her face. Our friends sit in section 215 and heard that there was a girl a section or two over who was hit in the head with a puck during warmup. Clearly it was an intentional move by the evil Oilers. I mean, they'll cut the face of one of their star players in warmup, why not go after the fans too? Despicable.

The poor girl had to be strapped into a wheelchair and wheeled through the crowd. Her husband seemed to be taking good care of her, as were the ushers and security. Not the way you'd want to leave the game, but perhaps it was best she didn't have to watch the game.

[Meers]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Everyone likes to gloss over the Kessel trade but otherwise Burke doesn't have a big history in trading 1st round picks/prospects.

Of course Burke has a history of trading firsts.

How do you think the Canucks got the Sedins?

It was as intricate a series of swaps of firsts as you can pretty much imagine. (And given how poor that draft was, Burkie nailed it. Patrick Stefan anyone?)

[Poe969]

Wouldn't mind if this was another mini streak the oilers went on. Let them get ahead of us in the standings and keep the satis quo for them while we get better long term

[djsFlames]

Why Galliardi got so much time late in the game out there with the skill guys hogging the puck though doing absolutely nothing with it only to turn it over is beyond me.

Really, Bob? You're gonna ice a guy who hasn't scored in 30 games to try and tie a game up? Brilliant coaching.

Oh then there's Stempniak, who rushes the puck in deep (great) but again and again tries a fancy backhand pass cross-ice into all the players' feet, only to be turned over, every time. When you're pushing for the equalizer, why not keep s### simple and get a damn shot on, look for rebounds, instead of losing possession and the zone trying to thread needles, which you just aren't very good at.

Now that we've had to suffer through that embarrassment, I just hope the Oilers pass us and take themselves out of the Ekblad sweepstakes for good (barring another lottery miracle).

Yeah we can point fingers at the refs for last night, but the Flames played offensively very boneheaded through most of the game. Frustrating to say the least.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Poe969

Wouldn't mind if this was another mini streak the oilers went on. Let them get ahead of us in the standings and keep the satis quo for them while we get better long term

Unfortunately after the Flyers game the Oilers schedule is pretty tough so hard to see them going on a run like earlier when they were okay for a few games against the bottom 5 teams in the league.

[CaptainCrunch]

Yeah, the Oilers next group of games are away against Yotes Sharks Ducks and Blackhawks and at home against Lightning Blues and Pens. Out of those games they might get 1 or 2 wins.

That's just a brutal schedule for an expansion team, you would think that the NHL schedule makers would cut them a break. Maybe next year when they schedule them against an AHL team.

I still think its going to be very tough for the Oilers to get to 25 wins this year.