[PGT] Bruins win Shoot-out

[FBI]

The drop pass to enter the zone was never the problem with the pp. it was just fine and worked most of the time. It was the stagnant, lack of creativity, standing around, taking forever to shoot the puck issues.

What I saw yesterday on the pp was the same drop pass to enter the zone (which worked 90% of the time perfectly) except now Neal can do it as well as Gaudreau. Once they were in the zone, that's when the pp looked better.

Originally Posted by New Era

Surprise, surprise, I have a much different perspective than what most have posted here. Looked like the same Flames from last season to me. Same "possession" darlings who spend most of the night in the offensive zone, but get owned when they don't play a perfect game. Same Flames special teams who rely on the junior-esque drop pass to enter the zone. Same Flames who give up great scoring opportunities right after scoring. Flames gave up way too many odd man rushes and high danger scoring opportunities. I really felt bad for Gillies during the first period, as the team just committed brain fart after brain fart, leading to odd man, high danger scoring opportunities. The Bruins were very good at getting the goaltender moving and never allowing Gillies to square up to make a save. I really hope the Flames take a look at this tape and learn what to do, because Halak was allowed to square up most of the game. Breaking the lines/players down.

Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm

Gaudreau was Gaudreau and Monahan was Monahan. Lindholm just isn't a good fit on this line. I like Lindholm a lot, but he just doesn't play at the same level as his linemates. He's more of a Backlund/Frolik player and would likely be a much better fit on that line.

Bennett-Jankowski-Hathaway

Worst line on the ice for the Flames. Jankowski struggled with the puck at times, waiting for his linemates to get to open ice. Hathaway missed the first, but didn't look any different from last season. I don't see a NHL player there. Bennett was Bennett. The guy just can't make a pass to save his life, and his shot is never on net. When he had an opportunity, he missed the net. When he had an opportunity to make a pass, he put it in the guys skates or just flat out missed him. Most disappointing game on the ice for the Flames.

Tkachuk-Backlund-Neal

Really missing something. I think that something is a center with some skill to move the puck. Backlund just isn't a high skilled center wgo can distribute the puck. Tkachuk struggled a bit in his own right, but it is tough when your center can't create offense and space for his linemates. Neal looked just as advertised, a guy who reads the play well and finds himself in positions to convert chances.

Frolik-Ryan-Czarnik

A double edged sword on this line. They generated some chances, but I don't think they were a sum of their pieces. Frolik was out of sorts with these two. Definitely not the offense first line that Ryan and Czarnik were focused on. Not sure how you make these guys work.

Giordano-Brodie


Looked fairly solid throughout the game. A work in progress, but looked good. Brodie looks much more comfortable in this config.

Hamonic-Hanafin

Solid throughout. Nothing to rave about, and nothing to complain about. Hanafin was very surprisingly solid.

Stone-Kulak

Looked solid. Don't know why anyone was concerned about either of them.

Coaches and Systems

Don't see a helluva lot different from last season. Same special teams with the same tired drop pass to gain the zone. Nothing that would focus on getting the goaltender moving. The system still allows to get the goaltender square and that is something that needs to be changed.

First game of the preseason and nothing that made me believe this version of the Flames would be better or worse than last season. I would look to some minor changes in the lineup and see how these guys perform together.

Gaudreau-Monahan-Neal
Bennett-Jankowski-Tkachuk
Frolik-Bennett-Lindholm
Klimchuk-Ryan-Czarnik

I see potential from this club, but I'm not certain I see enough to make believe this team can challenge for anything. They played a squad that was half of the Bruins regular team to pretty much a draw. It was a good start, but nothing to write home to mother about.

[direwolf]

Originally Posted by New Era

Surprise, surprise, I have a much different perspective than what most have posted here. Looked like the same Flames from last season to me. Same "possession" darlings who spend most of the night in the offensive zone, but get owned when they don't play a perfect game. Same Flames special teams who rely on the junior-esque drop pass to enter the zone. Same Flames who give up great scoring opportunities right after scoring.

Disagree. Aside from one awful stretch in the 1st period, I thought the Flames showed a level of speed, creativity, and all-around hustle that we just didn't see last year, and they were the better team for 50 minutes or so.

The special teams looked much improved as well, particularly the PP where they actually threw the puck around with authority, constantly moved their feet, and generated plenty of quality scoring chances and opportunities for one-timers. We didn't see any of that last year.

Goaltending was the difference last night. Flames would have very likely won in regulation if not for Halak playing out of his mind. Dude was a brick wall for the entire game.

Are there some things the Flames need to work on? Definitely. Too many odd-man rushes against, passes seemed off at times, some of the players looked like they were still shaking off the rust, and Gillies still doesn't look NHL ready. But But from what I saw last night and the way they recovered from that bad 3 minute stretch in the 1st, I'm confident they'll work out the kinks by the time the puck drops in October.

It's only been one exhibition game. New coaches, new systems, new players...it's gonna take them a few games to get their mojo working and figure out which line combos work best. That's what the preseason is for.

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

I think that's a bit of a mischaracterization of Lindholm. Yes he has good puck skills but he's very much a guy who's gritty on the puck like Tkachuk or Bennett. He'll grind and battle. ...

Your take is different from mine then. Admittedly, I did not watch a lot of Carolina games, other than when they played Calgary, but my opinion of Lindholm was in line with his 2013 scouting assessment. I am sure things have changed since 2013, but playing style of an elite forward doesn't change much normally from his draft year in a few years.

[---Hatrick---]

Originally Posted by New Era

Surprise, surprise, I have a much different perspective than what most have posted here. Looked like the same Flames from last season to me. Same "possession" darlings who spend most of the night in the offensive zone, but get owned when they don't play a perfect game. Same Flames special teams who rely on the junior-esque drop pass to enter the zone. Same Flames who give up great scoring opportunities right after scoring. Flames gave up way too many odd man rushes and high danger scoring opportunities. I really felt bad for Gillies during the first period, as the team just committed brain fart after brain fart, leading to odd man, high danger scoring opportunities. The Bruins were very good at getting the goaltender moving and never allowing Gillies to square up to make a save. I really hope the Flames take a look at this tape and learn what to do, because Halak was allowed to square up most of the game. Breaking the lines/players down.

Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm

Gaudreau was Gaudreau and Monahan was Monahan. Lindholm just isn't a good fit on this line. I like Lindholm a lot, but he just doesn't play at the same level as his linemates. He's more of a Backlund/Frolik player and would likely be a much better fit on that line.

Bennett-Jankowski-Hathaway

Worst line on the ice for the Flames. Jankowski struggled with the puck at times, waiting for his linemates to get to open ice. Hathaway missed the first, but didn't look any different from last season. I don't see a NHL player there. Bennett was Bennett. The guy just can't make a pass to save his life, and his shot is never on net. When he had an opportunity, he missed the net. When he had an opportunity to make a pass, he put it in the guys skates or just flat out missed him. Most disappointing game on the ice for the Flames.

Tkachuk-Backlund-Neal

Really missing something. I think that something is a center with some skill to move the puck. Backlund just isn't a high skilled center wgo can distribute the puck. Tkachuk struggled a bit in his own right, but it is tough when your center can't create offense and space for his linemates. Neal looked just as advertised, a guy who reads the play well and finds himself in positions to convert chances.

Frolik-Ryan-Czarnik

A double edged sword on this line. They generated some chances, but I don't think they were a sum of their pieces. Frolik was out of sorts with these two. Definitely not the offense first line that Ryan and Czarnik were focused on. Not sure how you make these guys work.

Giordano-Brodie


Looked fairly solid throughout the game. A work in progress, but looked good. Brodie looks much more comfortable in this config.

Hamonic-Hanafin

Solid throughout. Nothing to rave about, and nothing to complain about. Hanafin was very surprisingly solid.

Stone-Kulak

Looked solid. Don't know why anyone was concerned about either of them.

Coaches and Systems

Don't see a helluva lot different from last season. Same special teams with the same tired drop pass to gain the zone. Nothing that would focus on getting the goaltender moving. The system still allows to get the goaltender square and that is something that needs to be changed.

First game of the preseason and nothing that made me believe this version of the Flames would be better or worse than last season. I would look to some minor changes in the lineup and see how these guys perform together.

Gaudreau-Monahan-Neal
Bennett-Jankowski-Tkachuk
Frolik-Bennett-Lindholm
Klimchuk-Ryan-Czarnik

I see potential from this club, but I'm not certain I see enough to make believe this team can challenge for anything. They played a squad that was half of the Bruins regular team to pretty much a draw. It was a good start, but nothing to write home to mother about.

Everyone sees things different and will have different opinions but if you don’t see any differences from that game, I don’t know what you were watching.
Where do I even begin...

The Flames were visibly faster and a lot more skilled than last season. They were playing a much more up tempo game and moving the puck up the ice quicker rather than playing east-west.

I don’t believe at all that they were just playing for possession. They had multiple high end scoring chances, and Halak really did stand on his head.

Every line was producing chances rather than years past where we relied on the first line to get it done.

The power play looked nothing like last years minus the drop back pass. Once they were set up, everyone was moving, there was good quick one touch passes and they always had a guy down behind the net as an option.

Boston’s second goal was in no way a result of getting Gillies to move laterally. He was facing the shooter one on one and it was a good shot, but Gillies was almost in his net rather than cutting off the angle.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Okay we'll keep the 3 Boston goals on the board since according to you Smith wouldn't be able to save those (even though I think Gillies tracked the puck/anticipated poorly while making himself small which i don't think Smith would've done in every instance but I digress). Halak still made some really difficult saves himself that most goalies in preseason form would not have made, simply put. He was the difference for Boston.

Originally Posted by direwolf

Goaltending was the difference last night. Flames would have very likely won in regulation if not for Halak playing out of his mind. Dude was a brick wall for the entire game.

Rewatch the game. Halak rarely had to go cross-crease. He was allowed to get square to almost every opportunity the Flames had. If there is a weakness in the Flames' system, it is not getting the defense to move laterally. Also, how many odd man rushes did the Flames have, versus the Bruins? The Bruins had many more odd man rushes than the Flames, and they were able to cash in on them. The Flames did not use this new found speed to generate odd man rushes. It wasn't much different than last season.


I get that everyone is all excited about hockey being back, and trying to find positives in the changes brought to the lineup, but there wasn't much difference from last year. The Flames looked okay against the Bruins, but this was a Bruins squad that was missing s number of important starters. There is a very long way to go.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by Kovaz

Thought Bennett looked like a slightly better version of the same player as last year. He made some nice plays in his own zone to spring his linemates, threw some nice hits, and generated a few chances out of nothing, but there's just this panic to his game when he gets in close. They showed a slow-mo of his chance off Jankowski's saucer pass, and you could see him wave his stick back and forth frantically before making one too many moves and losing the puck. Tough to figure out.

You do realize he was moving pretty fast and Jankowski's saucer pass got deflected. So he had to adjust, in flight and out of rhythm, and the space he had to maneuver was then shortened because the pass took longer to reach him? You did notice that deflection right?

[Rollin22x]

This is going to be a fun season!
How people can expect the players to automatically gel and dominate is beyond me.
The little things I was very happy with:
Brody knocked someone OFF the puck. I don't think that happened at all last year.
Neal was clipped and there was an immediate response by his team mates. That continued through out the game in every scrum. Something else that didn't happen often last year.
Tkachuk may be a bit rusty but he's picking up right where he left off last year.

Gillies never seems to play like he's 6'-6".
The new additions are exciting because the skill has improved a little and the speed has improved a lot.
This could be Halaks best game of the year

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by New Era

Rewatch the game. Halak rarely had to go cross-crease. He was allowed to get square to almost every opportunity the Flames had. If there is a weakness in the Flames' system, it is not getting the defense to move laterally. Also, how many odd man rushes did the Flames have, versus the Bruins? The Bruins had many more odd man rushes than the Flames, and they were able to cash in on them. The Flames did not use this new found speed to generate odd man rushes. It wasn't much different than last season.


I get that everyone is all excited about hockey being back, and trying to find positives in the changes brought to the lineup, but there wasn't much difference from last year. The Flames looked okay against the Bruins, but this was a Bruins squad that was missing s number of important starters. There is a very long way to go.

There were huge differences, and lots of them.

The PP had lots of good, quick movement, and multiple one-timers from off-wing positions. Infinitely better than last year. Did they use the drop pass? Yes - like all 31 teams in te league do. They had little trouble gaining the zone, so not sure what the complaint was.

Very uptempo style - completely different than last year. ANd they were fast - very fast.

They moved the puck forwrd very well, and there was little to no D to D passing. Big improvement, and they moved the puck out of their zone very effectively.

They had Halak moving laterally on MULTIPLE occasions. No idea what you were watching. One example was when Gaudreau set up Lindholm and Halak slid across and just got a piece of his glove on it, deflecting it up onto the crossbar. Fraction of an inch from a goal. Lots of other examples. Halak put on a clinic.

Overall, the Flames were absolutely dominant. The shots in the 2nd and 3rd periods were something like 27 to 9. And scoring chances were equally lopsided.

I know you like to take the contrarian view, but your take just doesn't jive with what went on out there.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by New Era

Rewatch the game. Halak rarely had to go cross-crease. He was allowed to get square to almost every opportunity the Flames had. If there is a weakness in the Flames' system, it is not getting the defense to move laterally. Also, how many odd man rushes did the Flames have, versus the Bruins? The Bruins had many more odd man rushes than the Flames, and they were able to cash in on them. The Flames did not use this new found speed to generate odd man rushes. It wasn't much different than last season.


I get that everyone is all excited about hockey being back, and trying to find positives in the changes brought to the lineup, but there wasn't much difference from last year. The Flames looked okay against the Bruins, but this was a Bruins squad that was missing s number of important starters. There is a very long way to go.

The flames actually had a number of chances off the rush if you were watching. But no they weren't given half the rink for two guys to set up one timers.

You don't have to get a goalie moving cross crease to score on him. There are different ways to score you know. No the Bruins didn't gift wrap the wide open ice three consecutive times to stretch the goalie out like the flames did for the Bruins because of some messy plays but it doesn't mean the flames didn't test the #### out of Halak with what they were given. Cause they definitely did.

Your take is so very negatively skewed. Yeah it's preseason, so while it's good to not get ahead of ourselves it's equally justified not to rip on the team prematurely, including for the strange reasons that you listed. The thing is you say it's too early to say they look better then go on to declare them no different from last season. Cool.

[dino7c]

I think there is some major over analyzing going on here

1st preseason game, different continent, different ice size, 45 min practice

Was a fun game

[bigrangy]

Originally Posted by dino7c

I think there is some major over analyzing going on here

1st preseason game, different continent, different ice size, 45 min practice

Was a fun game

Nope, need to run the whipping boys out of town

[timbit]

Cursory observations from last night:

More Speed, More Skill, More Depth.

Result:

Fun to watch and better chance of being a contender.

[Hockey-and_stuff]

Originally Posted by New Era

Rewatch the game. Halak rarely had to go cross-crease. He was allowed to get square to almost every opportunity the Flames had. If there is a weakness in the Flames' system, it is not getting the defense to move laterally. Also, how many odd man rushes did the Flames have, versus the Bruins? The Bruins had many more odd man rushes than the Flames, and they were able to cash in on them. The Flames did not use this new found speed to generate odd man rushes. It wasn't much different than last season.


I get that everyone is all excited about hockey being back, and trying to find positives in the changes brought to the lineup, but there wasn't much difference from last year. The Flames looked okay against the Bruins, but this was a Bruins squad that was missing s number of important starters. There is a very long way to go.

Are you even a fan? It's absolutely unreal to be this negative after a single practice and preseason game.

Things don't change in one game. It's going to be a really long season for you at this rate.

[Enoch Root]

Some other very enjoyable differences:

They won a ton of draws (though Bergeron didn't play)

They forechecked very aggressively, and very successfully, causing lots of sustained pressure.

[Flash Walken]

The team speed and skill was night and day compared to the roster last year.

Even for a preseason game, the puck skills on this team blew what we saw from the team last year out of the water.

Taking passes at speed, what a novel concept.

Lazar may have played his last regular season game in the NHL.

[Dion]

mattyports Shenzhen scenes: a street dog wandered into the arena for the Bruins-Flames preseason game. (Video of this encounter to come.)

https://imgur.com/jF39UDj

[topfiverecords]

I agree completely Debbie. You’re not going to win game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals playing like that in an afternoon first preseason with new coaches and players on the other side of the world.

Originally Posted by New Era

Surprise, surprise, I have a much different perspective than what most have posted here. Looked like the same Flames from last season to me. Same "possession" darlings who spend most of the night in the offensive zone, but get owned when they don't play a perfect game. Same Flames special teams who rely on the junior-esque drop pass to enter the zone. Same Flames who give up great scoring opportunities right after scoring. Flames gave up way too many odd man rushes and high danger scoring opportunities. I really felt bad for Gillies during the first period, as the team just committed brain fart after brain fart, leading to odd man, high danger scoring opportunities. The Bruins were very good at getting the goaltender moving and never allowing Gillies to square up to make a save. I really hope the Flames take a look at this tape and learn what to do, because Halak was allowed to square up most of the game. Breaking the lines/players down.

Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm

Gaudreau was Gaudreau and Monahan was Monahan. Lindholm just isn't a good fit on this line. I like Lindholm a lot, but he just doesn't play at the same level as his linemates. He's more of a Backlund/Frolik player and would likely be a much better fit on that line.

Bennett-Jankowski-Hathaway

Worst line on the ice for the Flames. Jankowski struggled with the puck at times, waiting for his linemates to get to open ice. Hathaway missed the first, but didn't look any different from last season. I don't see a NHL player there. Bennett was Bennett. The guy just can't make a pass to save his life, and his shot is never on net. When he had an opportunity, he missed the net. When he had an opportunity to make a pass, he put it in the guys skates or just flat out missed him. Most disappointing game on the ice for the Flames.

Tkachuk-Backlund-Neal

Really missing something. I think that something is a center with some skill to move the puck. Backlund just isn't a high skilled center wgo can distribute the puck. Tkachuk struggled a bit in his own right, but it is tough when your center can't create offense and space for his linemates. Neal looked just as advertised, a guy who reads the play well and finds himself in positions to convert chances.

Frolik-Ryan-Czarnik

A double edged sword on this line. They generated some chances, but I don't think they were a sum of their pieces. Frolik was out of sorts with these two. Definitely not the offense first line that Ryan and Czarnik were focused on. Not sure how you make these guys work.

Giordano-Brodie


Looked fairly solid throughout the game. A work in progress, but looked good. Brodie looks much more comfortable in this config.

Hamonic-Hanafin

Solid throughout. Nothing to rave about, and nothing to complain about. Hanafin was very surprisingly solid.

Stone-Kulak

Looked solid. Don't know why anyone was concerned about either of them.

Coaches and Systems

Don't see a helluva lot different from last season. Same special teams with the same tired drop pass to gain the zone. Nothing that would focus on getting the goaltender moving. The system still allows to get the goaltender square and that is something that needs to be changed.

First game of the preseason and nothing that made me believe this version of the Flames would be better or worse than last season. I would look to some minor changes in the lineup and see how these guys perform together.

Gaudreau-Monahan-Neal
Bennett-Jankowski-Tkachuk
Frolik-Bennett-Lindholm
Klimchuk-Ryan-Czarnik

I see potential from this club, but I'm not certain I see enough to make believe this team can challenge for anything. They played a squad that was half of the Bruins regular team to pretty much a draw. It was a good start, but nothing to write home to mother about.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Surprise surprise, New Era being a debbie downer and trying his hardest to find negatives in everything. Some people just see what they want to see I guess?

[keenan87]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Surprise surprise, New Era being a debbie downer and trying his hardest to find negatives in everything. Some people just see what they want to see I guess?

He provided his thoughts on a game he watched. Didn't insult anyone or go off-topic. Not the majority but there is no rule that says everyone needs to feel the same way. So, what's your issue? It's one post in a thread thats gonna die in the next few days.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Surprise surprise, New Era being a debbie downer and trying his hardest to find negatives in everything. Some people just see what they want to see I guess?

Here's what's not so surprising.

The dog piling and the Debbie labels because a poster here shares a view that is not popular on this forum. I don't agree with much of what he said but I do give him credit for backing up his views.