[PGT] Flames lose 5-4 in shootout against Capitals

[scottish_flame]

Originally Posted by Delthefunky

I thought Ramo played great. Can't blame him for any of the goals. One break away, 2 unstoppable deflections, and that last goal was a failure to deal with the scramble + stupid penalty to take in the first place.

Good to see Gio rebound a little from last year, and I liked the way Sven played. We'll see where Monahan goes from here.

I thought he was poor in the shoot out.

i didnt see the 2nd goal properly. he had no chance on the break away or the other 2 goals like you said

[Vinny01]

Good effort and entertaining team. No complaints about that game

[heep223]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Why in poo perfect hell would we want that? Have you even been paying attention?

...because some people actually want their team to win. Now, next week, last week, next year, and in 20 years. The fact that I feel like I'm in the minority on that makes me sad.

On any given night, in any given season, I want the boys to win. Go Flames Go!

[The Ditch]

Originally Posted by scottish_flame

I thought he was poor in the shoot out.

i didnt see the 2nd goal properly. he had no chance on the break away or the other 2 goals like you said

Some of the children I teach goaltending to could handle a breakaway better than Ramo did on that play...it was awkward to watch. Like I wrote before though, it can be worked on.

[strombad]

I thought the Flames proved a bit of the naysaying around here wrong:

- Ramo looked like a starter. He was solid, not stellar, but he's certainly not the worst starter in the league. At least 3 of those goals go in on almost any tender.

- Russell really showed what he's got. People were treating him like a throwaway, but once he calmed his game down after a couple early gaffs I thought he played well. He won't be a top line guy, but he looks like a really dependable second pairing guy.

Other than that, Backlund looked like he's taken a step, Monahan and Baertschi were both good with a few flashes of some nice chemistry, and quite frankly, I thought Stajan/GlenX/Stemp was the least exciting line. Not bad, but the hardest to be excited about.

Good for a first game. As we know, game 2 could reveal something entirely different, but I see some positives.

[automaton 3]

Brutal penalty by TJ.

Ramo was not very good.

Otherwise, decent effort. Love the hustle out of this group. Stings to lose after that lead, but I expected far worse.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Henry Fool

Monahan's line was as good as any other. Kind of feared they'd get in trouble but I didn't notice them struggling more than anyone else. Some credit goes to Hartley too, I'm sure.

Some of the veteran forwards were a little less than I expected.

Monahan I noticed is always in a good position defensively. Noticed he sits back with the d and makes a move in towards the net when he sees a play develop. Can't teach that. Smart, heady player. And this is coming from someone who's been real iffy on him. He may go back to junior soon but it's not because he needs to develop hockey smarts. More development in the puck possesion department would be why I think he goes down to Ottawa.

[Henry Fool]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Monahan I noticed is always in a good position defensively. Noticed he sits back with the d and makes a move in towards the net when he sees a play develop. Can't teach that. Smart, heady player. And this is coming from someone who's been real iffy on him. He may go back to junior soon but it's not because he needs to develop hockey smarts. More development in the puck possesion department would be why I think he goes down to Ottawa.

Yeah, intelligence and positioning seem as good as you could hope. I don't know which league is better for him to develop his offense, but that's the crucial question.

[Otto29]

It was a good effort. Washington is largely carried by Ovechkin. The fact that Washington came back...that would normally knock the old flames down but this team got back up again.

As for you posters who feel the need to criticize every little mistake and player performance...how about you wait until 10 games in before going all "CP" on the team

[Fire]

Originally Posted by BigFlameDog

Seriously?

Two major defensive gaffes early on that you would expect from a rookie defenseman. He did look better later in the game.

I can't see him lasting long term with this team with his lack of size. The Flames already have a bunch of smallish defenseman (Giordano and Brodie) that are better than him. Burke will want to get bigger on D. I would bet he's not here next season. I like what Feaster has done since the trading deadline, but signing Russell made little sense.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Originally Posted by macrov

I think Russel was the 2nd best defenseman out there tonight for the Flames.

Was everyone else tied for first?

[Cuz]

Originally Posted by scottish_flame

I thought he was poor in the shoot out.

i didnt see the 2nd goal properly. he had no chance on the break away or the other 2 goals like you said

Honestly, how many goalies in the league could stop those two goals in the shootout?

[Clever_Iggy]

Originally Posted by Handsome B. Wonderful

Was everyone else tied for first?

Brodie had a rough game and being on the top pairing really exposed him. Wideman was really solid. Gio might have been the best Flame with Jones. SOB and Butler weren't noticeable.

I'd put Russel at #3 behind Gio and Wideman. After the coaching staff talked to him about laying down in the defensive zone you could see a very solid shift in his game. I think Russel is better suited in the 5/6 role and I'd rather have him than Butler or SOB.

[Dion]

Wes Gilbertson‏@SUNGilbertson11m
#Flames Hartley on message to team: 'Just don't be glad to be in the NHL. When you have a 3-0 lead, you have to find a way to keep it.'

[Kaine]

Reading some of the post here, I'm ashamed to be a Flames fan right now. Amazingly this has nothing to do with the team.

Posters comparing a very new, very young rebuilding team to the team of vets that for the most part have been shipped out? Yep.

Posters whining about "blowing a lead" like the Flames just quit playing when in fact the Caps are a good team and had a great pushback? Oh ya.

Someone(s) calling out the coach for playing a very young rookie less than 25 minutes in his debut? Yep we have that too!

Some of you need to give your heads a shake. I can't even laugh at Oilers/Canucks fans anymore because some Flames fans are just as bad.

[Enoch Root]

Yup. Entertaining game and a good effort. Got a point on the road and it could easily have been two.

Come here and see a bunch of butt-hurt whiners. Amazing.

[sa226]

It could be that my Hockey watching eyes are rusty due to missing training camp, but damn did I come away impressed.

Special teams, faceoffs (Backlund, yikes) and discipline could use some work, but 5 on 5 the Flames completely outplayed the Caps. I saw consistency that I haven't seen in awhile. There was pushback when I usually don't expect it from this team historically. I fully expected the 4 on 4 overtime to be a fire drill for the Flames, but they outplayed the Caps in the extra frame as well.

As the TSN panel highlighted there was puck support that Brent Sutter would have been proud of and it was happening all game.

Some random individual notes.

Ramo: I thought he was fine, he wasn't fighting the puck and the shots that beat him were damn good shots. We could of used from heroics, but you can't blame him for anything. The shootout was kinda ugly, but those dekes were pretty good.

Giordano: Best game from him in a loooong time.

Brodie: Picked up where he left off last year. Still young and making some mistakes but looked good.

Russel: Noticed him quite a bit, not flashy at all, but picks his spots well and is really dependable.

SOB: Victim of the shortened bench, but actually played ok.

Stajan\Glencross\Stempniak: Stempniak was great, Stajan his usual good, not great but boring self. Glencross I thought got better as the game went on. Average but ok night from those guys.

Backlund\Hudler\Galliardi: Pretty good night for these guys. I thought Galliardi was invisible for the first part of the game, but got better as the game went on except for that terrible penalty.

Sven\Monahan\Jones: I like these guys. Sven was pretty good, had some nice rushes and from what I saw wasn't the cause of any defensive breakdowns. David Jones is a Chris Clark clone with better hands. What you see is what you get from that guy, and I kinda like it. To me Monahan is behind on 2 things, foot quickness and strength along the boards. His head is already at an NHL level. Every time I thought he looked kind of slow, he would skate in open ice and be just as fast as the rest of them. To me he just needs that extra gear of the first 3 strides and to develop his quickness in tight spaces because he is losing races and battles because of that. Because of his size he is not outmatched along the boards, but until he gains more strength he will probably lose more battles than he wins. His hands and head are at an NHL level, he doesn't panic and reads the plays better than a lot of NHLers. I think he should stay, but only if he is going to play more than 10 mins a night.

4th line was great: We have really missed what Bouma brings. Hopefully he stays healthy, because he is a keeper.

I didn't real the game thread so don't know what the mob thought of the TSN crew, but I thought they called a good game. Ferraro was fine.

Thats all I got.

[killer_carlson]

If Wideman And Russel play like that all season, we will score a lot of goals. They were great out there in transition.

And Bouma was very lucky not to have his head cracked open at the end of that fight. Pretty heap move on the part of his opponent. Almost a slew foot at the same time as grabbing his pants to toss him over. Watched the clip of the fight a few times and that was ugly.

[Dion]

[BigRed]

Flames did a great job breaking out. Lots of puck support and good transition game. Much more fluid and creative than I expected.

Thought Ramo was a little shaky/awkward at times, but he'll settle down. First game in 4 years after all. Definitely notice how spoiled we were with Kipper's athleticism though. Completely different style.

Anyway, I enjoyed that, and for the first time in a long time am looking forward to the next one.