Flames need to do more to protect Johnny

[Manhattanboy]

I have no problem with legal checks but Johnny is taking viscous hits lately that are not being called and are going unanswered. The hit from behind into the boards last night could have resulted in a serious neck injury.

If Johnny played for a big market team this would be getting much more attention. As Erick and Coach noted in the PGT:

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

That's what I said earlier. That should have been 4 minutes at minimum and to me it looks like officials this season have put their whistles away a lot when teams take liberties with Gaudreau. I'm at a loss why there was no penally there as it was in plain view of the official. Flames are really lucky he didn't get hurt there at is was a very dangerous play.

Originally Posted by Coach

Agreed with the Gaudreau hit, has gone unspoken. If a Flame did that to McDavid there would be a riot in Edmonton and probably a suspension. Instead we just get to thank the hockey lords our best player doesn't have a broken neck.

[memphusk]

Shouldn't have turned. Too many times guys ahow their numbers late. I'm not saying it's ok, but I am saying the odds of still getting hit are usually pretty good.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by memphusk

Shouldn't have turned. Too many times guys ahow their numbers late. I'm not saying it's ok, but I am saying the odds of still getting hit are usually pretty good.

I agree I wish the OP would have posted my whole quote. But just because he turned doesn't make it not a penalty. Not anymore. Should be a major penalty.

[FlamesAddiction]

I know it is difficult to mess with something that works, but in some game situations, I would like to see how Neal would do on the top line. He is the type of player that can distract the opposition and put the attention on himself. He could open up a lot of room for Gaudreau, and also has a pretty consistent history of scoring.

It would also be interesting to see Lindholm and Tkachuk together.

Gaudreau - Monahan -Neal
Tkachuk - Backlund - Lindholm
Frolik - Jankowski - Bennett

[Mitt31]

So now do you :

A: put Bennett on the top line for protection as he will kick the crap out of someone if they touch johnny when he is on the ice? Also he has tons of skill just not luck around the net so maybe that will help him too...

B: keep Bennett with chucky so that when the s*** stirs which it will, he will be in that mix too

I don't want to see a Janko Benny line again as i want Bennett to start getting some puck luck.

[GranteedEV]

Gaudreau - Bennett - Neal would certainly be an interesting look. Might have to trade for Nylander so Monahan and Lindholm have someone to play with. 3M or MMA to round out the top 9

[Erick Estrada]

I'm not sure what the Flames can do. You take a retaliation penalty at that point in the game and the Oilers score it's game over. I think the officials simply have to do their job and call that. It's not like you can really embellish a hit head first into the boards so I'm at a loss to why that wasn't called. As was said if that was McDavid taking that hit the Oilers would have gone crazy and TSN would have shown that hit in their highlight packages and there would be chatter about a possible suspension for the Flames player.

[Monahammer]

Bennett is finally starting to find himself and people are trying to rush him back to center ice? Terrible idea, let the poor kid rebuild some confidence.

I think hathaway should be told to fight more folk but he can do that from the bench. no need 5o f with our chemistry just to put some muscle on the ice- not needed in today's nhl

[Flames1217]

Keep Bennett on RW with Tkachuk. You can already see what it is doing to both of them. These last two games Chucky has been pissing everyone off on a royal level all the while Bennett is laying out people far bigger than he is.

That line has potential to be an elite two way second line. Bennett adds a major physical presence, Backlund is about as sound defensively as one could want and Tkachuk is our best player. The speed, skill and awareness of all players is also hard to for other teams to put up with.

Keep this as such and dont touch the top 6, we finally have what looks like a great top 6.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I'm not sure what the Flames can do. You take a retaliation penalty at that point in the game and the Oilers score it's game over. I think the officials simply have to do their job and call that. It's not like you can really embellish a hit head first into the boards so I'm at a loss to why that wasn't called. As was said if that was McDavid taking that hit the Oilers would have gone crazy and TSN would have shown that hit in their highlight packages and there would be chatter about a possible suspension for the Flames player.

Yeah, I'd have quietly submitted video of the hit to the league. I found the officiating in that game to be one sided in favour of Edmonton despite the fact Calgary had more power plays. I think the refs had it in their head that they couldn't hand out more PP time to Calgary because they'd already given so many (legit) penalties to Edmonton. That hit, plus the holding on Backlund, and Nurse's handling of Bennett before the fight, come to mind.

I really don't think sending Peluso/Prout over the boards at that point changes a thing other than giving the Oilers multiple power play minutes. Edmonton would be more than happy to get into that kind of game. The only contrary argument I have is that Dube didn't see a lot of ice time anyway, so on the assumption that the penalties would be even, it would have just removed their goon for ours. However, their goons are regular line players and actively hurt their team when on the ice so even that's not a good tradeoff.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by memphusk

Shouldn't have turned. Too many times guys ahow their numbers late. I'm not saying it's ok, but I am saying the odds of still getting hit are usually pretty good.

Yeah, I don’t like the hit, but Johnny is smarter than that. Don’t turn into the boards and bend over. Protect yourself. The league isn’t going to.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Mitt31

So now do you :

A: put Bennett on the top line for protection as he will kick the crap out of someone if they touch johnny when he is on the ice? Also he has tons of skill just not luck around the net so maybe that will help him too...

B: keep Bennett with chucky so that when the s*** stirs which it will, he will be in that mix too

I don't want to see a Janko Benny line again as i want Bennett to start getting some puck luck.

Bennett is a capable middleweight fighter, though I think he got a little fortunate with Nurse. But if he gets into it with a heavyweight who is good at fighting, he's in trouble IMO. He doesn't have a lot of defence.

I'm not sure at this point that Bennett has tons of skill. He is fairly fast, works really really hard and can forecheck. But I don't see his passing or shooting as top line quality. Certainly he lacks the IQ of Monahan or Lindholm. You just don't see Bennett sneaking into the great spots that Monahan or Lindholm do.

I would like to see Bennett with Tkachuk and Neal as a secondary scoring unit. Or Dube-Bennett-Frolik as a hard to play against forechecking unit that might eventually start to put up some points.

[Kybb79]

Next game against the Coil i wanna see Peluso and Prout in the lineup. Let Bennett and Chucky go after Mcdavid and the Big German.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Kybb79

Next game against the Coil i wanna see Peluso and Prout in the lineup. Let Bennett and Chucky go after Mcdavid and the Big German.

I can see Peluso going in for a fourth line guy like Dube if they aren't going nto give him much ice anyway. But what Dman are you planning on sitting so you can send Prout out for three shifts?

[Kybb79]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I can see Peluso going in for a fourth line guy like Dube if they aren't going nto give him much ice anyway. But what Dman are you planning on sitting so you can send Prout out for three shifts?

Not sure but it would be nice to see Lucic and Kassian worried about those two.

[Jethro Choicebro]

Originally Posted by Kybb79

Not sure but it would be nice to see Lucic and Kassian worried about those two.

I just dont see Lucic or Kassian playing any differently if Prout of someone was in, gooning it is their entire role. All you end up doing is making them more effective by lessening your own team bringing in a heavyweight. Just like the oilers tried to do putting Lucic on the first line and ends up doing way more harm than good.

I thought we handled them fine on Sat, stood up for themselves when needed and drew constant penalties - if only the PP could have done something.

[Jethro Choicebro]

The non call on Johnny was ridiculous though - especially when they showed the ref helmet cam with a perfect view of it.

Assume because oil had already taken a bunch of penalties they were trying to even it up - dumb

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Kybb79

Not sure but it would be nice to see Lucic and Kassian worried about those two.

We've been through this before, but I don't think they worry about it. Especially in the split second moment that they have Johnny or Tkachuk in the crosshairs. That's part of their job and if they think about it at all, they accept that risk.

Even if a guy like Lucic can be scared by someone, it probably has to be someone more generally feared than minor leaguers like Prout or Peluso. Big Ern in his prime, maybe. Heck, what are the odds they even would share ice at any time for the rest of the game?