[PGT] Canucks 5 Flames 2. Oh no! We suck again!

[ernie]

Some charts. Love 'em or loathe 'em.

Spoiler!

Spoiler!

Spoiler!

[FiveSeven]

Terrible game overall. That’s all that is worth saying. I’ll reserve any detailed harshness for the opener. If any of the terribleness is in that game then it’s something worth bitching about.

[RoughRiderRowdy]

How many shot attempts missed the net?

[ForeverFlameFan]

Silver lining: Peters switches line combos if need be.

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by ernie

Some charts. Love 'em or loathe 'em.

Spoiler!

Spoiler!

Spoiler!

One fact which really stands out about that last chart: the Flames missed about ten times as many shots as the Canucks did. Again, shades of last season.

[BruceCody]

Originally Posted by Bourque's Twin

New coach.

7/18 players were new. Let’s give them more than 1 game.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Gaudreau looks out of shape

what makes you say this

[NewFan]

Good thing is Vancouver got 2 points and I hope they out of bottom 5 in the end of season. They have upcoming good young C, so I don't want they get another one from draft.
Looks like Flames will fight for wild card this year if everything goes ok.
Next game my lines
Gaudreau Monahan Neal
Tkachuk Jankowski Lindholm
Bennett Backlund Charnik
Dube Ryan Frolik

[Calgary4LIfe]

I saw a lot of the same tendencies last night as I often saw under Gulutzan. A few things that are different and that you can see them trying out, but it is very similar to Gulutzan's system by the looks of it.


China trip, lack of practices, etc., - can't judge much in the first 10-15 games at least. I think it takes a bit to work out those wrinkles going from one coach to another, at the very least when they get a bit flustered and fall-back to what they are used to doing.


Not enough pressure by the Flames last night. Looked like a team without confidence. Gudbranson had an impact last night - more than what people want to admit. It is deflating having someone on your team getting blind-sided with a dirty hit, and then watching another team mate stick up for him and get pummelled. Agree with it or not, but for as long as fighting is a part of the game, you need someone capable on that front for instances like these.



I can't pick any goats for the game. Nobody looked 'on' consistently. The whole team looked a bit off. Didn't use their speed on the attack enough, didn't force Markstrom to move all that much in net, and missed defensive assignments all game much like they did under Gulutzan. A few lucky bounces on Vancouver's odd-man chances, but there was too many instances of the forwards not rotating back on defence to cover for the pinching defencemen. Hartley would have been screaming from the bench on those lack of rotations.


You could tell Vancouver is a well-coached team that is very comfortable with their system, and that was a huge part of why they won last night. Either way, it is tough to judge the team at this stage, and you just have to write it off and forget about. My only concern is with how easy this team gets rattled and gives up too many significant chances in a row, and doesn't have that 'swagger' to really battle back and make a concerted push-back. Let's see how this team evolves in the next 5 games.

[Stay Golden]

Lindholm messed up the flow on several of the PP's. Brodie should not be on the PP, cradles the puck far too much.
There wasnt much presence in front of net.
Passing in the zone was not crisp and quick, they need to sharpen that up.
Hartley's bump pass approach works especially with a crafty player like Johnny but their was too much space in between the pass lastnight.
BTW as mentioned by others most of the teams use the bump/drop pass but if you notice they are much tighter and the lead man impedes the forechecker immediately from getting an angle at the puck carrier.

I have confidence the PP will be much more effective, with the talent on this roster all the fixes are minor and easy.

[mrdonkey]

I don't know about anyone else, but last night did nothing to allay my two biggest concerns: that we've hired Glen Gulutzan 2.0, and that goaltending is going to completely sink us.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Great picture of post fight Hamonic. Also sums up our night well.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I just want the team to move their feet and work hard.

Too much sloppy/lazy play and standing still again last night. And really it's been a problem with this group since the 15/16 season.

I was excited because you really saw that effort and drive in pre-season but that was non-existent last night.

That's the thing. No drive from the get go and many unforced errors.

You can have all kinds of awesome in your lineup but it doesn't mean crud all if they aren't going to work and play at an nhl pace when it's game time.

Can we rely on this group to be motivated to play hard every night? If it takes a big games against stiffer competition to get up for them again then this isn't going to go any better than last season.

The next game will say a lot about their give a #### meter.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

what makes you say this

Trolling. Stop responding/quoting him please.

[kukkudo]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

I don't know about anyone else, but last night did nothing to allay my two biggest concerns: that we've hired Glen Gulutzan 2.0, and that goaltending is going to completely sink us.

If Peters ends up being GG 2.0 and goaltending does stink this year, well bye bye Mr Treliving.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by kukkudo

If Peters ends up being GG 2.0 and goaltending does stink this year, well bye bye Mr Treliving.

That's the best part of all this. Worst case, the Flames hopefully put a stop to Treliving's pissing around with coaches and goalies. Best case, they gel and start doing some damage in the playoffs.

There isn't really anyone else left to blame.

[Otto-matic]

Originally Posted by kukkudo

If Peters ends up being GG 2.0 and goaltending does stink this year, well bye bye Mr Treliving.

Treliving sunk too much into this season, He's on Strike 2 with a 0-2 pitch count right now IMO.

Its Playoffs (Decent showing no 4 game sweeps and pack it in for the summer) or Bust IMO for him.

[Toonage]

I think we know the answer for the next game.

Hathaway in?

Flames win.

(sit Frolik)

[Huntingwhale]

October is pretty much a write off. Year after year, opener after opener the team lays stinkers to start the season and end up chasing for most of the season. All the new additions are great and all to try and counteract that, but this is the Calgary Flames curse.

[bubbsy]

What a disappointing night. I felt as though just about everybody seemed out of sync in their play.


I really thought that hit on Dube set the tone early. It was a fugly hit, and it was imperative that a team with no tough guys on it, to make up for it & send their own message on the PP. Instead, they completely waste 2 minutes, and then hamonic loses the fight outright to further exemplify the physical dominance the canucks were establishing on the flames early.


My main annoyances with the game:
- Inability to win PP faceoffs, followed by useless attempts to gain the zone
- 1 goal game through 2 periods, but so much for "rolling 4 lines thanks to all this depth". Jankowski/Bennett basically had no time on the ice..


Going into the season, what i was fearful of about this flames team is that the flames are trying to cover up lack of elite talent under the guise of "Depth". They have a top line, that will generate most of their chances, and overall that's what they did last night. However, there really is no high octane 2nd line scoring threat. Tkachuk is an elite top 6 player. Backlund is not. Frolik is not. Lindholm could be, need to see more. Neal used to be, is he still, we need to see more.


Depth forward groups can be successful, if the team can come in waves and win several shifts in a row, where the pressure builds up to a point where the opposition eventually has a breakdown and gives up a grade A chance. We saw that eventually late in the game, but you gotta be careful in crediting that to the flames without considering the canucks strategy change to prevent defence mode.


Remember that one year during the iggy era where sutter just went out and filled the roster with a bunch of "potential 20 goal guys" (hagman, kotalik, higgins, etc, etc). We all know how that turned out.


In summary, I'm not worried about the top line. I have some hope in the bottom 6 to provide acceptable bottom 6 contributions. I do have concerns about how threatening our 2nd line can be on a night in and night out basis to create real line mismatching issues for the opposition.


I will also add, with all the goaltending concerns going into the season, smith had little to do with last night's result. He made some saves on grade A chances, and the canucks only scored on grade A chances (ie. he didnt' give up any 'bad' goals).


I'm actually pretty nervous about Saturday. On some level, i'm confident we'll see a better flames effort. However, hockey can be unpredictable and unrewarding at times. Should the flames not get the W, that's 4 points given up against what should be one of the easier oppositions in the division/conference/league. I think there will be a bit of a premature freakout by the media/fans/CP/me should they lose!