[PGT] Flames lose 11th consecutive season opener. 4-3 Jets (OT)

[camm13]

Benett only looked good the last few minutes he got thrown into Backlund's line. Otherwise only noticed him when he was out on the ice looking lost when the pucks went in

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Flames lose a season opener???

[djsFlames]

Clearly,

CLEARLY

Bennett and Backlund need to play together in the regular season. It's been obvious for how many years.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Just need consistent effort.

Markstrom had a decent game but we definitely need to up our game and play 60 minutes. We win by a fair margin every game if we play like we did in the first 20 minutes.

[Savvy27]

Well, a game 1 loss was to be expected, so the single point is nice at least.

Good:
-Tanev plays really hard, skates well, and I thought that he was making very good pinches, especially early when the forwards were getting more done out there.
-Markstrom was unfortunate to face such a dangerous sniper on a breakaway as one of his first shots. The second goal was a horrendous giveaway by Lucic and he made a great save prior to the finish.
-Backlund gave his usual consistent performance. Skates well, strong on puck and on PK. One of the only forwards who managed a three period game.
-Bennett carried the puck well, forechecked hard, created some chances for himself, made a great pass to Andersson on the Forbort save, and was their best forward in the second half of the game.

Bad:
-Valimaki looked like a rookie... moreso than 2 years ago when he was a pure rookie. We probably underestimate how big of a jump it is from the Finnish league to the NHL. Poor decision making and terrible accuracy on passes tonight.
-Gaudreau-Monahan-Leivo... yikes. Gaudreau was falling all over the place. Monahan was pretty disengaged, and Leivo was mediocre.
-Dube was so much less noticeable. He made a nice pass on his assist, but his forechecking and puck carrying were barely noticeable and the whole line overall was terrible in the second period.
-Powerplay entries were inexcusably terrible tonight. They were stopped so many times at the blue line and even when they got in, they would dump it off to Monahan who couldn't make the second play.
-Lucic was an absolute giveaway machine and I don't know if he threw a single bodycheck

Miscellaneous:
-Nordstrom doesn't seem to be great enough at the PK that I support playing him over Simon. I think Simon adds a lot more flexibility to the forward group.
-Older players Giordano, Ryan, and Lucic really seemed to struggle. Probably need more time to get up to speed.
-Honestly the whole team looked gassed (and so did the Jets) in the third period.
-Nestorov was pretty good and Hanifin looked a lot more dynamic in the first period.

[Lil Pedro]

That was kind of a BS call on Lindholm that caused a 5on3, when a few minutes before Wheeler had an obvious hook on Nordstroms breakaway and no call occurred.

Flames were lucky to get a point

[flames_fan_down_under]

Pretty typical Flames performance relative to their last 100 or so games. Moments of intensity, some players showing flashes of drive and competitiveness, but the following shift doing nothing to sustain that intensity, all in all though mostly a lot of perimeter play, failed rushes, and a glaring lack of speed becoming even more evident as our core players get older. I have seen this iteration of the Flames so many times now that nothing about this performance surprised me, mediocrity in its purest form.

[activeStick]

I like Tanev. Plays really safe and smart with zero risk. I was surprised that he's a good skater!

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Clearly,

CLEARLY

Bennett and Backlund need to play together in the regular season. It's been obvious for how many years.

Now that Tkachuk isn't playing with Backlund, I like this idea

[dino7c]

Backlund got jobbed out of a goal

even game, Lucic blew it with that dumb pass

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

Originally Posted by Savvy27

Bad:
-Valimaki looked like a rookie... moreso than 2 years ago when he was a pure rookie. We probably underestimate how big of a jump it is from the Finnish league to the NHL. Poor decision making and terrible accuracy on passes tonight.

I don't know, man. I feel like we weren't watching the same Valimaki. I thought he made good plays the whole game. Way fewer mistakes than I was expecting him to make. He spun off of checks well while still holding onto the puck and chipping it up to the forwards.

Label me impressed. His D-pairing looked pretty damn good all night. Everything I hoping to see out of a third pairing.

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by activeStick

I like Tanev. Plays really safe and smart with zero risk. I was surprised that he's a good skater!

Maybe put him with Gio? Hanifin - Andersson. Nesterov - Vali
I think that puts a mix of skating and stoutness on each pair plus their individual talents.

[camm13]

The D pairings look fine as is to me. A more stay at home defender, with one that has more offensive instincts.

[Bonded]

It is too bad Monahan and Tkachuk are slow. Makes it hard to break up Monahan and Gaudreau

[AC]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1349942142060249089

https://twitter.com/user/status/1349942249765826562

https://twitter.com/user/status/1349942429462351874

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by Bonded

It is too bad Monahan and Tkachuk are slow. Makes it hard to break up Monahan and Gaudreau

I think I suggested something like this in another thread a few days ago, but I'd truly like to see:

Tkachuk-Lindholm-Mangiapane
Monahan-Backlund-Dube
Gaudreau-Bennett-Leivo*

tried.

*assuming Leivo is better than what he showed today

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Ragnar

Well, they're getting paid like top line players.

Monahan for the reportedly available Barkov or Dubois would be a godsend.

Barkov is reportedly available? This is news to me.

I’d trade anyone for Barkov.

[Remember1989]

I watched the first on pvr, then saw the score by mistake. I am skipping watching the last two periods just to keep the good vibes alive. If you ask me, feeling great about this season.

[TheScorpion]

Tanev made some great plays. I think he'd look better on a pair with Giordano, though.

The Flames got outshot dramatically tonight when Tanev was on the ice but I wonder how much that had to do with how much ice time his pair shared with the Lucic line.

[blender]

I'm still feeling good about the team. They have plenty of talent to work with and Markstrom looks good.

Edit to add: Coaching is going to be huge this season; the ability to make adjustments against the competition may be a bigger factor than usual.