Sooo why aren't we talking about that Money goal? That may have been the nicest goal I've seen him score. Who cares about Lack!
Came here to say this.. you beat me to it sir.
What skill, to reach back and receive that pass and tap it up through his legs. Beautiful! If it was Mcdavid who made that play, it would be the high light of all highlight reels for weeks!
The Flames iced their AHL team with a few NHLers thrown in.
Hard to tell more than the AHL team is not at all ready to compete with an NHL team.
The Flames defense looked awful including Stone and Bartkowski who are the incumbent #4 and #6 and will likely be 5/6 this year.
Does that prove anything? Stone and Bartkowski will get approximately 1 minutes on an icing call against the Jets top 2 lines in a real game.
Dano, Petan, Tanev and Connor were the Jets that were on the bubble.... They all looked to be better than than Lazar and Jankowski and Foo....BUT they were looking good playing against the Flames AHL defense. Lazar Foo and Jankowski were playing against 6 of the Flames top 8 and the Jets top 4 forwards.
2 exhibition games left.. Get ready for opening day like the Jets did last night or find out who might be able to step up from #6/7 defense and not be embarrassed by NHL top lines?
Don't forget we had some nagging things that kept our roster heavier going into last night and Gully also wanted to reward some good showings which is going to go a long way for the guys getting sent down IMO.
Pretty easy to see/guess who the 13/14 forwards are going to be, who the 7th D likely is going to be and who the top 5 D are. The starter/backup are figured out too.
I have no problem with how Gulutzan and staff have handeled the pre-season and I think for the final two games here we are going to see a more NHL based roster - Gully mentioned how most vets will see 4 games in the pre-season and most of the vets need 2 more games to get that number.
Hanging around IMO:
F. Hamilton
Lazar
Hathaway
Jankowski
Andersson
Bartkowski
Lack seems a little slow moving side to side. I suspect we'll see a lot of teams use that against him in the regular season.
But if you think about it he's in a game against a full NHL lineup with AHL defenders -Stone in front of him that were guaranteed to get walked over. And they're having a parade to the penalty box, and now you're left to dealt with Schiefele and Laine unloading bombs at will. Do you think he's going to try to leap side to side in a game where he knows he's going to get peppered all night but it counts for nothing at the end of the day? I feel like most established goalies would save their energy at least a bit. Judge when the games matter.
Probably shouldn't judge the team too harshly as it was essentially the Heat vs a mighty powered Jets team. But it was hard not to notice some shabby play from a lot of players tonight. The #6 spot is wide open, I thought for sure Kulak would've taken the reigns by now, but he has clearly shown in this preseason, that he has a long way to go. Very nervous around the puck and it shows with his turnovers.
Same deal with Wotherspoon, made some poor plays and threw one right up the middle that was easily intercepted. That just cannot happen in the NHL. Lazar and Poirier weren't too impacful for players who are as well seasoned and have the pro experience that they have.
I was quite pleased with Jankowski, Hathaway, Dube and Andersson. All looked respectable and should be NHLers at some point in their career. Jankowski had certainly been one of our best forwards all preseason long and should be in the opening day line up. Foo made a couple nice plays, but it's clear he needs time in the AHL and will need to significantly improve his size and strength
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The Flames ice time leaders on the PK last night were Jankowski & Hathaway up front and Stone & Bartkowski on D (Andersson got 27 seconds of PK time, otherwise it was all Stone and Bart).
Of those 4, 3 of them likely spent more time on the PK last night than they will during all 82 games this season. Even Stone, who will likely get a regular PK shift during the season, won't be one of the Flames' top penalty killers.
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First of all, Stone and Bartkowski were playing as a 1/2 against mostly the Scheifele line. Once the team is together, they will be playing 5/6 against bottom 6ers. Completely different situations.
Kulak and Wotherspoon were playing 3/4 against good NHLers as well. They were hemmed in their own zone more, and pressured to make quick outlet passes more, than they would be if they were slotted in as the #6 with sheltered minutes.
The purpose of last night's lineup, from the coaching staff's perspective, was to put bubble guys under pressure and see how they handled it. And they were under pressure most of the night. Calling them all garbage because of it is unfair.
I think #6 will be Bartkowski on opening night. But I also think that he, Kulak and Wotherspoon will continue to rotate for a while.
Jankowski also got his first real NHL test last night, and I thought he passed with high marks. He just does all the little things well, and is always in good position, which gives him the chance to succeed.
I thought Foo looked better last night than he has prior, but there is little doubt that he needs more strength and seasoning.
Dube just continues to impress. He is going to have a monster year in junior and will be legitimately fighting for a roster spot next year.
Thought Monahan looked great. I agree that he may be poised to take things up a notch this year.
Thought Tkachuk looked good early, but didn't have his game legs yet and faded in the third. No surprise or concern.
Really tough night for Lack. Thought he looked great at times, and not very good at other times. Not enough sample size yet to have any real opinions.
I disagree that the D are being overly criticized. These are players that are fighting to be on the roster and playing against good NHL players when the games count next week. You can't hide players all game, especially on the road. I am certain that the coaching staff were looking for D to step up and play well so that they could be put in the line up without hoping that they would be alright or improve as the season goes along.
This isn't a development season and 23 year old players should be good to go after several years of playing at the professional level. I don't mean to say that they were terrible or that there is no hope for them as NHL players, but from the way that Treliving and Gulutzan were talking about camp battles I think they were anticipating saying "wow, who the heck are we going to cut?" and not "wow, who the heck are we going to keep?"
Does that mean he isn't getting the automatic suspension? Or it might apply to the regular season? I'm surprised nothing has been said about it.
Really odd that there hasn't been anything said about it. If it applied to a regular season game instead I'm thinking something would have come out about it