[PGT] Canes 2 Flames 1

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by dino7c

team had plenty of terrible games with Hartley behind the bench

Hartley didn't have Smith though. This is why they are 4-3 so far. He's been their best player.

[Manhattanboy]

Watching some of those highlight reel goals tonight from other games makes me green with envy.

[calgarywinning]

It was a lethargic game. Flames didn't have their step after the four day break.

Smith was beyond excellent.

Lots of stoppages of play, no flow, no hockey luck for the Flames. Carolina really had a hop and were pressing hard.

Jagr almost had two goals. Monahan's release and the sequence leading to it was amazing. It was an instant goal because that is how hard and quick he hit that shot.

I've never seen a player get hit with the puck and drop and play continue on and then the Carolina player teed it up and shot it at his head again, by accident or not, i've never seen that.

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by TheAlpineOracle

I’m so tired of our coach behaving like a scared little baby. Show some ####ing emotion.
Ref makes a bad call, stop starring at the goddamn floor. Let them Know it. It’s too easy to make a call against the flames with ####ing Bambi behind the bench.

I always think it's funny when people think Gulutzan is just starring at the floor or hanging his head in shame

[Dajazz]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Welcome to almost every PGT after a loss.

Trade someone, fire someone, this player is the worst, this doesn’t work. 7 games in, 4-3, and you’d swear we just hit 31st in the league after a 10 game losing streak.

It's been piss and vinegar after the wins too. Smith wins the games and several posters have noticed how poorly the team is playing.

[madmike]

At least this season, the top 6 forwards look solid. The top 4 D are ok.

Something needs to change in the bottom 6 though. They’ve been dreadful - getting creamed on possession and contributing literally next to nothing (1 goal?) scoring-wise.

And Bartkowski. I never undestoood the pickup and still don’t understand why he’s on the team. He’s absolute garbage.

[Beninho]

Originally Posted by madmike

At least this season, the top 6 forwards look solid. The top 4 D are ok.

Something needs to change in the bottom 6 though. They’ve been dreadful - getting creamed on possession and contributing literally next to nothing (1 goal?) scoring-wise.

And Bartkowski. I never undestoood the pickup and still don’t understand why he’s on the team. He’s absolute garbage.

The one goal was assisted by Monahan, bottom 2 lines have been atrocious offensively. Too many old guys and players whose spots don't feel threatened. Needs to be more youth on those lines, the 4th line is painfully slow.

[Flames_F.T.W]

I miss Paul Byron in the bottom 6. He's the exact kind of player that would get some energy and momentum going. I agree with many that the bottom 6 and especially the 4th line needs much more speed. Carolina is advertised as a fast, mobile team, so icing a roster better suited for a game against LA is on GG.

Thank god for Smith! Jagr looked great on the top line

[Murph]

The third and fourth lines have scored 1 goal in 7 games.

It’s not just time to call up Jankowski, but Mangipane as well.

[bubbsy]

Caught most of the game. Top line had their chances, Smith had to be in top form, stupid penalties taken throughout, fanning on passes repeatedly...

Flames lack offence. Ferland, Bennett, Versteeg are not generating anything. Bennett looks completely lost. Forget the wing, if it wasn't for his draft position, his efforts and discipline should have placed him in the press box. I'm finally hitting the point where I have to accept he might be a frigin bust. Forget points, he hasn't done anything well all season so far other than take dumb penalties. Not a single point, effort looks to be dipping already....

Outside of smith, it's been a pretty sucky season. Can't score or generate much offence, defensively they are giving up tons of chances, and take a ton of penalties. It's frustrating to watch.

[Lanny_McDonald]

If it weren’t for Bennett’s draft position he’d be in the minors. If there is a player that looks like he needs some time playing a lot of minutes to learn some things and get some confidence, it’s Sam Bennett. For an organization that likes to overlook their prospects, this is a guy that looks half baked.

[flambers]

Flames record could very easily be something like 2-5 or 1-6.

Have not played well at all.....

Game against the Canucks was not great..... If they play like that against a higher end team they would lose.

Didn't like the game against the Canes at all.....

Another slow start to the season, Flames coaches need to figure out this problem and correct it.

[Red]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

Elliott did play awful, but:

- It's Gulutzan's fault he continued to go back to Matt Bartkowski in that series instead of taking full advantage of his top 4 defense. Bartkowski was somehow -5 across those four games - that's the worst on the team and has a lot to do with the fact that he was on the ice.

- It's Gulutzan's fault he went back to Elliott after the total game 3 meltdown.

- It's Gulutzan's fault he had a 35 year old borderline 3rd pairing dman killing penalties against Ryan Getzlaf when he had better options available. You need your top PKers to retrieve pucks.

- it's Gulutzan's fault that he didn't shuffle the lines once over those four games where no line except Versteeg-Bennett-Chiasson was generating any offense at 5v5

- it's Gulutzan's fault he had no strategic versatility (like adding a stretch pass, or forecheck modifications to key in on scrubs like Bieksa, or giving the defense more of a green light to open up scoring lanes on Gibson) to play when a team has locked it down against the Flames.

Elliott didn't do Gulutzan any favors. But Gulutzan getting styled on by Randy Carlyle was pretty independent of that.

Gulutzan has the auto pilot on. Roll 4 lines and all D one after another except for special teams. No regard for momentum swings, player abilities etc. Predictable and this is why Vancouver lost to us 2 years ago in the playoffs. Willie took the blame, but it looks like Gulutzan is coaching the same way.

With Gulutzan the 2004 team would have been swept by the canucks. Sutter knew how to exploit weaknesses. This guy seems clueless.

[heep223]

Hey Gully. Get Brodie back on RD. Move Bennett to wing. Why must you insist on doing these things your way when they’re clearly not working? I’m starting to think it’s ego

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Red

Gulutzan has the auto pilot on. Roll 4 lines and all D one after another except for special teams. No regard for momentum swings, player abilities etc. Predictable and this is why Vancouver lost to us 2 years ago in the playoffs. Willie took the blame, but it looks like Gulutzan is coaching the same way.

With Gulutzan the 2004 team would have been swept by the canucks. Sutter knew how to exploit weaknesses. This guy seems clueless.

Case in point: Very first shift of the night for the top line, and he saddles them with Stone and Bartkowksi. End result was that we spent the entire shift trapped in our own zone. Gulutzan needs to just let someone else run the lines. He absolutely sucks at it.

[puffnstuff]

Also cant have the third pair, as it currently stands, on the ice when the fourth line is out there.
Adjusting the left side of that pair would help. As would changing the members of the fourth line.

[Rejean31]

Originally Posted by 868904

It's almost like the players are a 3 year old brat "I'm not going to play well and entertain the home fans until you give me a new arena!".

Oh FFS!!! Yes I am sure this is the problem!!! Give your head a shake.

[GioforPM]

Lots of dumb complaints. Fourth line not scoring? Brouwer and Stajan actually created some chances but Glass couldn't finish. That's a pretty easy fix. Lazar/Stajan/Brouwer isa pretty good fourth line and if you add Jankowski for Lazar or Stajan it's even better.

Bennett is crappy? IMO he was the best player on his line by a mile. Ferland and Versteeg are not doing much of anything.

Constant complaining about GG not flying off the handle enough. Lots of great coaches are pretty stoic.

Calls for Hartley - Hartley had a .493 winning percentage and if it wasn't for the season where everything went right he'd be even lower - his last season was .426. GG has .573 percentage. That's higher than most Flames coaches (albeit one of the smaller sample sizes). Hartley was a good guy with the media and super quotable. But he had bad systems, he seemed to wear on the players and at the end of the day, wasn't a winning coach.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Case in point: Very first shift of the night for the top line, and he saddles them with Stone and Bartkowksi. End result was that we spent the entire shift trapped in our own zone. Gulutzan needs to just let someone else run the lines. He absolutely sucks at it.

I'm betting he had the top pairs out against the better players of the Canes, along with the Backlund line. Then he tries to play the Monahan line against their bottom guys and it's the third pairing's turn for a shift. And of course he's giving them a shift right off the bat. What coach shortens the bench two or three shifts into the game?

The lines got seriously messed up because of penalties. That was a way bigger factor.

[Chingas]

Jankowski and Hathaway come on up. Give us some much needed energy and offence.