[Game Takes] Stars 2 Flames 1 (Dallas Leads series 3-2)

[Bingo]

Game Takes: Stars 2 Flames 1 (Stars lead series 3-2)


- terrible start
- better fight for the rest of the game
- too much perimeter play
- Gaudreau looked better

[Strange Brew]

Right or wrong, I believe Rinaldo is in to replace the Tkachuk agitation factor so its more of a debate of Quine vs. Jankowski.

On the verge of elimination, you probably don’t care so much about the extra curricular stuff.

I also saw Monahan the same way tonight. It’s funny, different CP posters have speculated that Monahan, Lindholm or Giordano are playing hurt. Who knows but I’m more in the camp of this is close to what they are in the post season.

I’m really not all that upset with the heart and effort. Dallas is a bigger, better and more well coached team on balance. Flames are giving them all they can handle.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Right or wrong, I believe Rinaldo is in to replace the Tkachuk agitation factor so its more of a debate of Quine vs. Jankowski.

On the verge of elimination, you probably don’t care so much about the extra curricular stuff.

I also saw Monahan the same way tonight. It’s funny, different CP posters have speculated that Monahan, Lindholm or Giordano are playing hurt. Who knows but I’m more in the camp of this is close to what they are in the post season.

I’m really not all that upset with the heart and effort. Dallas is a bigger, better and more well coached team on balance. Flames are giving them all they can handle.

Can't win when Bennett is your best player.

[bluejays]

I didn't watch the game tonight but I have a few takes on what I see wrong with the team:
A) Speed - the team is in need of it especially on the top two lines. Gaudreau and Tkachuk are fine but guys like Monahan just don't have it. I personally don't believe in having any player on the team who is in the lower 30th percentile in speed. When you're in a division with Colorado, that speed kills and you don't want to limit yourself when certain guys can't keep up with a guy like MacKinnon (as an exaggerated example).
B) Identity - what does this team look like when you think of the Flames this season? I'd say again, Gaudreau and Tkachuk are the face, but the third and fourth lines are neither here nor there when it comes to what they're good at. I really think Dube and Bennett should be asked more to score on the third line, with more minutes. They have the skill, some speed and really fit in well there, but I don't understand what the Flames have on that fourth line. While all three these guys aren't specifically there, I'm not sure what Mangiapane, Ryan, Jankowski and Lucic bring on a night to night basis. They're a little inconsistent and I don't know their place, role and what's expected of them.
C) The best guys have to be your best guys. Tkachuk is the best guy and he's worth his money. Gaudreau is worth his salary in spades, but won't be the #1 guy in the playoffs on this team with this cast. Because of that I'd package our first with him to get a high 1st to draft and retool this year. His value would be pretty high with the cap hit and if he has a bigger supporting cast to protect him (and not expect him to be the #1). I'd also sign Taylor Hall as his replacement.
D) Monahan is getting tiresome because of his lack of speed. Could you package him for a mid-round 1st? I'd like to.
E) Goaltending his fine with so many other things to address ahead of it.
F) I have no idea how you boost defence with the cap situation. This year there are some good dmen on the table but in the cap world I have no idea how you fit a dman or two in.
G) Veteran leadership. I'm not a fan of a lot of leadership talk, but I find a Justin Williams type leader would be helpful. An older player who can still skate would be good to calm some guys down when needed, but also to help when other teams are skating around them. Some games there are just too many passengers and I really think a vet who can skate would help. Maybe Lucic is that guy behind the scenes, but it would be nice to have someone who can do a little more offence wise too. Anyway, those are my initial thoughts after seeing the last game.

[bigrangy]

Good wrap up Bingo, I missed most of the game.


What seemed odd to me is that the Stars have this incredible forecheck, and are always on the defensemen or even behind them (see Benn on the Gio slide into the net).


But yet, the Flames are completely unable to exploit this to get rush chances. If a team is sending everything forward, the transitions that are actually successful should be much more dangerous, but everything is slow, up the boards, and a lot of dumps.


Reminds me a lot of the Avs series in that regard.

[Dion]

I missed the game due to golf. It's nice to be able to get a snapshot of the game from Bingo and his post game writeups.

[kyuss275]

Haven’t liked Monahans game all series. Put Johnny with Backlund and Lindholm .

[The Original FFIV]

Lindholm looks spent.

Pp pk and regular shifts. Has to be wearing down.

Put Janko in to take his Pk shifts. And I wouldn’t mind seeing Buddy Robinson either. Don’t see how subbing in Robinson and Janko for Quine and Rinaldo would hurt us.

Team desperately needs Lindy’s offence. Getting him off pk will allow him to focus on scoring.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Good write up. Quiet on Talbot today.

Unpopular take incoming: I wasn’t convinced that the game winner last game wasn’t on him, and today’s winner wasn’t good either.

I know he has stopped a lot (quantity mainly due to style of play), and has definitely made some key saves at times. But in any given game, you have to put past games behind you.

Both of the last 2 winning goals were on shots by D, and I don’t think that he couldn’t see either of them.

Not that the team should expect to win with one measly goal. The top line struggled again, and were frustrating to watch.

But Talbot was the second best goalie on the ice today, in a goaltenders’ duel, against the other team’s backup. In a tight game, you can’t give up that second goal.

[AC]

^ FWIW, the OT winner was tipped by Radulov.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Right or wrong, I believe Rinaldo is in to replace the Tkachuk agitation factor so its more of a debate of Quine vs. Jankowski.

On the verge of elimination, you probably don’t care so much about the extra curricular stuff.

I also saw Monahan the same way tonight. It’s funny, different CP posters have speculated that Monahan, Lindholm or Giordano are playing hurt. Who knows but I’m more in the camp of this is close to what they are in the post season.

I’m really not all that upset with the heart and effort. Dallas is a bigger, better and more well coached team on balance. Flames are giving them all they can handle.

Regardless of any nonsensical reasoning the coach may have in his head it's clearly wrong, wrong, wrong to ice what's probably the worst player left in the bubble.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by AC

^ FWIW, the OT winner was tipped by Radulov.

No point in bringing this up. The poster is the same guy defending Rittich stinker after stinker while constantly critiquing Talbot for providing better goaltending than Rittich has shown in half a season. When you score one goal in a playoff game you can have prime Patrick Roy in net and you are still likely going to lose that game.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by AC

^ FWIW, the OT winner was tipped by Radulov.

Fair point. The views I looked at I hadn’t seen the trajectory change.

Still thought yesterday’s he should have had

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

No point in bringing this up. The poster is the same guy defending Rittich stinker after stinker while constantly critiquing Talbot for providing better goaltending than Rittich has shown in half a season. When you score one goal in a playoff game you can have prime Patrick Roy in net and you are still likely going to lose that game.

Haha, are you for real? I think the grown ups here can decide to whom they respond.

While I question the usefulness of dignifying you further with a response, let’s be clear that nobody here is talking about Rittich except for you.

As for constantly critiquing Talbot, I have no idea what you are on about. This year I have had more confidence in this tandem than any the Flames have had in years.

In fact, since you seem to be personally interested in me (and thank you, I’m flattered), I will volunteer that I saw some poster earlier saying he wouldn’t be surprised to see a goalie change next game. If you were to ask me what my thoughts were on that, I would expect that to be unlikely, and I would not be in favour.

I have no trouble looking at a goal against a guy like Smith, Talbot, Rittich, whomever, and giving an opinion as to how reasonable it would be to expect a goalie to save the shot, based on the circumstances.

You will find a common theme a lot of the time is that when a lot of people here assign disproportionate blame to goalies (or even players) for things they can’t control, I am not shy to point out my view, supported by observations.

Whether you agree with me in general or not, honestly I wouldn’t have a clue. Again, thanks for your interest.

What I do know about you is that you seem to think Rinaldo is bad, and a team has better chances of winning if they score more than one goal. We agree!

Of course, the Flames have actually scored more than one every other game in the series, in fact scoring 4 twice, but then good playoff teams also need to be able to win the low scoring tight games too.

So yeah, if you score only one goal, you likely lose the game. But if the other team also only scores one goal, you have a tie and have the chance to score next and win that game.

And guess what? If Talbot stops that shot yesterday, which I thought was quite stoppable, Dallas would have also *gasp* only scored one goal.

Just because Gaudreau is between non factor and detriment, Lindholm looks off, and the team only scored 1 yesterday, doesn’t make the winner yesterday on Talbot a good goal. It was a stinker.

Thanks again.

[8sPOT]

I was at my sons hockey camp and missed a lot of the game but the 10-11 year olds on the ice completed more passes than the Flames. I thought they handed that game to the Stars. That did not look like a team competing in the playoffs. They looked nervous, scared, unsure, and just no rhythm at all as a team.

Will have to be a big difference tomorrow or she's all over.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by DeluxeMoustache

Haha, are you for real? I think the grown ups here can decide to whom they respond.

While I question the usefulness of dignifying you further with a response, let’s be clear that nobody here is talking about Rittich except for you.

As for constantly critiquing Talbot, I have no idea what you are on about. This year I have had more confidence in this tandem than any the Flames have had in years.

In fact, since you seem to be personally interested in me (and thank you, I’m flattered), I will volunteer that I saw some poster earlier saying he wouldn’t be surprised to see a goalie change next game. If you were to ask me what my thoughts were on that, I would expect that to be unlikely, and I would not be in favour.

I have no trouble looking at a goal against a guy like Smith, Talbot, Rittich, whomever, and giving an opinion as to how reasonable it would be to expect a goalie to save the shot, based on the circumstances.

You will find a common theme a lot of the time is that when a lot of people here assign disproportionate blame to goalies (or even players) for things they can’t control, I am not shy to point out my view, supported by observations.

Whether you agree with me in general or not, honestly I wouldn’t have a clue. Again, thanks for your interest.

What I do know about you is that you seem to think Rinaldo is bad, and a team has better chances of winning if they score more than one goal. We agree!

Of course, the Flames have actually scored more than one every other game in the series, in fact scoring 4 twice, but then good playoff teams also need to be able to win the low scoring tight games too.

So yeah, if you score only one goal, you likely lose the game. But if the other team also only scores one goal, you have a tie and have the chance to score next and win that game.

And guess what? If Talbot stops that shot yesterday, which I thought was quite stoppable, Dallas would have also *gasp* only scored one goal.

Just because Gaudreau is between non factor and detriment, Lindholm looks off, and the team only scored 1 yesterday, doesn’t make the winner yesterday on Talbot a good goal. It was a stinker.

Thanks again.

We all know Rittich is your boy. I'll stop bringing it up when you stop trying to pin losses on Talbot. I wouldn't call getting beat a stinker. He got beat but that happens and it especially happens to teams like the Flames that don't have an elite netminder on the roster. I do wish he saved it but the team scored a single goal and didn't even have a high quality scoring chance in the 3rd period and I don't know how you can say he got outplayed by the other goaltender when the other guy didn't even have to make many quality saves.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Nm; duplicate

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

We all know Rittich is your boy. I'll stop bringing it up when you stop trying to pin losses on Talbot. I wouldn't call getting beat a stinker. He got beat but that happens and it especially happens to teams like the Flames that don't have an elite netminder on the roster. I do wish he saved it but the team scored a single goal and didn't even have a high quality scoring chance in the 3rd period and I don't know how you can say he got outplayed by the other goaltender when the other guy didn't even have to make many quality saves.

Hey man, don’t stop anything on my account, you can say things that are wrong all you want. You do you. I won’t be actively looking out for it one way or another.

Otherwise, while I’m here, your straw man about putting the loss on Talbot neglects the statement I also made that the team needed to score more. I am fully aware that it took the whole team working together to lose. Doesn’t make that a good goal.


As for the bolded, you don’t know how I can say that? I can help you there. It is quite simple

Talbot got outplayed because he missed a stoppable shot, that he saw, and lost the game, as it turned out to be the game winner.
Did Khudobin miss any stoppable shots when it was tied 1-1? No. Khudobin made all of the saves he had to, whereas Talbot did not. It is really quite simple.

In fact, remember that glove that just got a piece of Gio’s slapper? Khudobin shutting the door when being outshot 15-6 in the third?

Now you do know why I say that. You’re welcome

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Regardless of any nonsensical reasoning the coach may have in his head it's clearly wrong, wrong, wrong to ice what's probably the worst player left in the bubble.

I suppose. It's a big case of whatever for me as the 12th forward for the Flames is not going to be very good, no matter who it is. Maybe he wants a guy in the dressing room with a little more energy than sleepy Jankowski.

I actually felt a little embarrassed for Gio when he made the slide into the net for a DOG penalty. It was kind of an unnecessary panic move and with the look on his face, I just had this uneasy feeling of a leader who was not comfortable in the situation.

I hope the team comes out a little looser for game 6. Hell using this site as a barometer, we have all moved onto the offseason already.

[Bingo]

Yeah it was interesting to hear Ward say that first period was the first time he's seen his team jittery since the return to play started.