[PGT] Flames 3 Avs 2

[PepsiFree]

[ComixZone]

What I'd love to see next game:

Gaudreau - Monahan - Tkachuk
Bennett - Backlund - Neal
Dube - Lindholm - Czarnik
Jankowski - Ryan - Hathaway

Giordano - Brodie
Hanifin - Andersson
Valimaki - Stone

Smith
Rittich

PP1:
Lindholm (off-wing)
Monahan (off-wing)
Tkachuk (net-front)
Gaudreau (left point)
Giordano (right point)

PP2:
Czarnik (off-wing)
Neal (off-wing)
Bennett (net-front)
Backlund (left point)
Hanifin (right point)

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

PP1:
Lindholm (off-wing)
Monahan (off-wing)
Tkachuk (net-front)
Gaudreau (left point)
Giordano (right point)

PP2:
Czarnik (off-wing)
Neal (off-wing)
Bennett (net-front)
Backlund (left point)
Hanifin (right point)

One can dream. Seems so straightforward, too. Swap Gio and Hanifin and you're really talkin', though.

[Beninho]

Elias Lindholm is a well rounded hockey player

[blender]

Originally Posted by Beninho

Elias Lindholm is a well rounded hockey player

Flames MVP so far.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by crapshoot

Take it easy man. You're posting a lot and shots are gonna get fired, that's just how it goes. I value your input on these boards for the most part and I bet most others do as well. Don't worry about it.

Agree

PSA to people focusing on the Scorp, too. Relax and savour the win

We are all here because we like the Flames

[Calgary4LIfe]

Refreshing.


Very, very refreshing.


The Bill Peters chinook has blown into Calgary and it is damn nice.



Colorado came out hard and scored two quick ones. Peters quickly called a timeout after the 2nd goal with it being painfully obvious that the Flames were not ready and were completely overwhelmed. It seemed to steady them for the rest of the period.


During the intermission, Peters must have changed the gameplan. The Flames came out and completely turned the tables on the game. They dominated and dominated and dominated. Avs were lucky it remained a close game.


Finally, a coach with a pulse on the team. Darryl Sutter had it. Hartley had it. Now Peters seems to have it. Seems to know what buttons to push and when to push them. I was very leery of this hire as I thought the Canes' metrics were eerily similar to Calgary's in a number of areas, but thus far he has brought out the best in these Flames.


In the first season under Gulutzan, there were nights when the Flames were losing and I would think: "Yeah, just wait until the third period. Got this one!", only to scratch my head and wonder what happened. It took a full season of expecting a Hartley-esque push to tie up a game and send it to OT, or just outright win it in the third.


I hope it doesn't take me a full season this time around. I thought when that 2nd goal went in: "This game is over. I just hope it isn't too embarrassing."


Don't worry. Peters has his pulse on the team. The team needed a timeout to regroup and get a bit of direction, and it paid off in spades. Lines were reworked on the fly. New game-plan put into place (or maybe the right push by Peters to make the players execute the existing game-plan better).


Bennett is quickly 'recovering' from the Gulutzan era. That's another strong (almost a monster of a) game from him.



I felt that Brodie had more 'bad luck' happen than actual bad play on those 2 quick goals, but the whole team was rattled from the drop of the puck. He had a monster game after the first period I thought.


Rittich was good. This team can rely on him to give Smith more rest this season.


Backlund was just 'on' tonight.



Seriously, Bennett deserves a lot of attention lately. I would really like to see him replace Dube on the 2nd unit PP. I think Bennett is just sensational at puck retrieval along the boards, and the 2nd unit can really make use of it IMO. This kid needs more minutes.


I have been critical of Hathaway and often stated that I wouldn't mind if he was claimed off waivers, but he had a real strong game tonight.



Jankowski was much better, though I think limited minutes makes it tough for him to get going.


Hanifin had a really strong game as well, at both ends of the ice, even though he didn't hit the stats sheet.



Finally the resiliency that this team hasn't had in the better parts of 2 seasons, mixed in with a damn fun to watch play-style.

[circle]

Circle's 2 cents (or 5) for the game:

Brodie with a Jekyll and Hyde performance
- Brodie in his first few shifts looked uncomfortable and not ready to go. It started with the missed assignment on MacKinnon and was highlighted by his bobbling of the puck which led to the 2-0 goal early in the first. After this though, Brodie was in my opinion the Flames best D. He was active in the offensive zone making smart pinches and good plays to cycle the puck. He was skating well through the neutral zone. And he made an excellent defensive play in the overtime which led to Monahan being able to grab the puck and spring Gaudreau in for the breakaway winner. It was quite a weird game for Brodie considering the highs and the lows but it was nice to see him bounce back after a couple of bad plays.

The timeout
- I can't remember a time where a coach called a timeout so early in the game, but I really liked the call. Peters recognized that the Flames were not ready to start the game and he took the whole timeout to motivate and get the guys focused. This got the team settled into the game and from that point on, the Flames looked like a different team. Perhaps Colorado took the gas off the pedal but the Flames dominated in the second and third periods and ultimately came back to win the game. It seems refreshing to have a coach that isn't afraid to use the timeout in key situations now that the coach's challenge has been implemented (i.e. afraid to use the timeout in the event of a potential interference or offside call).

Bennett's 2nd period hit changes the game
- This will be my 3rd consecutive game where I have written about how Bennett is playing great this season and Bennett took it another step this game. Although the timeout was critical in getting the Flames to settle down, I believe the momentum changed entirely when Bennett crunched JT Compher in the corner. A few shifts later, Bennett tapped in a rebound to close the gap by one. 2 minutes left in the third, Bennett creates chaos in front of Varlamov and Lindholm is able to snipe in the game-tying goal. Really great effort by Bennett tonight and I love that Bennett stood up for himself and went after Zadorov after being butt-checked by him without the puck (with no call somehow). Overall a great night for Bennett.

Solid backup performance by Rittich
- In my opinion, Rittich in the backup role is completely fine going forward. When he took over starting duties last year during Smith's injury, he didn't play as well. But during his time as the #2 in net, Rittich has been nothing but solid and this applied to tonight as well. I can't blame him for either goal he let in tonight but he certainly kept the Flames in the game until the momentum started to shift.

Critical PK in the 3rd
- Although I praised Bennett for standing up for himself, it did put the Flames down a man in the third period. Had Colorado scored on this PP, the game might have been too far out of reach for the Flames to come back. But this PK was probably the best of the season. Colorado had so much difficulty entering the zone and once they did enter the zone, it seemed like the puck was already going the other way. The one dangerous chance that Colorado had, Brodie was there to block Rantanen's shot, and thus, we kept the Avalanche to 0 shots in the PK. The differences in the PK from this season to last are quite noticeable to my eye. They are playing what seems like a triangle down low and then the high forward is constantly skating and trying to be aggressive. As well, we are doing a great job to deny zone entries by being more aggressive and stepping up at the blue line. Currently, we are 20% on the PP and 80% on the PK, which I'll take all day compared to last year. I believe the mark to be at is a combined percentage of 100% and we are right there. Hopefully we continue to play well against a really strong Bruins team on Wednesday.

[The Boy Wonder]

Good to see what actual coaching can do for a group of players.

[H2SO4(aq)]

How much of a prick is pat steinberg? Totally just put words in that guy’s mouth. Wtf

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by H2SO4(aq)

How much of a prick is pat steinberg? Totally just put words in that guy’s mouth. Wtf

Steinberg sucks. Guy doesn’t have a non bland opinion on anything.

[midniteowl]

Originally Posted by H2SO4(aq)

How much of a prick is pat steinberg? Totally just put words in that guy’s mouth. Wtf

I really like Steinberg when he first started out the same way I really like Kerr when he first started out, but in time, they both let their egos get to their collective heads.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Scorch

I just literally referenced the Prout thread as an example

Are you honestly this dense?

If you don't like his posts, put him on ignore. There's no good reason for you to be jackass with your petty personal attacks and piling on. It brings down the decorum on this forum.

[oldschoolcalgary]

happy for Bennett and hope that he stays with a line that's clicking.

Peters has shown that he is willing to mix things up anytime things aren't clicking or rolling with players with a hot hand.

i feel pretty good that he'll be able to make adjustments during the game as required... and that is frankly quite refreshing

[calgarywinning]

Some people here need to keep in mind the world is full of nasty, we come here to get away of that, at the very least when the Flames win. A good argument or difference of opinion is great, but leave the nasty. Remember you could be on the dark side of some other teams Around the League Report.

That being said, Bennett was fantastic tonight, especially with Neal. Some great fight back, punishing forecheck, among other things really pushed the tilt in this game.

Even better with Bennett playing great is it actually a fact that he has stayed out of the penalty box and for two games now? I don't know for sure, but it's nice to see that along with how the new coach is using him.

Here's hoping Lindholm really does break out. He's playing like a monster out there when it's needed and so smart.

Czarnik with many great smart quick moves.

Also, the new coach, way to adapt the play style to this team after the first period. The team for following... much better hockey then we've seen in a long time.

[The Boy Wonder]

Where’s Dino7c to come in and hate on Bennett and Brodie?

Kinda tough tonight huh?

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

they brought it up. i'm sick and tired of people baselessly criticizing my posting in general without providing reasons because contrary to popular belief i value feedback and would greatly appreciate constructive stuff instead of drive-bys designed to elicit thanks

it's garbage posting that is honestly totally hypocritical when it calls me out because they are substance-less nothing posts calling me out for actually contributing substance to the site!

so forgive me for taking it personally, for once. i only want to be a good poster and i want help, not put-downs

Quit playing the victim.

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I'll admit, I was wrong. This team has finish, they have spunk, and they look really, really good. Liked everything after the weird start.

With your first post in this thread you more or less acknowledged that your hysterical Flames suck, Brodie sucks, everything sucks posts through 2 periods in the GT were an emotional overreaction.

Read your posts in the GT thread and tell me that they reflect the same level-headedness as this post.

It's like Jekyll and Hyde

I know you aspire to be a great poster. Great posters don't act like the worst kind of bandwagon fans 5 games into a new season, especially considering the roster turnover and coaching changes.

I hope the feedback helps.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[The Boy Wonder]

Leave scorpion alone...

He’s passionate and almost all of us go through some ups and downs posting in game threads.

No need to go on persona attacks

[TheScorpion]

I'm sorry, I said I was wrong, so I don't get the logic behind continuing to hound my posting. What am I supposed to do, apologize again? I get that you want to make a point but I already asked you to do so in my PMs, so I'd appreciate it if you did so there in the future.

Anyway, can we please put this weird, unnecessarily angry argument to rest? It's really tiring.

Edit: Textcritic, I'm not the one who keeps bringing it up.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I'm sorry, I said I was wrong, so I don't get the logic behind continuing to hound my posting. I get that you want to make a point but I already asked you to do so in my PMs.

Maybe stop posting about it in the thread, and move on?