conundrumed

And here we go...

Yuck. Our 2 star Dmen with their casual D play.

Vladar refuses to give up his chance to be a starter.lol Hedman back after missing 2 to injury. Could be a scary 3rd, they pounded the Oilers in the 3rd last night. just sayin'...

Looking solid, Lightning look like they just wanna go home. Great Rivalry Series game, 3-2 Canada in a shootout. Place was jam-packed, great support. Sharky's finding his form alright.

Adam Jiricek is who I'll be watching closely. Good size RD, younger bro of David, who is progressing nicely. Dickinson's a great player, but at 3 is a pretty big stretch. Ahead of Eiseman was a laugher.

I didn't mean the picks alone, just hoping they can *also* garner 1sts. Teams wishing to acquire them will not be picking higher than 18th, not even maybe.

I've got the Lightning. Have the Rivalry Series to go to so there will likely be lineup errors. Just using last game and expecting Wolf to start...

Equal shares of minus players Who's hot 'cuz we know who's not Flames - Yegor Sharangovich Is there an echo in here? The man they call ‘Sharky’ has been getting plenty of love in this section over the past few games, but there is no one more deserving right now. Sharangovich has eight goals in his last 14 games – tied for second in the NHL since Nov. 18. He's on a four-game goal streak, has five in that span, 10 on the year (along with eight helpers) and is an absolute terror in the shootout, scoring again in Saint Paul with that sensational move and patented, bar-down snipe of his. Lightning - Brayden Point The Calgary native has 13 goals after putting up a career-high 51 lamp-lighters a year ago. While Kucherov – and most recently, Stamkos – have been getting all the headlines, Point remains one of the fastest and most gifted offensive players in the game today. And as for the aforementioned local ties? As a youngster, Point played for the Calgary Bisons and Calgary Buffaloes before moving onto the Canmore Eagles of the AJHL, followed by the Moose Jaw Warriors, a club he would captain for two seasons in the WHL. Let's keep it fun while the C of Red becomes the C of Change Posting open... Go Flames Go!!

Okay you masticating subversive fornicators, we've got ourselves a game day!! TAMPA BAY (14-12-5) visits CALGARY (11-14-5)something something it was in!! 8pm MST - Watch on SNW/360; CityTV Listen live on FAN960 The Storyboard Inconsistent Lightning face Flames team tired of close losses Field Level Media 3–4 minutes December 16 - The Tampa Bay Lightning will try to build off a wild win when they finish a five-game road trip Saturday against the struggling Calgary Flames. Thanks to a five-goal third period, led by Steven Stamkos' first career four-goal game, the Lightning arrive in Calgary on the heels of a 7-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. "He looks at me after the fourth one and says, 'First time ever,' " Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "I was like, 'You've got 500 of them, that was the first time you've had four in a game?' And he said, 'Yeah,' so we had a good little chuckle on the bench. "You need your big guys to come out when the game's on the line, and 'Vasy' (goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy) and 'Stammer' (Stamkos) did that." With two wins in four games so far, the trip has been a microcosm of the Lightning's season. Tampa Bay has claimed four of six games, but that followed a four-game skid. The perennial league power remains outside a playoff position, even with the league's leading scorer, Nikita Kucherov -- who became the first player to hit 50 points this season with his one-goal, two-assist outing in Edmonton. As much as the Lightning had reason to celebrate the Oilers game, they cannot fool themselves. Vasilevskiy delivered a sparkling 53-save performance. "Without him, that's not even a game, so I think we give all the credit to 'Vasy'," Stamkos said. "Certainly not a recipe we want to have to rely on every night, but in a game like that when we don't have our best and we're playing a really good team that's on a winning streak, to have him back there was obviously huge." The Flames return home after going winless in four games, with the latest disappointment a 3-2 shootout loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. The Flames are on a 1-4-2 skid in which they have been close in almost every one of those defeats but not able to drum up a victory. "I thought we were the better team and we deserved those two points," goalie Dan Vladar said. "The shootout is like a lottery, right? They've got a bunch of skilled guys and it is what it is. For me, I've got to stay with it and keep doing the same things and, hopefully, the results are going to come." As close as the Flames have been to winning in those games, they have been their own worst enemy. On top of allowing a goal in the first five minutes in 11 games already this season, they have trailed at one point in 15 consecutive games and 25 of 26 outings. During their road trip, which started with a 6-5 loss to the Central Division-leading Colorado Avalanche and was followed by a 5-4 overtime loss to the league-leading Vegas Golden Knights, Calgary erased deficits but blew third-period leads in all three games. "It's happened too much where we've scored and then given one up in 30-40 seconds. It takes the air out of the tires," forward Blake Coleman said. "We've got to find ways to have good follow-up shifts." "It's another lead that we felt like we should have come out of here with two points," he added. --Field Level Media The devil's in the details

Tunnel vision/name recognition worries me the most...scout everyone like their last name is Smith. Just remember their actual name when you call it, Carey Price.lol

How about 8th, 20th and 27th? Can Handypants (NYI) and Lipbalm (DAL) garner 1sts? I feel like both of those teams are going to want to add a piece or 2 this year. Especially with the Isles playing better, Lou won't wait. Nill's gotta be thinking the same with some aging vets.

Huberdeau must be fantastic in practice shootouts, because there is all sorts of evidence that he's terrible at in-game breakaways. Another solid G effort, both of my teams getting good at wasting those.

I think this is something that gets too much hairy eyeball, as I believe that our scouting is very good. There will be times of Stromgren and Ronni's of players that fans will not agree with, but it's a part of trying to forecast fresh 18yos. So the parlay between thinking you're watching a finished product (not a positive) vs having the skills and needing further development makes the waters murky. I'm sad about the Ronni situation because, although he isn't pointing, I definitely saw a play driver that is solid at both ends. When I saw him live, it's a wonder he ended with no points, yet he's the one that creates the O from their D-zone into the O-zone and drives the transitions. Outright exceptional PKer. Can't look past that heavy allegation though, so that's a deal-breaker unless he's proven unmistakeably innocent. Another solid draft in '23. I don't love the 2nd or 4th rd picks, but that's why scouts yell at each other.lol

It's because they have to change into playing higher risk play with 1 Dman pinching into the O-zone when they have possession or on the rush. It's kind of one of those things that will go one way or the other, you'll comeback, or they'll score again. G is everything in that situation because you're risking odd man rushes going the other way. I watch Detroit have to do this too often, but it does add a lot of excitement. Our goalies have been great at giving us a chance this year. Our "normal" structural play is lacking sets of forwards that compliment each other imo. You want a puck carrier/distributor, a hard board player and a finisher/shot threat. Combinations of other play/D-responsible. For me, I think we lack fwds that are really good when the puck is on their stick. Zary is, Backlund next, maybe Sharangovich, but that's about it. Sharangovich wants the puck moving faster, I always see it, but he doesn't have those linemates to accomplish it. For me, I'd like to see Zary getting some C time while we wait for Pelletier, then make those 3 a line. It'll kind of lack a strong board player, but, say, a line with DeBrincat-Kane on the wings has always lacked that also. They just rely on possession. It's funny, all the people that complained about trading down in the draft are awfully quiet now due to Zary. They can still harp about Jankowski, but I doubt anyone liked that idea, and it's a distant memory-lesson in how not to hire a GM. That whole Feaster-Weisbrod thing was embarrassing. Laurel and Hardy playing Einstein amongst hundreds, if not thousands, of professionals. That stretched my limits as a Flames fan with extended family/friends in the profession. The laughing-stock era. How's that for topic-leaping? lol

In the OT, I can't help but lay the blame on Kadri. Twice in about 15 seconds he turned the puck over by needlessly trying to force the play to Sharangovich. Didn't work the first force, got the puck back and did the exact same thing. Possession is everything in 3-on-3, and he immediately turned the puck over the 2 times he had it. Tunnel vision.

Lindholm doesn't really drive the play much and has had every winger that we have. He's a solid 2C, but not a chance that he's a big money 1C. Mangiapane can't be the slot guy on a line with Sharangovich and Lindholm, in that order. Mangiapane's shot is a waffle by comparison. Especially to Sharangovich's, who has the heaviest shot on the entire roster. Yet plays the point on the PP, which would be laughable if it weren't so sad. The entire PP should revolve around feeding Sharangovich one-timers. The PP has a world of issues that won't change without getting a couple of players off of it. Replace Lindholm with Backlund and Huberdeau with either Rosie, Pospisil or almost anyone else. Huberdeau wants to play 80% finesse and 20% blood and guts. The league is the polar opposite, he isn't changing that. I rarely see him skating hard out of the O-zone, hence he's a minus-monster.

aaaannnnd....Craig Berube's been fired. Perchance to dream. He'll land on his feet without question. Our D strategy drives me nuts. Collapsing way too early or playing way too deep, name your poison. Vegas came out in the 2nd just looking to create chaos at our crease. A very good plan when a team just wants to defend from the hashmarks down. Earlier I thought Oesterle was struggling with gap control, but it's actually the entire team falling way too low constantly. Then we struggle to get pucks out because the closest guy to the blueline starts from 12' away from it. We have an 8' x 8' box that starts at the top of the crease. Of course teams will move in tighter to shrink it even more...my 2 (s)cents.

Well that was pointless yet again.

PEEPEEEEE WEEEE....

We now have a 3-way tie in goal leaders with Kadri and Sharangovich joining Coleman with 8.

Pull out the 8 balls boys, 20 minutes to go!!lol

Man can Yegor shoot the puck.

Vegas' plan is jamming the crease. Dmen better get physical in a hurry.

Huberdeau crushing the minuses...