flames for life

Sounds familiar. I think I’ve been singing this song for a couple of weeks now!!

Totally agree! Relaxed means reacting quickly! Too many times tonight, we’ve seen what should have been a “quick release” type of shot stopped and pondered long enough to allow Campbell to set and stop the shot.

I’m getting somewhat frustrated with the negative dismissive opinions regarding Dustin Wolf. What more does he have to prove in order to be ranked respectively with other goaltending prospects. Has Cossa or Wallstadt earned the accolades that Wolf has? He has pushed to be the best in junior and professional ranks, and succeeded!! Do you really think Wolf doesn’t realize his height and how that may be perceived? He plays taller than he is. He plays to perfect his game regardless of height. To start rating prospects that have not proven themselves at all in the stronger leagues is quite demeaning to Dustin. I have no doubt he will be playing in the Nhl in the near future. He is too skilled and competitive not to.

But behind Wolf, of course!!😉

Some of those simple plays are more about growth and confidence. His biggest goal right now is to learn the Nhl and how to bring his game into it. He has had great plays, good plays, and some poorer plays; much like Hanifin, Andersson, etc, did in their first year or two. Imo, Ruzie is progressing well. He is learning on the fly, and when a mistake happens, we see improvement on the issue. our biggest hurdle that I see, is a one dimensional fourth line; designed to hit, but not score or defend. Last year’s big Ahl line was Pelletier, Ruzie, and Phillips. Maybe it would be worthwhile putting them together as an energy fourth line?

Btw, we need to keep Blasty uniforms…they’re luck!!

Ok, so overall, not a bad game from Calgary; not great but not bad either. It’s nice to see some passing actually on the tape more often than not. We saw most of the team showing added effort, Lucic and Lewis excluded. Vladar played awesome! Hubie starting to play to form. Mangie looked more tenacious tonight than we’ve seen lately. Playing more north/south game tonight. Liked Weegar and Tanev tonight, great defense. Hope we see more of this to come!!

I don’t have a problem with Mangepane on RW, but I do if he is expected to be the primary playmaker, as it’s not his forte. Instead of running up the boards and using that miserable button hook, and losing the puck, he need to play his strength. Positioning in the slot and snapping the shots were his strengths last year.

I didn’t have a problem with Vladar’s play at all! If anything, he gave evidence to becoming the starter. One of the big statements is the goalie has to rob goals in order to set the team up to win games. V is totally doing that. The unfortunate part is the team is not responding in like member!

I’m definitely agreeing that the Flames will be involved in many 1 goal games. I just wish they would be on the winning side of these one goal games!!😢

I am getting so tired of the lack of focus when playing on the boards. Start playing north/south instead of passing to no one in particular, in the middle!!

I think it needs to be said, the one thing glaringly missing is scoring, and one of the top scorers in the Ahl is Phillips. We need to give him the opportunity to show this at the next level, or he will leave and another team will benefit from our development.

Michael Stone back in the line up. Hopefully we see his thunder shot from the point create some havoc!

Well, that was painful. I’m not opposed to a loss if the effort is there. This was not that. Even the shots on net were into the goalie. I would rather hear numerous rings off the goalpost than than this. At least then, it shows intentional shots rather then body shots constantly. Calgary has a lot of work and soul-searching to do. It’s like they’ve totally lost their identity!

Calgary needs to take a week off and get to basics; like passing, forechecking, playing, etc. maybe bring up Phillips and Pelletier. They can do no worse!

Right now, Calgary is playing like they’ve already lost! I’ve seen about 4 minutes of effort from the Flames in this last period. I think Calgary is going to have to accept that they have no one as a specific playmaker, so all must concentrate on setting up each other.

All lines… no show!!

Yup….inevitable. Calgary is earning this loss!

Ya know, Calgary is not so small that they should be pushed around this badly!!

Calgary is again working with quantity of shots, but not quality of shots! They are not playing a great game…they appear slow and intentional, but they are not getting good shots on net. They are forechecking to keep the puck in the offensive zone but nothing really around the net.

One thing of note that numerous people have recognized; Backlund is an anchor on the team in ways that haven’t been fully credited. He makes players better by being the rudder to their game. He did that with Tkachuk, Mangepane, Dube to an extent; and now, Hubie is playing into the role that was expected of him by playing with a steady and strong Centre. Backlund’s contribution to the Flames continues to evolve and improve into something special. Hats off to the guy!!

Overall, it was interesting that shots on net were pretty even; the major difference was the Penguins had the majority of shots in high danger areas. The Flames had 95% of their shots from the points, without traffic. Calgary really struggled with zone entry, and getting people in front of the net.

Markstrom is a mystery. He will make jaw dropping saves worthy of stop of the week replays, and then also have the dumb play of the game! Im excited with the confidence that Ruzie is showing. He is making a strong case to stay on that top line!! Hubie and Backlund had stuff happening as well. Calgary is starting to show some bits of “gelling” on the top lines, but this is also exposing the main areas of weakness as well; zone entry, comes to mind.

Too early for that call. Playing .500 hockey until Christmas still allows the team to adjust and kill the second half of the season, but adjusting is the operative word!!

I can’t fault the effort on offence. 40 shots!! Aside from so-so goaltending, Calgary just does not look to be in Sync! Too many missed passes, or ice awareness for their team mates. I do believe it will iron out as they play longer together, but our PP misses Johnny big time.