travel_dude

We gotta stop the flyby's. The rebounds are right there 2 feet in front of the goalie.

Too deep and down for the angle he was playing. Was only guarding 1/4 of the net with a glove. If you don't see it, that's useless.

Well, Dostal really gives up juicy rebounds. Hit his pads, it dies about 2 feet in front of him. Maybe tell our players that Mr. Coach?

Not giving him a pass at all, but there was two players completely screening him. Stone was hauling the player out of the screen, but too late. Would have been better to push him into the shot.

It was a bad change. You could see Lucic not even in the zone when the goal was finally scored.

There's your 4th line folks.

Ritchie gets a goal, we are going to re-sign him for $3M.

Surprise surprise, we actually have a lead.

Handling the puck too much when you have a lane to the net after a pass. Vladar looking sharp.

EVery game is a must win from here on in. We can't depend on WPG and NAS to lose out.

Exactly. Another crossbar. Maybe aim lower?

Vladar gets the 2nd period. If they lose, I'm sure it wasn't about Markstrom. Oooh, a PP goal to start the period.

Apparently if you can beat non-playoff teams, you must have the lines exactly right.

Last time we faced this goalie, we lost. We get good chances, the goalie stops it. They get good chances, they score. For all the good saves Marky makes, he lets this team down too often. I hear about the lack of support, but ANA isn't exactly a responsible team.

Other than Stone for Gilbert, no other changes. Goal on first shot for ANA. After that a huge half save on a breakaway. Ouch, that 2nd goal was bad.

Maybe more like a slow motion trainwreck.

It's early yet, WPG can crap the bed with the best of them.

As a diversion from life, watching hockey is something to look forward to. 240+ hours a year in an okay year, more with the playoffs. But, my feeling towards this year is more dread than entertainment. I won't go to any games this year, somewhat because of my location, but more about the product. In prior years, I might have chanted Looch. Not, I am thinking get the clown off the ice. The quality of play has really gone downhill. You two obviously see it. We are scoring from the lowest common denominator of play. Grit, not skilled play. We probably could win a series because we tend to try to hurt teams. Passing is mostly hhit the stick so that it deflects into an area. Huberdeau passing to Backlund is like giving it to Lewis; he might hit the net. Strange that we take career years from some players as being proof that a coach knows what he is doing. Without career years, we are at best a middling team. The ho-hum play of too many regulars is tough to watch. Would rather watch Kylington breezing down the ice than Hanifin's decision making. We have players that don't fit together stuck on the same line. And that 4th line is like watching grass grow. Duehr is a decent player but doesn't belong with that group.

So, any predictions on if or when Coronato will play his first NHL game? I don't think Sutter cares about the deal he signed. He's only looking to win and won't change anything after a win. 5 of the last 10 games were against playoff bound teams. We have 2 wins in that span.

It's interesting to watch WPG implode yet again. No wonder PM is gone. This was a team looking like one of the better to come out of the West. Now it's a question they can make it, let alone win a round. They are due for a roster blow up. NAS is a team I never want to bet against. You look at their lineup and go, yeah I know those two guys. Then it's who? No Josi or Ekholm? No Forsberg? No problem. They traded away most of their chances to make the playoffs. Yet, here they are. There are fans that have railed against Backlund for years, but he gets the love. Lindholm has a bit of a down year, yet he continues to lead the team. We can't have three C's making more than $5M especially where Lindholm will get a big raise. A defensive C that plays 3rd line or a shutdown role isn't a $5M player. We went all in on Kadri, so get the best out of him. Make a trade of Backlund after his standout season, which was trending down until the new year.

I'm not really sure why anyone even favors Hubey with Backlund. It doesn't make any sense to me. Mange has looked better with Lindholm, but who doesn't? That Kadri line is so bad they need to play as a 3rd line. Ritchie is mostly his brother with less tendency to go get the puck. Duehr is the only reason why the 4th line isn't totally embarassed every night. We won't see Pelletier back in the lineup until (at the very least) a B2B. Ruzie has no pics of Sutter he can use to get out of the doghouse. Coronato is maybe a game when we don't need to worry. You are here to learn kid, don't ask about playing. You got your money, so pipe down, dress up in a nice suit and have some popcorn on us. Oops, I reverted to the rant. Go Flames Go.

Same since I first joined here. Timing is around when I moved to AB. No other alt accounts, since I don't have more than one personality. This is not a team easy to cheer for. They get your hopes up, then look like a different team the next game. Every coach has to be a Richard now and then, but not one every single night. Cooper never comes off as negative, so when he scratches a player or line or cuts ice time, you notice. Notice what the team says, notice what the coach says. I hear more of you're the problem here than most places, singling out players in a loss. Not the team, but players. Praises one player and cuts to shreds another. Backup was okay, did what he's supposed to do. Backup wasn't good on a couple of goals. Markstrom was the best player out there. Markstrom had no help, maybe wnats one goal back. The C made a bad call, but Pelletier blew that play. Sounds a bit too much of a rant, so I will stick to the bandwagon part. I'm struggling to find reasons to believe this year. This is perhaps one of the better stretches we've seen, but it's still just a couple over 500 since March 1st. 8-5-2 during that stretch, where 3 wins come in extra time or SO. First 3 game winning streak since what, December? And our longest streak is exactly 3 games. There are not many teams I want to face in round 1. Vegas without Stone is probably possible to win. DAL is dependent on their goalies. Minny is a tough out and we could win or get beaten by goaltending. COL, no thanks. LA is interesting, but I think they are better than what we have seen last of them.

I think Sutter believes he is responsible for the wins. Against the Nucks he was on for 2 even strength goals against. My opinion of when he is out, the lines are not set up right.

We are definitely making th playoffs now. Ducks are a sure fire win. Put it in the bank.

Toffoli the hero.