travel_dude

Bwahahaha. Good one RD. Yeah, pretty much that lineup.

He was better in junior and never really managed to grab a spot. In the KHL, he's done little there as well. May have to go to a Euro league if the KHL has issues.

If it wasn't a BOA game, I would take Lucic out of the lineup. Too many goals against on his watch. Alternately, you have to sit Lucic. You can shorten the bench and get Lewis out there with 2 other guys to switch things up. For sure have to go 11-7 if Tanev is available. If you are not changing the top line (at home they were both good and bad), then double shift them Gaudreau or Tkachuk with Coleman and Backlund. Tkachuk or Gaudreau with Jarny and Toffoli. Not using the shooters where they can get shots. Unless Dube comes on strong, consider stapling him to the bench. Nothing against him, but he's doing little offensively out there. Good on the cycle until he gets crushed. Good on the break until he enters the zone and gets crushed. I get that he's a N/S player, but the boards are not his friend.

The Heat have waived for the purpose of terminating the player: Dmitry Zavgorodniy. He never really fit when he he played in the AHL.

Media is suggesting that he will be playing tonight. That doesn't surprise me. Such a class act.

Good to know. It was very sudden. Hope he and his family get through this okay.

Beck is with the team, but hasn't drawn in. Probably the best thing, though. He's been with the team a month, but no games. The team is rolling right now. Like I said, odd that Gawdin came out and Kerins in. Not normal to sub a top producer from a top line. No mention anywhere of an injury. Perhaps there was some question about his play in the first round. But he had 1g and 3a in 3 games. Anyway, this is about Kerins. Keep it up. Help the Heat win the Calder. Become a fixture with Pelts and show that you can be a callup. Pretty significant that he comes right out of junior and i on the top line during the playoffs. No adjustment, kid you are next up.

I believe that the Flames can score more than the Oily Stains tonight.

Shows what good coaches can help the team do.

STL did it and staved off elimination. We can do it.

It's just odd that there doesn't seem to be any mention of Gawdin. He was part of the top scoring Heat line all season. Played 3 playoff games and had 4 points. Must be injured.

And STL was the spoiler tonight. Look out in the 3rd round

I would not be surprised if his GF plays 2nd fiddle to the team in the playoff run. He's such a class act. They can use his absense though, should he decide to be a man. They lose, it's an excuse. They win, then the team is bigger than one player. To your point, the home barn will be loud. Fans will be cheering to beat the band. It's why this team loves home games. They want to give the fans an experience to remember. Whether it's enough, there won't be any passengers.

Gawdin out, but no reason mentioned. He was projected to go at C on the top line. Somewhere between practice and game 1 start, Kerins drew in. I suppose it made the most sense, since it would not disrupt any other lines. But that's a big change.

History is just old news. While there have been things that we can't seem to get past, it's not a question of what we did in the past. Haven't won a game 2 in forever. Haven't won a first round series since 2015. Last playoffs we came into the Dallas series and played great to start. Less than a minute from going up 3-1 on the series, but ended up losing after 2 more games. Very fragile teams in the past. We started with the worst and have some improvement. We saw a mounted comeback that fell apart once we were even. We are down 3-1 and haven't tapped into the things that made us a division winner. Haven't had elite goaltending or even stable stuff. We haven't had the top players impact the team. The defense has been a mess at times. Haven't had disciplined play throughout any game. And yet we still are 2 wins from tying the series. EDM has faced little adversity this series. Game one was not something that set the course of the series. Win one at home and one on the road. Get to game 7 and live or die.

We have had more than enough chances on the PP to have a bunch of goals. It looks stale at times. And not really sure of the rationale of using Hanifin on PP1. Nor am I convinced that you have even a second unit. We have a set play on the PP1, which is use someone behind the net to Lindholm in the slot. Okay, great, except when that is not free. Diagonal from the left point to the right circle has a RHS, so too much time to set up. The Oiler use cross crease and blast from the point, with a battle for the rebound. Our option is a LHS wrister from 50 feet. Too easy to freeze it. The PP has looked stale for the last month. No point in loading up with the best players if they are not scoring at 5v5. Try some new looks and have a PP2 that doesn't just kill the clock. Backlund is a possession beast, but has little options. He gives up and just wrists it at times. An alt setup for the two units. PP1 Lucic Mangiapane-Lindy-JH Ras PP2 Coleman Toffoli-Backlund-Tkachuk Kylington (or Hanifin) We sacrifice Tkachuk to the 2nd unit. It puts off wingers on both sides to get the quick shot. On PP1, it has to be a guy in the face of Smith that doesn't get boxed out. His possession helps a bit. We lose a bit of the back and forth behind the net, but free up a couple of gamers. Coleman really get in the face of goalies and is at home there. Substitute Lucic with Lewis if needed. That might make more sense to have a 2nd C out there.

Smith looks like crap most of the time that we drive play. Juicy rebounds that we don't attack or miss out on. 3 goals that he should have stopped last night. We are making it too easy on a goalie because we are not sustaining pressure or give him easy shots to feel the game. Marky was fine in game 4. Was okay in game 2, gave us enough without having to face two breakaways to finish out a tie game. Maybe Sutter changes goalie to put it on the players on the ice to win it or a backup to steal one, but I think he knows we are that close to winning games. It's all or nothing in game 5, so you go with the team that got you there. Expect better. Maybe tweak a few things, but the margin between success and failure is so thin. The top line has done almost nothing this series. The best line in hockey all season long is minus for this series. Scored on 5v5, 4v4, 5v4. Not scoring 5v5, 5v4 etc. Tkachuk has been quiet for 10 out of 11 games and was only good in part of game 1 this series.

Game 2 was likely the hardest to win, but next game at elevation (5000 feet). Get in early and go hiking. They don't seem to track minutes in games, and they don't really cover the team much here. I looked at the projected lines from game 2, which they said came from how game 1 unfolded: Jakob Pelletier – Rory Kerins – Matthew Phillips Justin Kirkland – Luke Philp – Martin Pospisil Emilio Pettersen – Connor Zary – Eetu Tuulola Alex Gallant – Byron Froese – Walker Duehr Kevin Gravel – Nick DeSimone Greg Moro – Colton Poolman Ilya Solovyov – Andy Welinski Dustin Wolf Daniil Chechelev That seems to make sense. Phillips scored in game 1, and Kerins was a +1. Only goal in game 2 was on the PP, having Phillips assisting on Kirkland's goal.

Kyler away from Tanev was not good. Kyler with Tanev was fine. Only goal Kyler was out for was a poor play by the wingers. And of course letting Nuge get the better of him. That started by not recognizing the threa I think that you have two guys playing really well with Backlund. Tkachuk has been a non-factor on the top line. I don't know if you want to just rely on him and Coleman, but it makes some sense. Dube on the 3rd line wing is doing nothing positive this series. Sutter is seeing all that, and I thought he would have used the blender. But the come back didn't allow for that. Top line is not getting inside positioning. Bread can do that, but would that result in more or less chances. A couple of options that could change things. Desperate times. LOL. Option 1 Mangiapane-Lindholm-Gaudreau Coleman-Backlund-Tkachuk Dube-Jarnkrok-Toffoli Option 2 Gaudreau-Lindholm-Coleman Mangiapane-Lindholm-Tkachuk Dube-Jarnkrok-Toffoli Option 3 Gaudreau-Lindholm-Toffoli Mangiapane-Backlund-Tkachuk Coleman-Jarnkrok-Dube Only the 3rd option really changes all three lines. Short of bringing in Rozie on the 3rd line and inserting Jarnkrok on the 4th line, there has to be some dressing down of the top line.

I don't believe in the arrogance thing so much. Coming into the series, we were riding a high of a game 7 OT win. Game 1 was all over the map. River hockey. Lax goaltending and defense. Easy scoring. Nothing what we had just finished playing. Maybe there was a belief we could complete that way. Crowd didn't help. Details slipped away. Started game 2 the same way, but the refs decided we needed to slow down. Too much special teams stuff. We are in the same boat as game 6 against the Stars. Must win category. Up till now, we wanted a win. Now we need a win. I don't think you see major changes, but I would like to see something done with the top 9. If Tanev can go, insert a different forward. Give one chance to Rozie. It only means that if you play him less, it's no worse than 11-7. Rotate if you need to. The fat lady is reading the music, but I don't think she knows all the notes. Play as if there is no tomorrow, since that is possibly the case.

Glad Wolf is doing the things that he did all year, but finally getting the scores he deserves. Was robbed a couple of times, but darn close. Let's see him have bring the team on his back. They are pretty well constructed. Maybe we get a grad or two next season. Maybe. Could sure use another playmaker in the lineup.

I think he's playing up in the lines but hard to tell with not much scoring.

It's RD's call. I only step in like Vladar.

The Flames showed spurts of it in 3 games in round 1. Part of a game in Games 1 and 2. Half of game 4. Tkachuk, when he was driving play, was hard to stop. Gaudreau, when at least one other player on the line is going, played good hockey. But the top line was on the wrong side of the puck most every game. Tkachuk has been clutch in games up to the playoffs. Now he's just eating minutes. In fact, in 4 games this round, he's been almost invisible. If he's injured, replace his spot with someone that shows composure and drive. If it's his age turning him into a spotty player, sit him down and get through to him.

So focused on the Flames, but the Heat are doing special things this year. Round 1 - buy to the 2nd round for winning the Pacific Round 2 - beat the crap out of the Oilers farm team and win the series 3-0 Round 3 - facing the AVS farm team and we shut them out two games in a row for a 2-0 lead in a best of 5. This kind of mirrors the season the Flames had, especially the playoff matchups. Except, that we beat the baby Oilers and lead the AVS (that we likely won't face now). Go Heat Go.