travel_dude

EDM took Wednesday off, so they should be fully rested. LOL. I think EDM is focused more on the 6 they scored than we are. I don't think it's cause for concern for us, no should EDM think it's a product of their good play. McD already got his easy calls, so I think the refs are a bit more stingy. I would say that we got away with less than the Oilers did. Just what I saw. It wasn't an overly dirty game. Big hits were clean hits. Not a lot of after whistle stuff. But then again, Smitty was out of the game. He tends to escalate stuff out there. I do expect a strong start from the Flames. Heavy forecheck. First to the puck. Better structure. Dictate the play. Can't sit back and let them get moving. They will be trying. And McD will no doubt be out for 25 minutes again. Draisaitl may be a bit hobbled. No PK for him. But we never really checked him hard. Nurse must be a big concern for them. Played a lot less than usual. Almost expect 7D tonight, but that is next to impossible with Draisaitl banged up.

I read that some say Lucic is going to be able to do whatever he wants and there is nobody that can do anything about it. Maybe that's 100% true, but Lucic had maybe one good hit all night. The other guys stepped up for us and did as much. Again, no response. And I suspect that EDM doesn't want to go there, since it takes away from the offense. Pushback yes, but I don't think they want to get into a battle. I keep hearing about how EDM hung 6 on our starter or that they scored 6 at evens. Coach. Players. Gregor said the following, which I thought was more to the point: "The six goals Edmonton scored shouldn’t be seen as anything more than an odd distraction.".

Let's hope that it's a better night tonight for those having Flames and less for those with EDM (ptui) players.

I don't think a 1-0 win had anyone believing a cakewalk. We came out strong but really only put 26 shots on net. Dallas started stronger in game 2, but it was one deflected goal that made the difference. Goalie battles at both ends. Not exactly a lot of difference between the two. Against the Oils, we came out strong and dominated play on both end of the ice, as well as the PP and PK. It's the playoffs and anything can happen. Whether Smith rebounds or not, the Oils have a lot more holes to patch. We tend to come out of poor defensive games (goalie, etc.) with a much more determined defensive game, while still putting up shots and chances.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I expect the exact same start from us. We were unlucky to have hit a great goalie for Dallas, but it's what we do. Start on time. I don't care what EDM does to change their game, but we punish them. Same hits, same clogged middle. If we learned anything from game 1, it's do what we do well. Punish, hit, don't give free paths. Then it's lock it down.

Oops, got off track. Go pool.

I would say that Toffee doesn't get enough love. He's not on the scoresheet, but does everything else. We are luck to have him.

Don't get the logic of saying this right now. Stroke the ego time I guess. It was a no-brainer, so why bother. But I guess it's EDM, so need to tell the fans something. Show the faith. Stroke the ego.

I'm a superstitious type, so I wasn't really wanting to plug my picks in. But, what the heck. I did brackets etc. This isn't really any different. I find it refreshing that both Mangiapane and Coleman have started scoring. Coleman is a big gamer, so I know he will be involved, if not scoring. Pure gold. Recent cup winner. Liked having him talk about the killer instinct. It was sorely lacking before and now it's a matter of just doing it from start to finish.

There was one PK where Coleman disrupted the bump back. It resulted in a shorthand chance. I agree that you can't let McD freewheel at any time, but especially in a 5v4 situation.

I thought we let up a bit on him as the game went on, but for sure it was some missed coverage and a bit of sloppy goaltending that allowed him on the score sheet. He can take over a game, but he didn't. Backlund was a dog on him. The Flames checked him hard, which may actually have put him off his game a bit. And these weren't exactly light touches. The Lucic hit was brutal. Head deflected off a partition. Maybe not something you get up woozy, but it looked bad in slow mo.

The one he scored on Mark was a scrambling goalie opening up. Great vision to slide it home, because that's a goal he doesn't give up anywhere else. Normally. Broken plays on his other points. But to your point, if there is offense coming, he has a hand in it. 25 minutes a night and it's almost impossible not to. Every play goes through him, so if they counted the 5th pass, he would be in on every goal. I think we did exactly what we need to frustrate McD. We just stopped doing it. The goal was a result of an interference behind the net on Guddy. Maybe not a penalty, but it's still a cross check on a player down.

I think EDM is very open to attacks from the forecheck. Sure they opened up after going down by 3, but the defense was a gong show at times. I don't just mean the D. Some of the goals saw the middle open up like a barn door, for sure. I saw some similar structure to the team that played LA. Draisaitl and Nuge look a bit off. They impact two lines as a result. We really didn't check him hard. Other than the 2nd, they didn't look that dangerous, and the 2nd was Markstrom not feeling it. Someone suggested that Kassian skate came down on Mark's glove, which was the beginning of his troubles. Not sure if I buy that. He was playing small. 3 goals where he was down in on the goal line. Not typical. Smith actually made a couple of good saves and it seemed like he was starting to battle back. I can't say that the goals he let in were shots he faced against LA, though. Most of those seemed to be down low, on the ice or telegraphed into his glove. He will no doubt look better to start. I just don't know he has enough in him to make as many high danger saves as we put up last night. We won a game, which is great. Win another to retain home ice advantage. Even though the home team seems to have an advantage, getting EDM 2-0 in games may cause them to panic a bit going home.

They saved him from himself last night. It was a typical shaky Smith game, and I think even they were surprised with it. It's exactly how we have to beat him. Get to him early with a goal and some difficult looks. Too many average shots gets him into the game.

Twitter, using #Flames. Have to read past a lot of Oiler bravado and crappola.

30 points for two players. I really thought they would be one and done. Lou has some ground to make up, but he went all in on CGY. Props for risking it all.

9 goals for and he's still kept off the board. Only 2 forwards didn't get a point; Lucic and Dube. Even Ritchie, Jarny and Lewis had points. Then again, I picked a BOS player and a couple of Minny players. You were right. Even if McD only plays 3 more games, he will have 20 points very soon..

When Lucic is almost double McD, then you know they were complete crap. Please don't waste EDM fans' time saying they were anything but crap.

Sorry got the number wrong before I hit save. Too lazy to go back and fix it.

I don't know. If EDM thinks they did anything good in this game, they are going to be shocked in the next one. We played Dallas better in game 6 in the bubble 2 years ago. Not saying this is a runaway series, but it Nurse thinks this is a 7 game series, he better wake the ef up.