travel_dude

Somebody must have talked to Backlund. The last time they interviewed him between periods, he wasn't even sweating. Toffee was sweating like a pig. Even the outside of his shirt was dripping. LOL

Poor Jarny will never score. Stage 1 and Stage 2 comple Begin Stage 3

Tha was a bad offside call.

That escalated quickly. Dube....

40 for Lindy. Woot Woot.

I think he recognizes that ot's a one off. He stresses that this is the most consistent team he knows of. Remember, the entire team save 2 were on COVID protocol and had games dumped on them like crazy. We are one of the very few teams that made up a bunch to actually qualify. These are big reasona why we are in the playoffs now as opposed to the last week of the season. His biggest challenge is getting guys to play playoff hockey when chances dry up.

I don't think Johnny or Lindholm are gonna hit 40 goals this game. Demko is looking for another shutout.

Coleman looks like Ritchie's little brother.

Oh, I forgot. Begin Stage 1.

I may have been dreaming but I thought they said that Nylander (or maybe it was Tavares) should be up for the Selke. Not just in the conversation, but a front runner. Marner and Bunting are the only forwards even above + 20 that are actually scoring. Are they on crack?

Over using Markstrom in the remaining game? Sure. But Vladar is the unsung hero on the Flames. He doesn't get a lot of love from the coach. It's your job is the usual refrain. That's the public statement of course, but Sutter doesn't really hold back. I don't think there is enough of an excuse to use a regular recall on the chance of getting a game. Does Wolf deserve some props? Of course, but he gets to be on a potential Calder Cup team to finish his rookie season. Let him win that and come back next year or the year after. I don't fancy the idea of waiving Vladar this fall or carrying 3 goalies.

I know we love to pick on various parts of our game that seem to have fallen back a bit, but Sutter doesn't appear to be that concerned. He says that we have been consistent in all the different metrics, faceoffs, home/away, PK, PP, scoring, possession.... Suggests that they don't need to really work on one aspect of the game, as those come up in a loss. Not really struggling, just need to be better when it falls off a bit in a game.

They call it a maintenance day, but the callup is officially an Emergency Callup. Sutter said he is giving Marky 4 days between games. That means NAS then at most one other game. I'm not even sure he will get a second game. He's hit 62 already. Only thing he could get is one more SO.

Thanks RD. Another early morning game for you, in case you get a chance to watch. Wolfie gets a break after almost singlehandedly leading the Heat to the brink of AHLop spot. Yeah, it's a team game, but without that solid goalie, they just score a ton. Standings wise, we get to put a big dent in the Nucks hopes for the playoffs, They technically are still fighting for 3rd or WC spot, but that is bleak. LA can lock up top 3 with a win over ANA and any loss by Vegas. By the looks of it, Ritchie has almost cemented his spot on the roster. Not sure I agree with that, but it really depends on the opponent in the first round. On another note, we get one of the same refs that we had in the Nuck-CGY 7-1 loss. 34 PIM to 2. Wonderful.

Fun fact from Saturday’s game notes ... Thanks to Andrew Mangiapane’s late empty-netter Thursday, #Flames are now the first team to feature four guys with 35-plus goals in the same season since the 1995-96 Penguins.

That must have just happened. Hehe. I was reading where he wasn;t on the Heat lineup, even though they can clinch tonight. One may suspect Marky gets the night off, and Wolf is the backup. Nice payday for Wolfie. And a great chance to work with the NHL coaches. EDIT - down to one regular callup now.

Amazing that we still have 5 teams fighting for 3 spots. LA magic nume is 2, with LA wins and Vegas losses, but needs one win to ensure VAN is below them. LA has 3 "easy" games left. Not only are the 3 spots not set, but it's possible that both WC spots go to Pacific teams. Unlikely, but possible. Beating VAN tonight will not eliminate VAN, unless DAL wins. Kinda hoping for the double takeout, and put pressure on NAS. They play TBL tonight. Vegas plays SJ Sunday, but SJ also plays tonight.

Pete DeBoer on if @espn’s report that Robin Lehner will have season-ending surgery is accurate: “Not to my knowledge. It was a maintenance day today. I expect him at practice tomorrow. I expect him dressed on Sunday.”

Dallas almost is playing like they don't want to face us. I don't blame them. How many games can Jake play like that in a row? Not that many. They might actually fare better against COL, who is built on speed on the rush. And that's putting aside the idea that we can't solve the big team riddle. We have beaten every team in the league with the exception of one pointers against three teams; MTL, CAR and NAS. And we still have one game against NAS. No fancy OT or shootouts in the playoffs. No B2B's to worry about. NAS leads the NHL in most penalty minutes, with the Flames 7th most of playoff teams. NAS got a lot of fighting majors (Jeannot with 13) and 10 minute misconducts. If they want to win anything at all, they need to have less fights. But we ain't scared. Even without Ritchie, there are 2 other guys that will even the score. We haven't won anything yet, so I'm not going to say too much. But even a BOA in round 2 sounds like something we would prevail in. In games without a lot of PP chances, they can be a listless team. Beating COL was their Waterloo. They may outdo that with a win tonight, but I suspect Nate will be foaming at the mouth. He never gets the respect when they talk about McD or Drai. Neither of those two has his toughness. He will want to make a statement.

He was a distraction and I think their backup played better myself. But this puts a fork in their messed up season.

Green was approaching the best before date. I think he lost the room. I think I remember JT saying something that lead me to believe that. VAN did a lot of puzzling things. Not having any identity seems to have hurt them this year. No Tanev, no Edler. Better goaltending behind a confused group.

It seemed to be tag team. You get healthy, Boesser is out. He gets healthy, Horvat is out. Whether Pettersen was not 100% or not, he struggled under Green.

I guess the other thing to clinch now is 2nd in points in the West. Magic number for them vs Minny is 4.5. Magic number vs STL is 4.0 Why is that important? Only if COL is out in round 1 or 2.

Pretty slim chance of that. NAS can ensure Vegas doesn't grab WC1 spot with a single reg win and a Vegas reg loss. NAS has 5 remaining, but a tough schedule. Saying that, a VGK in WC2 spot sets up an interesting first round. COL hates playing Vegas almost as much as we do. MacKinnon gets really hot under the collar, if things go sideways.

Sutter doesn't care about the division win. He's only focused on the next game. Get guys used to winning battles where there is no space. Rounding into playoff form. Getting Markstrom rest isn't a thing, since he feels that a couple of 4 day breaks is all he needs. It's not about having 2 goalies, since that's what you have when you are a team that wins rounds. He has one goalie. That doesn't mean you don't see the backup during the playoffs, but don't expect it. The last week is interesting. Beating VAN effectively (not officially) puts them out. A VAN loss and Dallas with 2 points eliminates them. VGK can still get as high as 97, but they play Dallas and STL. They also have a B2B. I'm not counting them out, but Dallas has SEA, ARI and ANA, plus the head to head with Vegas. NAS has 5 games left with all but one against a playoff team. The only troubling thing for me is the tendency to play whatever game the other team plays. We are better we we set the tone. Maybe it's a product of the reffing right now, as it has seemed very regular season reffing. Soft calls. Inconsistent. That normally disappears in the first round. Well the soft calls at least. Maybe it's adjusting to playoff style where you don't get a lot of open ice. We are close to the right form. One regulation loss in April. 7 games in 10 nights. 8 in 12.