travel_dude

Echo...echo...

The rare moments where they have shown him off broadcast, he seemed to be a normal guy. Not a lot different than his TV personality.

Surprise we got Ball and Hrudey. Was expecting Cassie.

Waisted pass there

PP#1 for Flames Begin Stage 1.

The vaunted Oilers PP looks like crap.

Backlund hit the post. Getting warma doc.

Nothing against Yamamoto should be considered a high stick. Below the waist for Zaddy is a high stick against that little guy.

The coach said he was going to even out the minutes. He did for a few games.

Glove or blocker high please. Jabba the Hut covers the lower part of the net.

See that the new EDM coach is back to only using the top 2 lines for most of the game.

Ohh, Toffee.... What could have been.

Please, that was a hit.

Some of the passes a little greasy. Love how Kyl plays Draisaitl

Like the start. Nothing pad level. High glove or blocker only. SVP

Messgage board issues. Had some troubles getting back on.

I ride Hanifin a bit much. It's not just on him. Same way we see the other LD making more mistake than the RD. The forwards that ply in front of them have a part. Lucic is out of position because he can't keep up. Johnny is not a defensive star, and the only time he's effective is backchecking. That's two out of four lines. Hanifin does do a couple of things that annoy me. One, he pinches sometimes when there is no support. Not always his fault since a F has to cover him. But, when he makes a low percentage play at the O-zone blueline, it comes back in a hurry. Two, Hanifin has trouble holding the line in the O-zone. On the PP, there is little chance to recover.

Sutter does read analytics since he can't possibly watch every minute of every game. But, he also relies on the eye test. He was not happy with the win in COL. If you have a scoring threat but he's never getting the puck on his stick, why bother playing him there. 3 slow guys. No breakout speed. Little speed coming back. That's fine, but you need to manage the starts for them. That means 2 lines sheltered, which is tough.

Thanks RocDoc. I formally pass the one game winning streak onto you. Colorado tried to break it. I would not let them. The lines are intriguing. A very big change to the 3rd line, and wingers playing their dominant sides on the 2nd line. Mangiapane with Toffoli and Ruzie? Wow, that seems like what he had in Stockton.

I don't see any weak links. Every line has defensive ability and/or jam. If the 4th line is not pulling it's weight, it will see less minutes. That 3rd line is scary. EDM won't know what hit them.

It's GDB.... New projected lines, obviously as a result of the recent struggles of Monahan's line: #Flames projected tonight vs. Edmonton: Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk Coleman-Backlund-Lewis Mangiapane-Ruzicka-Toffoli Lucic-Monahan-Dube Hanifin-Andersson Kylington-Tanev Zadorov-Gudbranson Markstrom

I should alter my comments a bit. It's not so much just Hanifin, but LD in general. Kylinton and Zaddy both had their moments. I think part of the reason is that we have two defensively suspect LW. Lucic and Gaudreau. Both are behind the play in the D-zone. Johnny forces the play from the guy he is coverong but will never block a shot (he shouldn't). Lucic is too slow and can only cover a player on the boards.

To me it looked like Hanifin struggled a bit. On the PP goal and the tying goal. Sutter loves to roll 4 lines, so I was a bit converned about AVS using 2 lines. Then again they did dress 7 D, one being the guy to fight Lucic. Dube played a team low 6 minutes and change. Knocked over and it generated a rush the other way. Too bad, might not see the Oilers. Ruzie should be in Monday. Don't really need Ritchie, but Dube will likely sit again.

Friedman talked about MTL possibly trading Weber's contract. He's likely done, but the cap cushion might help us. Not sure of the ins and outs of it, but wouldn't it allow us some room to re-sign the needed people. And possibly upgrading? Actual cost is $6m over 4 years.

COLORADO, I AM YOUR FATHER.