travel_dude

#Flames forwards Brad Richardson and Brett Ritchie draw in tonight. Darryl Sutter: “I think it’s time they get back in. They’ve been out too long and it’s competition. You should earn your keep when you’re in there. If you don’t, then give somebody else the opportunity.”

Sutter is managing the roster. He wants Dube and Ruzie to get hungry. Maybe too comfortable. He also suggested that you compete for your spot, when you lose that battle, time to sit. He also said those guys need to play. Yeah, okay. Not an improvement, but Sutter said more gritty less pretty.

Zutter puts the hammer down on two players. Something about th last couple of games, seen in the player usages: #Flames projected tonight vs. Minnesota: Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman Lucic-Monahan-Toffoli Lewis-Richardson-Ritchie Hanifin-Andersson Kylington-Tanev Zadorov-Gudbranson Markstrom This is strange, considering that Richardson and Ritchie skated with Lucic.

Sutter talked about that. Said in this deivision, you need to play 600 hockey to make the playoffs. Closest division in the league perhaps. Only Seattle is really out of contention.

The MSM can only focus on the present. Never mind the solid record the Flames have. Don't worry about the way Calgary was winning games; that is past and they lost by a touchdown. Saying Montreal and hot in the same sentence is like saying Vancouver fans and classy in the same sentence; an insult to intelligence.

The bolded ignores a lot of things that were pretty blatant. I can count at least three occasions that were so obvious and so ignored. Not even the hooking calls let go that we would get called for. OEL retaliation on Mangiapane, who gets called? Normally OEL would get the call. Dube hacked/slashed/high sticked to the point of blood. He gets a high sticking call. Gaudreau high sticked. Nothing except a 10 minute early bedtime for Johnny for speaking. Gaudreau (early on) having two guys hooking and holding him. Nadda. Maybe the point is not that they weren't doing enough, but they were not falling down or selling it. 34 minutes to 2. Sutter did his usual response to the bad calls and lack of them. Won't speak to it after the game, which is correct. GM can do it if he likes, but it rarely works. Take out the special teams and this is likely a tie game going into the third. But anyway, it's the type of game we have to be more successful at. We have always suffered from excess calls in the playoffs. We did a poor job of PK last night. Not close to what we normally see. We don't have anyone to account for the one timer from the right circle. One goal from there and one off the crossbar. The D were too collapsed IMHO. Hanifin or Guddy or whoever backed off instead of taking the most dangerous player.

Sutter mentioned that 5v5 was good as well. I thought the amount of zone time we allowed impacted us negatively. But the PK killed us. Not sure specifically what we did poorly. Haven't seen results like that in some time.

Sutter is taking it slow with Toffee. Good thing we didn't wait until TDL to make this deal. It might be a bit soon to move Toffee to another line. He has to adjust to Sutter hockey and less minutes. I don't have a problem with your suggestion though, but it messes with our best defensive line. Might work though; Coleman-Monahan-Dube plays three guys where they are probably most comfortable. I don't think this was a game where the forwards were crap. Top 4 D made more mistakes than I can count. Sometimes that is all it takes. Demko made a couple of good saves, but Marky made similar ones. Poor effort on the PK and it was done. Normally after 2 or 3 calls, the calls start going the other way. The waived off goal was impossible to ignore, but the contact was due to being pushed into Demko. Incidental contact call is BS. I guess that's the only choice without a penalty.

Demko is not exactly a stud. He got a lot of help with blocks. The PIM were 34 to 2 against us. I get that they called Johnny for mothing off. Cheaper than doing it after a game. Lucic got 10 for looking mean.

Some games it looks like the refs take the bet on the lesser team. We lost due to poor defense and PK. But the calls weren;t consistent. I don;t care that we take a penalty, but hate to see the exact same one get the okay. Dube gets his hand almost hacked off and gets a high sticking call. Coleman near a guy that loses his balance. Must be a penalty. Gaudreau going to the bet with two guys on his back. Nope. Sutter will have a few choice things to not say tonight. He can ride his players for the lax play, but that's about it.

Bwahaha, shutout over.

Refs a total joke tonight

Guard that shutout. Wouldn't want to ruin it.

Classless VAN fan on the PA.

Streak buster. Lindholm and 10 game streak.

No, Flames pool. Pettersen on my roster. Yech.

2 point conversion

Only good thing is my pool.

Make it 8

Begin epic comeback..... Refs wait 45 minutes to call a VAN player for a penalty.

Refs calling it off, of course

Safeway paid off the refs.

Mix it up. Go on a Hollanday

It would be appropriate for an epic collapse by the Nuckers.