travel_dude

I'm so glad Leah Hextal doesn;t call Flames games anymore. Saw her do a NHL this past week. It was tough to listen to. She's as bad as she ever was.

What was different between the Demelo hit and the Kylington hit? 5 and a game says refs.

A big kill will hep turn the game around. Let's do this.

The finish was ugly, but he was falling before Lucic hit him.

No, Cassie, you can't push the puck and the pad into the net.

I would love to see Ruzica out there during the next home game. Could move Dube to RW. Sit out Pitlick for a game. 50% of his game is good.

Gaudreau draws a penalty with almost no time left. Just before that Mangiapane was hooked about 5 yimes on a breakout. Refs keeping the calls even.

Unfortunately, the 4th line is out there for an extended D-zone shift.

When Shilly makes a slight booboo, he gets back and cleans it up. Took the body of the player to prevent the penalty call for a hook.

Welcome back CF. You seem to be on when Flames are playing well.

Kylington getting drilled and only one call?

Simple play Gatorade threesome. Lindy gets one to end his scoring drought.

Mangiapane is The Librarian. He always finds the quiet areas.

Shillington with a bullet. Ouch.

Zaddy textbook turnover. That's your one mistake for the game.

Nifty pass. Nice goal Chucky

Let's put them in a hole early.

Always. Funny how Monahan has a winning record when Lindy and Backs are stone cold. From what I understand, RIchardson is over 50%. The giveaways are hard to watch. Looks like peewee hockey when we have those games.

Okay, so we are 6th in the league in scoring, so something is working. The issue for me is low scoring games where we don't score 1st. We are one of the top teams (if not #1) in scoring fist. We have a couple of players that are not scoring near their potential, yet still 6th in scoring. Not to mention the best GF/GA differential in the league.

PM seems to survive any poor stretch the Jets go through. He's part of the reason why some of the good ones are gone. They have to have one of the worst D in the west. I like Schmidt, but the rest are far too prone to dfensive laspses. Pionk and Morrisey are offense first. Now that Big Buff is gone, they don't scare me. We control the matrhcup, so we should be able to shut down the top line. Make sure that Kylington/Tanev are out there. Leave Dubois to Ras. Wheeler is showing his age.

The PTO's and the fringe level players... Nordstrom, Simon, Levo to name a few. Nesterov was something that just made no sense after we saw what he was. Bennett and Gio were distractions at times. Bennett just couldn;t seem to find a fit and the coaches made it worse. Good luck in FLA, since you were not going to be that good here. Gio was a good captain, but he wasn't getting the team to buy into any sort of identify. Maybe not his fault, but we have guys now that are invested. Tkachuk lipping off less and playing more. Gaudreau not sulking on the bench. Lucic wanting to go mess people up. Guddy the colective conscience of the team. Mangiapane and Kylington looking like what they were pre-draft. I like the team's identity. Not just the winning side but the win at all costs. You may score a goal against, but look over your shoulder; we aren't going to give you a freebie. Think you can hack or bury our smaller guys? Carefull where you skate.

Yet, we are winning at a rate of over 70%. Tkachuk is showing that he doesn't need to be on LW to score like he does. Coleman is a LW/RW player, as is Dube. Dube can pivot to C as well. Lindholm is the top C on this team and up there with the best #1's in the league. Right now, the Monahan line isn't producing secondary scoring. That's a concern, but he was always used to haveing Johnny drive the play. Finding the right RW for that line is key. The 4th line is fine. They aren't being scored on. They tire out and frustrate the lines they play against. Lewis is one of the better PK players. Lucic is a guy that hits every D man he sees. Ritchie has been out for close to 10 games. Richardson is not there for scoring, just taking draws and getting the puck out. We spend much less time on our zone this year.

I thought Sutter was a dinosaur, but his coaching is based on the modern game. No trap, just play in all three zones. Spend as little time without the puck so that the other team can't get their game going. Do what you can to get the puck back. Valimaki needs to play no doubt. He played well against BOS. Sutter has never been afraid to sit a player, but it's usualy when that player struggles. Or he sees something developing. So far neither Zaddy nor Hanifin are not slowing down. Valimaki would do well to follow the way Kylington got back in. Stop thinking and just play when you are in practice or in a game. He will get in. I want Sutter to start Vladar more often. Keep Markstrom fresh. And build up Vladar into a 1B guy. He's a better goalie than we have seen in the 2 hole in sooo long.

I really miss the old Bandwagon threads. DD and FF52 used to post a lot of tongue in cheek stuff. We are still missing a lot of posters even from the start of the season. The website changes killed off some. RD stepped up and has done every single GDG. As far as trades go, sometimes the best time to make them is when you are clicking. They have to be strategic, though. Can't upset the balance. The move has to improve the team long term or fix a pending cap issue, preferably both. In reality, there are only a couple of players underperforming. And some of that is situation and fit. Monahan was always dependent on JG driving the play. He's not close to 100% yet. Dube is struggling away from Mangiapane. The best strories are the top line dominating, with Tkachuk regaining the swagger and JG going to the net. Lindholm just does exactly what he always does. Selke anyone? Mangiapane sitting 2nd in goals? Crazy stuff. I expected 30 out of him, but he may get more. A former waiver victim playing 2nd pairing minutes and looking like a bigger, more offensive Brodie? Guddy providing what we haven't had since Regher. Goalies, goalies, goalies. I'm excited to see a backup start a game, not dreading it. Vladar is playing like a new starter and has improved in every game he played.

Nice OT goal from Pelletier....