travel_dude

We've lost that OT magic. We used to be unstoppable, Now we have to hope we survive it and get the shoot out win. I will take the shutout win

Decisive goal

There was a shift where it looked like Lindholm was really suffering. Unable to have any force on his stick.

No masks required in the USA.

A bit more attention to detail. Offside when the player is streaking in is not a good look. Flames seem to be taking the period over. A few Wings rushes but sustained Flames pressure.

Mange and Dube are Bread and butta

Momentum, then a dumb penalty.

Do we ever get to play more than one game not on the road? Not worried. Minor letdown that started with having to PK. Should be a GatorAde 3rd.

The breakdowns are a concern. But, those happen to every team. Right now, we are in a place where one mistake can lose the game. That's not a sustainable model. What I would like to see is where we put the boots to a team, where we can afford a goal against. That will come, as I see the effort leading to that. Regardless of being perimeter or not, not many teams win games where they face 40 shots. We saw two games where this has been the case and only a win due to their goalie. Markstrom gave up 2 iffy ones against EDM and 2 against ANA. With EDM, the non-iffy goals were ones he had no chance on (batted in and McD getting a redirected shot/pass). He is a better goalie than we have seen. Not quite in form yet. But that's very correctable. It's not like games where we stole it on the goalie's back. Those are much more concerning, but I will take them. Maybe I'm too glass half full, but I see this team as being set for good things. A bunch of giveaways from vet D and not great performances early in the season from your goalie? Not exactly sky is falling. Nobody looks lost, even if I have concerns about Zadorov. I would be more worried about being an EDM fan. They have huge concerns about defense and now Smitty is injured.

Seattle activated Jarnkrok, so I suspect they needed to make a move. As it is, they have 8D and 13 forwards, plus a goalie on emergency loan.

Alex Barre-Boulet back on waivers. Was on Tmpa. Excellent nnumbers in junior and AHL. C/RW. Bit on the smaller size, but seems to have heart. Any interest?

I would be happy with 1-1-1 this season start. LOL.

I look at every season differently, not some pre-destined set of results that will happen. 🙂 You have to admit that this team looks a lot different already. Two game in a row where we battled to the end. Two games where we generated a ton of shot volume, and last game was quality over just quantity. In both games, we dominated for most of the 5v5 play. If you recall last year, we struggled at 5v5 play a lot of games. It's going to take time to learn how to win 2-1 games. It's not just the goalie. It's attention to detail; like a momentary letdown in the O-zone comes back on you. In past, we saw a lot of those details missing; a lazy play, going for the easy hit, looking only at a small piece of ice with no player there, etc. Yeah, I know we have heard all of this before. I think it was lip service a lot in the past. Gio was great for saying the right thing, but the next game seemed to be same thing. Let's see how the team responds. They should be angry and looking to correct past mistakes.

I interested how the insertion of Kylington impacts D usage. Hanifin-Ras is playing top 2 minutes, and both get special teams time. Kylington could probably add minutes outside 5v5, but I would be careful with it. If it's PK, then pair him with a physical D-man - Ras, Tanev or Gudbranson. The forward lines are "interesting". Monahan will play less 5v5 and probably still get top PP minutes. Maybe some PK time too, but that should not be rushed. The Backlund line is all about defensive play. It has the potential to exploit other teams' top players on transition. For instance, the McD-Draisaitl line cheats on the offense side, so they can be exploited.

If I recall correctly, DET was a game where Tkachuk was suspended for. Where he "speared" the guy skating off the ice. Think he was on the bench at the time. That game ended up being a Donneybrook

Some comments from a Wings blog: The Flames have only played 2 games so far, and are looking for their first win of the season. Losing 3-2 in OT to Anaheim and 5-2 to Edmonton, the team just hasn’t had the chance to get going. This is not a group you want to meet up with when they’re in a bad mood for one reason: Tkachuk. I love watching this player as long as it’s not against Detroit. He’s a bit like a hemorrhoid- a massive pain in the butt that grows on you. His high stick puck stop to avoid a delay of game was as funny as it gets (and yet the refs weren’t laughing). My goal tonight is TTAT - Try to Avoid Tkachuk. He can get under your skin and cause you to lose your focus. Sitting at just 1 assist on the season, the sandpaper assassin will want to do everything he can to start to reverse his own fortunes and those of his teammates. Witkowski lost his cool and faced a lengthy suspension in one of the last contests (luckily he’s in Grand Rapids). Larkin and Bertuzzi could easily be drawn into taking a penalty if they’re not focused.

The one I worked on was obvious. I question whether biotches is even a swear word. If you can say BTC and moan, then I suggest that a common expression like biotch is fine. EDIT - oops. Seems like a bad word after all. Peeps can make the final call as the Admin, but I think he is okay with it.

Please note, I have edited out words that have special characters to get around the swear filter.

Not my fave for the forwards lines. Coleman-Backlund-Pitlick is interesting, but maybe not my first choice. Acceptable for now. Monahan is being given the gears perhaps, as he had some trouble last game; I didn't think he was that bad, just not completely effective. It perhaps makes some sense to demote Lucic and Lewis with him, but not sure about that. Ritchie with Dube? Seriously, this is the worst decision IMHO. I don't have confidence that he makes either of those others better; I would say he makes them worse. The D makes sense. Kylington and Tanev seemed to have some chemistry. Give him the chance to prove he has learned and can help the team win. If we are keeping Zadorov, they need to find the fit for him. Right now, it's not with Tanev. I'm undecided about starting Markstrom. He hasn't been lights out, so it makes sense to give him reps to get there. But we don't want to let too much time go before we use Vladar.

It's good to see the prospects doing well. Many Flames fans have probably only looked up the or totals or draft rankings.

The Ryan from 2 years ago is not the same as the Ryan from last year. He scored a goal so far, so what. Did you want to re-sign him to another two year, at an age of 34? My biggest problem with Ryan is his size. He can't handle playrs, yet he is a 2 way player. Ideally, a 4th line C is big and can skate.

And yet, we have 8D. Is there any greater chance that Stone would be claimed? Not that it really matters. They played him 8 or 10 minutes. His FO% isn't good. He's not about to crack the roster with his present play. Would be better for him to go to Stockton or get claimed by a team that could use him.

Well, we are only 2 games into the season, so I don't know what the overall plan is for Markstrom and Darth Vladar. We have only seen pre-season starts from him, but he does look really strong. We should be seeing the backup 2 out of every 7 games. I would give Vladar DET and NYR games, as the NJ game is the second night of B2B. Sergeyev off to a 3-0 start with a shutout and 1.0 GAA.

I left out traded players and UFA signings, so I didn't include Lindholm. Tkachuk, for all his skill, is still only about 90% effort. With limited minutes, Mangiapane generally outperforms Tkachuk in production rates.

Ahh, the Smith of Calgary is back. 4 goals against on 15 shots. Injured again. Oilers win 6-5 against a tired Ducks team. Defense? Who needs it.