GDT - Canucks @ Flames - December 14, 2022 - 8:00PM MDT Start

[Heartbreaker]

Nice shootout. Three shots... two wide.

 

Love.

[Ryan Man]

Dube and Baklund? really?

[Thebrewcrew]

Loser points in there, but four losses in a row for the Flames. 

 

Not making it easy on themselves.

[travel_dude]

Not a very well thought out shootout.

Try to deke in the blue paint.

Two backhands from the weak side after swooping around.

[redfire11]

That 8 years @ 10.5 m is starting to look bad.

[taz89]

Huberdeau, Lindholm and Kadri should have been the choices

[taz89]

There needs to be some kind of shakeup IMO, something to send a message

[tmac70]

My god this club is awful.. They have nothing this year absoulty nothing. Once again you lose to a team beneath but allow a conferance team back into the race..... Tonight was a great case as to why Ruzicka has a bad rap, lazy dis engaged. Weegar and Hubudeau are turnover  machines, Mackey shouldn't be up here nor should stone. God it just painful to watch.. 

 

Kadri Dube and Mags were fine tonight so was Lewis Zoh and Rithie... the rest were fing invisible

[travel_dude]

So, the 4th line was okay for moving the puck and creating chances.

But really, it was two players on that line.

Ritchie was a passenger.

Would have been a great game to have Phillips on RW.

Speed to match the size.

A player familiar with Xohorna.

A decent shot.

 

The puck awareness in this game was ultra bad.

Soft passes to get out of trouble.

No pizzas served but too much pass when you can shoot.

And the odd time we decide to shoot on a 2 on 1, it's a big nothing burger.

 

No one line is good.

There are duos that play together well, sometimes every shift.

But there is a lot of wasted energy.

Cycle the puck, then just take it into the boards and lose it.

Or funnel it behind the net to nobody.

Do these guys even talk to each other?

I'll take it in by myself, but you guys get ahead of me after I get in so there is no trailer.

[sak22]

21 minutes ago, taz89 said:

Huberdeau, Lindholm and Kadri should have been the choices

Lindholm is career 2/13, Kadri is under 20% in his career.  Dube was 1/1 and was having a solid game, I was fine with his selection, would've gone Andersson as opposed to Backlund.  Shootouts will be painful with this group, gotta try and avoid them but it is something we will miss about the old core.

[travel_dude]

27 minutes ago, sak22 said:

Lindholm is career 2/13, Kadri is under 20% in his career.  Dube was 1/1 and was having a solid game, I was fine with his selection, would've gone Andersson as opposed to Backlund.  Shootouts will be painful with this group, gotta try and avoid them but it is something we will miss about the old core.

 

We don't have a single dynamic shooter on the team.

Some have decent shots but there seems to be little thought about what to do.

Go wide and flip backhands?

I liked what Kuzmenko did.

Come in fast and freeze the goalie.

 

Anyway, I have always hated the shootout.

Ice in poor shape, so trying stuff in close isn't likely to work.

 

[redfire11]

1 hour ago, tmac70 said:

Weegar and Hubudeau are turnover  machines

yup

[conundrumed]

Looks like we're that annoying loser point team this year.

Toffoli looks like a good 3rd liner.

On our top line and PP I'm starting to think that our top 6 is very shallow.

But I'm guessing he isn't a player Sutter demotes. He makes Tkachuk look like a great skater. Put Dube there, at the very least he can keep up.

[travel_dude]

The impact on this team by not having that steady 2nd pair D is messing up the ice times.

Stone looked early on to be a 82 games player.

But he is exactly what he was last year, a steady 7th D you use now and then.

He best asset is his point shot, but not much else.

Mackey isn't giving enough to really stay.

Went for a big hit at the blueline, leading to a 2 on 1 chance/goal.

AT times he make good passes, but overall is a risk.

 

The top line doesn't generate speed on the rush.

Asking Hubey to gain the zone and set up plays doesn't work when the others are out of sync.

Where are the weapons?

But I also think Sutter is asking him to change his game too much.

Let him get the scoring side worked out then work on the defensive game.

Sutter did the same with Monahan and hilled his offence.

 

Sutter seems to look at these last 3 losses as just not finishing one play.

That's a 2-1, 3-2 coach talking.

We aren't that team and especially not with the missing D or the player usage.

Hubey got benched a bit last night, which is the right move but the solution didn't work.

Maybe he caught Weegar's illness.

Part of the problem is he is playing with the wrong players.

Too many RHS's where last year he played with LHS.

Maybe it's as simple as moving him to the RW and bumping up Mange, Dube or Ruzicka.

Toffoli with Kadri seems like a better fit,

A possession player with a net driver.

Add Phillips with Little Z, so he has some big players to take the board play.

Ritchie has hands of stone right now, so there is no great reason to play him.

 

So, my suggeted lines are a bit weird but address this:

Ruzicka-Lindholm-Huberdeau

Dube-Kadri-Toffoli

Magiapane-Backlund-Coleman

Little Z-Lewis-Phillips

 

I don't see enough positive results to continue to roll the lines as they are.

Last nght was a 3-1 win minus the mental lapses.

But those lapses happened because of the structure IMHO.

 

At this point, I think Lucic may be done.

3 games in a row scratched.

Pride may dictate his next move.

 

[cross16]

Pretty similar script. Play pretty well, great for stretches, but goaltending can't bail out you, get a bad break, get yourself in a position to win the game and they don't get someone to step up and win it for them. 

 

For the most part they are playing solid hockey as a team they are just not getting the timely goals/saves which means their best players are not stepping up when they need them to. Until that happens they'll probably stay in this middling area as a team. Really hard to win in this league consistently when your best players are not your best players. 

[taz89]

 

Asking Hubey to gain the zone and set up plays doesn't work when the others are out of sync.

Where are the weapons?

But I also think Sutter is asking him to change his game too much.

Let him get the scoring side worked out then work on the defensive game.

Sutter did the same with Monahan and hilled his offence.

 

I totally agree with this!  Sutter's voice IMO is no longer being heard. I've been saying this all along, but I guess this team needs to miss the playoffs and both the coach and GM may lose their jobs.  Haven't looked it up but this may be the year a Jack Adams winner gets fired the next year.  It's pretty evident especially with Hubey and Weegar they don't like Sutter. Kadri? Not sure yet, he's just trying to adjust best he can.  Unfortunately, Huberdeau looks no better right now than a 50-point player.  This team is a total mess!

[cross16]

Actually I think Sutter's got Huberdeau in a good position. I think Huberdeau needs to start being a bit more selfish. He had the puck a lot last night but he's too predictable right now. it's on his stick on off his stick right away, he's not even looking at what opportunities he can create for himself it's all about where can he put the puck for his teammate. Not bad necessarily, but I think he's passing up too many good shot opportunities and he's got to start driving/shooting more. When he does I think he's going to start being a pretty dangerous player. 

 

Few tough turnovers last night for sure but I liked a lot of his game. Created a bunch of scoring chances. 

[travel_dude]

3 hours ago, cross16 said:

Actually I think Sutter's got Huberdeau in a good position. I think Huberdeau needs to start being a bit more selfish. He had the puck a lot last night but he's too predictable right now. it's on his stick on off his stick right away, he's not even looking at what opportunities he can create for himself it's all about where can he put the puck for his teammate. Not bad necessarily, but I think he's passing up too many good shot opportunities and he's got to start driving/shooting more. When he does I think he's going to start being a pretty dangerous player. 

 

Few tough turnovers last night for sure but I liked a lot of his game. Created a bunch of scoring chances. 

 

Mine is a cautionary tale.  It's the one area of his game that has changed, I think.

Didn't have to worry about it so much last year, since they were dynamic on offence.

This year, we struggle as it is, and putting more emphasis on it has some drawbacks.

You see him thinking a bit more now.

It takes time to make that kind of change.

 

I do agree that he needs to start shooting more.

Also, using his linemates to gain the zone a bit more, sooner.

He just gets bogged down when he is trying to work the boards.  IMHO

[robrob74]

7 hours ago, conundrumed said:

Looks like we're that annoying loser point team this year.

Toffoli looks like a good 3rd liner.

On our top line and PP I'm starting to think that our top 6 is very shallow.

But I'm guessing he isn't a player Sutter demotes. He makes Tkachuk look like a great skater. Put Dube there, at the very least he can keep up.

our Top6 is very shallow, especially when trying to create depth. I wonder if the Flames would have any takers on Toffoli. He's been consistent but for me, I just don't think he fits.

 

if I were the Flames I'd load up the Top6. They need to create a youth line for the third line... get some to grow together.

 

go:

Huberdeau, Kadri, Lindholm

Mangiapane, Backlund Coleman

Pelletier, Ruzicka, Toffoli

Dube, Zahorna, Lewis/Ritchie

 

Ruzicka, Kadri, Lindholm

Huberdeau, Backlund, Mangiapane

Dube, Ruzicka, Toffoli

Pelletier, Zahorna, Lewis

 

My problem with the lineup is I think Dube, Mangiapane and Toffoli are very similar players. Once on their sticks they can't get it clean to their mates and tend to hold on the puck about a second or two too long or not long enough. It's jumbling up the top6. I think they're all get the puck when they're open, take a stride or two and shoot kind of players.