GDT: Vancouver @ Calgary 7:00 MT SNW and SNP

[DFF]

Is it GG inability to work with young players or the young players are so bad that he is stuck with the loser vets?

I think both

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

If you really want Kulak weakly dumping the puck in and then not coming close to getting it back I don't know what to tell you. It was a bad decision and poorly executed.

Hockey is a fluid sport. Most plays are not "well executed" due to sheer randomness. I want players who make plays even if it bites them sometimes. It's not nothing to do with a Kulak bias. I even want Giordano making that same play even though Giordano is no longer nearly as mobile as Kulak is.

That goal happened. Many different things could have changed the outcome - but it wasn't a bad decision by Kulak. Bartkowski not picking up Henrik and forcing Daniel to shoot (among other things) was the primary bad decision. 2-on-1s happen all the time. That might be the worst I've seen someone play a two on one since the first week or so of Dougie Hamilton as a Flame (except I'm actually thinking of a 2-on-2 that Hamilton somehow managed to screw up).

There are bad pinches, yes, but that wasn't one. It was a pinch, by a mobile and skilled player, that went badly.

 

[JPeeper]

The Flames win this game with an actual NHL coach.

This is getting beyond atrocious. A supposed NHL coach, who is paid NHL coach money, who is supposed to know hockey, can't see that Bartkowski should never play an NHL, can't see that our 4th line is so bad that they should never play, YET AFTER VANCOUVER SCORES THE GO AHEAD GOAL HE PUTS ALL 5 OF THESE f***HEADS OUT AND THE CANUCKS SCORE BECAUSE NO ONE IS A COMPETENT PLAYER (outside Kulak). Kulak pinches, which is fine, then Brouwer doesn't cover and is 2 feet behind Kulak, Versteeg plays the deep side wall on the other side so you're left with numb nuts Bart back there and he can't even recognize a 2 on 1 from the Canuck blue line. Jesus titty f***ing Christ.

Takes Gulutzan 5 minutes left into the game before FINALLY shortening the bench, and even then he ONLY sits Lazar and plays Brouwer and Versteeg with Backlund. What a waste, what the f***.

AND f*** THIS POWERPLAY. Get Versteeg off , what the f***. You play an umbrella powerplay where the 3 umbrella players don't shoot, WHAT THE f***? Switch the wings so their on their offside for the one-timer. How stupid are our coaching staff, holy crap. I don't even blame Dave Cameron, at the end of the day Gulutzan is the head coach, he overrides anything. So it's his monkey ass that is letting Versteeg waste our powerplays.

Gulutzan has no idea what he is doing, Treliving needs to fire this clown before we piss away the entire year, lose our 1st rounder and have it be a potential top 3 pick.

He has done nothing to get the 3rd line going, he plays the 4th line just as much in the 3rd and in key situations even though they are all donkey f*** players.

I'm so done with Glen Gulutzan. Flames play a good game and lose because of stupidity.

About 3 times the Monahan and Backlund line would dominate in the Canucks zone then the 4th line comes out and would lose all momentum. f*** off.

 

[Anglesmith]

I thought this was another good step in the right direction for the Flames. We lost because of stupid mistakes, yes, but that's fixable (as we saw last year). Actually outplaying a team from start to finish is a breath of fresh air.

 

[Jags68]

I don't know how you can just give away points to a divisional rival like that

 

[Anglesmith]

I don't know how you can just give away points to a divisional rival like that

Other teams will do it to us this season, too. Or at least, that's the hope.

 

[Mr Snrub]

Seems like it's pretty fashionable to blame Gulutzan and Bartkowski for all our problems right now - not that I don't think both need to step it up, but I doubt you can pin everything on them.

Can someone tell me why the Flames lost this game without resorting to blaming either? Just from looking at the boxscore it looks like it was probably a bad PK and a subpar game from Smith.

 

[Baxterman]

Seems like it's pretty fashionable to blame Gulutzan and Bartkowski for all our problems right now - not that I don't think both need to step it up, but I doubt you can pin everything on them.

Can someone tell me why the Flames lost this game without resorting to blaming either? Just from looking at the boxscore it looks like it was probably a bad PK and a subpar game from Smith.

I agree that blaming those two guys lets the other players off the hook (which many have been getting free ride this year thanks to GG, Bartkowski and Bennett) and doesn't really tell the story but I am not sure my answer is much better because if you had to say one thing the best I can come up with is luck. If those two teams played that exact way 10 times i say the Flames win 8 or 9 times.

That said it obviously goes deeper than that. Another game with zero offense from our bottom 6 and really not many chances created other than Bennett on the PP goal. Two brutal goals from a couple of pee-wee level mistakes hurt as well.

Maybe I should change it from luck to bottom 6/bottom pairing as the main issue as once again they hurt us with their mistakes, lack of production and use by GG.

Edit: I don't think it was really a bad PK. The Gagner goal was kind of flukey/kind of bad by Smith. I wouldn't blame the PKers for that.

 

[crazyfisherman]

there were just so many bad bounces tonight, the gagner goal off a block shot, that dorsett shorty (still brodies fault), tanev helmet save. we clearly outplayed them, but games like this happen. I thought brouwer are having some nice games, hes making some plays rather than killing it now, still need to ease off on those lead passes. I have no words on that bartkowski 2 on 1 tho, he looked like he was skating in quicksand and got beat by a sedin for ffs.....

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

Seems like it's pretty fashionable to blame Gulutzan and Bartkowski for all our problems right now - not that I don't think both need to step it up, but I doubt you can pin everything on them.

We didn't lose because of Bartkowski. On a whole any time you give up three unanswered goals with a 3-2 lead, with one being a shorty, the next on the PK, and the dagger being one of the worst-defended two on one rushes by two 35+ year olds on a defenseman supposedly known for his mobility that you will see in professional hockey, there is plenty of blame to go around. But the latter sequence happened because of Bartkowski. To a lesser extend Brouwer for allowing it to be a two on one, to an extremely lesser extent Kulak for not being an overly cautious and ineffective defensive defenseman while trailing in he 3rd period.

Can someone tell me why the Flames lost this game without resorting to blaming either? Just from looking at the boxscore it looks like it was probably a bad PK and a subpar game from Smith.

We lost primarily because of poor special teams and because at the other end Markstrom stood on his head for about 39 minutes.

 

[The Rainman]

We didn't lose because of Bartkowski. On a whole any time you give up three unanswered goals with a 3-2 lead, with one being a shorty, the next on the PK, and the dagger being one of the worst-defended two on one rushes by two 35+ year olds on a defenseman supposedly known for his mobility that you will see in professional hockey, there is plenty of blame to go around. But the latter sequence happened because of Bartkowski. To a lesser extend Brouwer for allowing it to be a two on one, to an extremely lesser extent Kulak for not being an overly cautious and ineffective defensive defenseman while trailing in he 3rd period.



We lost primarily because of poor special teams and because at the other end Markstrom stood on his head for about 39 minutes.

You can blame Bart all you want but let's face it. Markstrom stole the game. Plain and simple.

 

[Rangediddy]

Markstrom went full Smith on us tonight.

Our top 3 lines were throwing everything at him and could not get a lot of quality chances to go in. On the other end we got some bad breaks. It sucks. It’s sucks that the Canucks look like they are a good team (they’re not).

Bennett on the PK tonight proved we don’t need Brouwer for ANYTHING. He’s so bad and doesn’t add any value to this team. We can roll Backlund, Frolik, Bennett, Stajan, Monahan, Jankowski, etc... Brouwer isn’t a “specialist” in anything in the game of hockey other than undeservedly taking up roster space.

Have to keep shaking up that bottom 6 until it starts scoring. Bring up Mangiapani or Hathaway, bench Brouwer and see what happens.

Though I did like the chances Bennett, Janks and Jagr were getting. Worth keeping them together another game

 

[hangman005]

The find a way flames find a way to lose yet another game to a team on the back end of a back to back.

Truth be told Markstrom stood on his head, but we seem to let every goalie stand on their head against us.

 

[Paulinvancouver]

What a strange game tonight.

Tell me... what do you all think of Tkachuk?

 

[JPeeper]

What a strange game tonight.

Tell me... what do you all think of Tkachuk?

Tkachuk is amazing.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I thought Brouwer was by far the worst flame last night. Dude is so terrible.

Markstrom was on fire. The Ferland/ Gaudreau pairing was creating tons of chances, that line easily could have had 4-5+ goals.

 

[FlamerForLife]

This team lacks killer instinct. That's 3 times this year that we should've put a game away with the control we had in a specific period, all 3 times we haven't been able to and we've ended up losing. (tonight should've put it away in the 2nd, should've put the Minny game away when we had control in the 2nd, had complete control over the Blues in the 1st but couldn't score more than a goal there). I guess this cancels out with winning the games that we had no business winning, but it is really worrisome that this team has no killer instinct.

 

[InfinityIggy]

What a strange game tonight.

Tell me... what do you all think of Tkachuk?

He's pretty meh. He's okay, I suppose.

 

[Dertell]

I think it's a bit silly to complain about Guluztan for last night. The usage was solid (granted, hard to believe it'll stick given his entire time here) and the systems are good.

Not all on Smith - the first goal was deflected and 5# Bartkowski doesn't know how to break up a pass with the slowest release - but yeah, last night it was mostly on him.

 

[Anglesmith]

A week ago, we'd basically not seen the Flames actually play proper hockey offensively outside two thirds of the Jets game. But Mike Smith had us at .500 somehow.

Now, we're seeing the Flames able to put together offensive chances consistently, but the goalie has had some subpar games.

Continuing this progression, the next evolution is both of those good things happening at the same time. And the kinds of things that led to goals last night aren't concerns to me long-term.

I think the team will be fine.

 

[Rangediddy]

The find a way flames find a way to lose yet another game to a team on the back end of a back to back.

Truth be told Markstrom stood on his head, but we seem to let every goalie stand on their head against us.

It's getting silly how everyone thinks teams who played the night before should be a lay up. These are some of the fittest athletes in the world and now that the physicality is being taken out of the game, being on the receiving end of a whopping 12 hits, won't exactly leave them limping to the plane... for their 'exhausting' one hour flight.

Maybe a team that's played 3 games in 4 nights or at the end of a long road trip could use being tired as an excuse, but the Canucks wouldn't be tired for last nights game.

 

[Flameshomer]

Smith had an off game last night and I think it's realistically the major reason we lost. By my watch, 3 of the goals scored on us were pretty weak. The sedin goal was a direct result of the fourth line. The shorty i would chalk up to another Brodie brain fart.

So there, we can definitely point at other deficiencies outside of Bart and Gulu for why we lost last night. That being said, it's very legitimate to complain about the coaching when he constantly makes mindblowingly poor decisions. He has no idea at all how to shorten the bench. Bart just shouldn't be playing for us anymore.

More important IMO is asking ourselves why Hamilton and Brodie seem to only be capable of playing to their potential 50% of the time. It doesn't seem that either of them are ever on at the same time. We're relying on both of these guys to play like #1s (they're really the backbone of our top rated defence) and they both have been falling short. They need some consistency!

Bennett... man this guy is unlucky. He's also very frustrating to watch- he tried far too often to play alone last night, even with f'in Jaromir Jagr on his line.

 

[Mobiandi]

It's games like these that hurt us in the long run. Lest we forget the 4 points we coughed up to Vancouver last year and the 7 point swing in Edmonton's favour.

Didn't watch the game but it's high time this team started putting these sorts of games out of reach before the third period, especially against a divisional rival. When's the last time we won a game by two or more?

 

[Flameshomer]

It's games like this that hurt us in the long run. Lest we forget the 4 points we coughed up to Vancouver last year and the 7 point swing in Edmonton's favour.

Didn't watch the game but it's high time this team started putting these sorts of games out of reach before the third period, especially against a divisional rival. When's the last time we won a game by two or more?

Although I think that overall they played well last night, and the effort level from most players is not in question, I do agree with this. This team has lacked the "killer instinct" for a long time. When they do get a lead they take their foot right off the gas.

 

[Volica]

A night where we outplayed but got a goalie duel go against us big time.

Not a huge issue. I don’t think Bart should ever see the ice again this year... but he will. That 4th line is very useless, they don’t swing momentum our way (their job) at all; in fact they do the opposite.