GDT: Battle of Alberta First Edition

[JPeeper]

Making this thread because Rittich is starting tomorrow.

There is a Satan after all.

Click to read more...

 

[DCDM]

For better or worse, I'll be there to witness this.

 

[crackdown44]

Ah yes, the long awaited Rittich vs Koskinen matchup the league has been salivating for

 

[Bounces R Way]

All the team's hopes and dreams are now placed upon your shoulders you handsome devil. Godspeed

 

[The Gnome]

All the team's hopes and dreams are now placed upon your shoulders you handsome devil. Godspeed

that is not a face I trust.

 

[Calculon]

Peters hasn't handled the goalie situation well at all. Instead of gradually increasing Rittich's starts while Smith struggles, he waited until Smith basically imploded. Now the pressures on Rittich to basically save the day, even though a league average save percentage would be good enough.

I'm sure Rittich will be fine but should he falter, it's going be an enormous mess.

 

[Bounces R Way]

that is not a face I trust.

You have no choice now. Not sure why he makes me laugh so much. Looks exactly like this kid I knew who sold stolen video games out of his car at the mall

 

[Dack]

Team struggling to score? Take Czarnik out of the lineup.

He only has a better points per game than every forward except for the Top line and 3M.

And most of his time has been spent on the 4th line. I feel if he was playing Neal minutes every game he'd at least be a 0.5 point per game player IMO.

 

[Fig]

All the team's hopes and dreams are now placed upon your shoulders you handsome devil. Godspeed

Is it just me, or are his eyes looking in different directions? The more I stare at this pic the more confused I am...

 

[Mr Snrub]

Is it just me, or are his eyes looking in different directions? The more I stare at this pic the more confused I am...

That's why he's so good, he has a full 180 degree field of vision without turning his head.

 

[Mobiandi]

I'm just not ready for McDavid. For once, could we please score first against these guys

Team struggling to score? Take Czarnik out of the lineup.

He only has a better points per game than every forward except for the Top line and 3M.

And most of his time has been spent on the 4th line. I feel if he was playing Neal minutes every game he'd at least be a 0.5 point per game player IMO.

Ridiculous if he's coming out again. I literally can't think of a reason why Dube, Jankowski or Ryan should be in over him.

 

[Flames Fanatic]

I'm just not ready for McDavid. For once, could we please score first against these guys

Ridiculous if he's coming out again. I literally can't think of a reason why Dube, Jankowski or Ryan should be in over him.

I was saying last night Peters won't likely ever do it, but I'd like to see a Frolik-Czarnik-Neal line. Czarnik and Neal had some decent chemistry last night, but Ryan didn't click with them at all.

 

[crackdown44]

I'm just not ready for McDavid. For once, could we please score first against these guys

Ridiculous if he's coming out again. I literally can't think of a reason why Dube, Jankowski or Ryan should be in over him.

I think Janko has looked pretty good over the past 3-4. Ryan is the guy I’ve found underwhelming

 

[Cloned]

As an Oilers fan, I'm actually disappointed we won't get to see the much anticipated Talbot vs. Smith showdown.

Would have been a nice throwback to the 80's in terms of scoring, lol.

 

[Anglesmith]

Peters hasn't handled the goalie situation well at all. Instead of gradually increasing Rittich's starts while Smith struggles, he waited until Smith basically imploded. Now the pressures on Rittich to basically save the day, even though a league average save percentage would be good enough.

I'm sure Rittich will be fine but should he falter, it's going be an enormous mess.

I'm not sure I agree with much of this. Smith had seemed to be finding his game (as he said, he felt good and didn't have much to regret in his last game), and this basically just boiled down to one bad goal in the worst possible moment. That's not really a melt-down. The Flames even had several chances to save the game. A meltdown would be multiple of those in the same game, like how the team melted down against Pittsburgh and just stopped playing any form of defence.

If Rittich falters, it will be an enormous mess, but only for us fans, realistically. For the Flames and for their goalies, it'll just be one more game, and one more coming up. No real change. And then the atmosphere around here would be immediately reset after the next game depending on how that went.

 

[SmellOfVictory]

All the team's hopes and dreams are now placed upon your shoulders you handsome devil. Godspeed

I can't tell if he looks like he wants to get me to invest in cryptocurrency or sell me shake, but he's definitely selling something.

 

[Mobiandi]

 

[Calculon]

I'm not sure I agree with much of this. Smith had seemed to be finding his game (as he said, he felt good and didn't have much to regret in his last game), and this basically just boiled down to one bad goal in the worst possible moment. That's not really a melt-down. The Flames even had several chances to save the game. A meltdown would be multiple of those in the same game, like how the team melted down against Pittsburgh and just stopped playing any form of defence.

If Rittich falters, it will be an enormous mess, but only for us fans, realistically. For the Flames and for their goalies, it'll just be one more game, and one more coming up. No real change. And then the atmosphere around here would be immediately reset after the next game depending on how that went.

It was multiple bad goals and it's been like that in game after game. Smith can say what he wants but the first goal in San Jose was a bad one too. The team rallied back but he cost them again.

But I meant it in more of an accrued sense anyway. Each game doesn't occur in a vacuum and you can't seriously think everything just resets after a match. Emotions don't work that way. It's not just another game; it's another game in front of a goalie (Smith) the players would have zero faith in. Why work hard and put your body on the line when the goalie's just going to let the shot in anyway? Rittich struggling too would only add fuel to fire and make things seem even more hopeless.

In the back to backs, they should have started Smith against the offensively challenged Kings and Rittich against the real threats. You give the struggling goalie the easier match up to boost his confidence while the hotter hand gets the tougher deal. That trip could have easily been four points but Peters' blind faith in Smith or his myopic focus on getting him going cost them. It's an absolute detriment and he needs to start doing what's best for the team, not one player. Smith's play thus far has already cost the team three to five wins and almost a few more had the rest of the guys not outscored his ineptitude. In a league with this much parity, you can't afford to carry around liabilities; the margins are just too thin. The Flames should be leading their division by a comfortable margin but instead, they're third and the only reason things aren't even worse is because of how bad the rest of the division is. Peters has got to be smarter about this.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

fully expecting to get jobbed by bad officiating... again

 

[Anglesmith]

It was multiple bad goals and it's been like that in game after game. Smith can say what he wants but the first goal in San Jose was a bad one too. The team rallied back but he cost them again.

Those aren't bad goals, really, though. They aren't plays that were defended well, they were dangerous chances, and when you allow a dangerous chance, you expect that they'll go in from time to time. Rittich is going to let a certain percentage of those kind of chances in, too. He did in Montreal, for instance. The goal on the 5-on-3 was a dangerous chance, for sure, but Rittich got over in time and just let it go through him. The Drouin goal was a shot where he could see it all the way and, again, it went through him. No goalie is going to be perfect on these types of chances. The goal as a team is to avoid those defensive miscues.

But I meant it in more of an accrued sense anyway. Each game doesn't occur in a vacuum and you can't seriously think everything just resets after a match. Emotions don't work that way. It's not just another game; it's another game in front of a goalie (Smith) the players would have zero faith in. Why work hard and put your body on the line when the goalie's just going to let the shot in anyway? Rittich struggling too would only add fuel to fire and make things seem even more hopeless.

In the back to backs, they should have started Smith against the offensively challenged Kings and Rittich against the real threats. You give the struggling goalie the easier match up to boost his confidence while the hotter hand gets the tougher deal. That trip could have easily been four points but Peters' blind faith in Smith or his myopic focus on getting him going cost them. It's an absolute detriment and he needs to start doing what's best for the team, not one player. Smith's play thus far has already cost the team three to five wins and almost a few more had the rest of the guys not outscored his ineptitude. In a league with this much parity, you can't afford to carry around liabilities; the margins are just too thin. The Flames should be leading their division by a comfortable margin but instead, they're third and the only reason things aren't even worse is because of how bad the rest of the division is. Peters has got to be smarter about this.

I agree with that, but I am also trying to get at the idea that we get carried away in the bad moments thinking life is pretty much over after something happens like that winning goal last night. It really isn't. The players do have to come in after losses and still play. This is a team that responded to a 9-1 thrashing by outplaying the Capitals and then going on a four-game winning streak. Confidence is fickle, but can come seemingly out of nowhere. As fans, and in the media, we love storylines, but so often the results go against every possible trend coming into the game.

So, yeah, if Rittich gets lit up and looks bad tomorrow night, we'll all feel very bad about it for two days, but Calgary won't be able to pull out of playing Vegas on Monday. One of the two will play that game, and will have the ability to quell fears by playing a solid game. It's hockey. Stuff like that can happen.

 

[JPeeper]

fully expecting to get jobbed by bad officiating... again

At least it is in Calgary so the officiating shouldn't be too bad.

 

[Anglesmith]

At least it is in Calgary so the officiating shouldn't be too bad.

We got one PP again against Montreal, and there should have been several more. Price literally handled the puck outside the trapezoid 10 feet from the referee in the final minute, no call. Drouin dropped his stick and grabbed Gaudreau in the neutral zone and robbed his skating speed so he lost the puck. No call. That whole third period was a gong show. I think the referees decided to keep a loose standard and then it got out of hand.

 

[joescores]

Rittich didn't have a good game v Montreal and then Peters sat him the next game. If same will be applied tonight, I will seriously start questing Peters. The no.1 goalie on this team is Rittich. Just f***ing play him.

 

[JPeeper]

We got one PP again against Montreal, and there should have been several more. Price literally handled the puck outside the trapezoid 10 feet from the referee in the final minute, no call. Drouin dropped his stick and grabbed Gaudreau in the neutral zone and robbed his skating speed so he lost the puck. No call. That whole third period was a gong show. I think the referees decided to keep a loose standard and then it got out of hand.

The refs have let the past 4 games get out of hand. Like Backlund taking a stupid penalty annoys me, but I can understand why he did it.

San Jose game there was 3 penalties in the last 90 seconds all uncalled, Montreal game was terrible, the LA game was a massive joke.

I have no faith in ever watching a properly officiated Flames game ever again.

 

[Tkachuky]

Is it just me, or are his eyes looking in different directions? The more I stare at this pic the more confused I am...

It’s great for a goalie. It’s like the guy from Mr. Deeds with Adam sandler.

Rittich can see both sides of the ice clearly, not just peripherals.