GDT: Flames at Bruins: Nov. 25 at 5:30 PM MT on SNW

[Skobel24]

Wow, I was app-watching all night and the app said the game was tied 2-2 for the longest time, and it only just refreshed to say we won 2-1. Way to go, NHL.

Nice though, another great effort from Johnson, and a great night from Bennett!

Always look at the goal times. Both Bruins goals were listed at the 5:55 mark. It happens fairly often. They'll adjust an assist but forget to remove the previous entry.

 

[AgeOfBennett]

No Johnny/Jiri to make him look good.

He played well in his second season with Jones and Glencross though

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Seriously Johnson is looking like a wall right now. He's just so focused it's really impressive.

Bennett looked great to me and so did Brodie, praise baby Jesus.

I also thought Frolik quietly had a fantastic game.

 

[Anglesmith]

He played well in his second season with Jones and Glencross though

Yeah, and at the end of the day, that's the thing that should give us hope, in a bizarre way. Monahan has played a lot better than this in the past, even away from Gaudreau.

 

[Dertell]

I also thought Frolik quietly had a fantastic game.

Him and the rest of his line. All over the ice. It's sad they didn't score.

 

[Calculon]

And this is why a guy like Hathaway should have started the season on the Flames. At the very least though, keep him up. That type of play is infectious.

 

[Anglesmith]

I think the extra effort I put into the GDT really helped.

Honestly, this is probably the last entertaining style we've seen the Flames play in quite some time. They're getting a lead and blatantly sitting on it. Looking at the saves Johnson has had to make, I really don't think the team is playing better now than they were; they just aren't having the puck go in against them as much.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

I think the extra effort I put into the GDT really helped.

Honestly, this is probably the last entertaining style we've seen the Flames play in quite some time. They're getting a lead and blatantly sitting on it. Looking at the saves Johnson has had to make, I really don't think the team is playing better now than they were; they just aren't having the puck go in against them as much.

I don't disagree, however the style of defending (stick-lifts and playing the body) does Johnson a lot more favors than having all five guys acting as a screen for the goalie while essentially being sources of juicy, loose rebounds with their shot-blocking.

I still think our breakouts are awful though.

 

[Anglesmith]

I don't disagree, however the style of defending (stick-lifts and playing the body) does Johnson a lot more favors than having all five guys acting as a screen for the goalie while essentially being sources of juicy, loose rebounds with their shot-blocking.

I still think our breakouts are awful though.

I don't know if that's true, really. Seems like the shot quality isn't that different. Johnson is just making a bunch of great saves and is controlling rebounds better.

I still don't necessarily think Elliott has been a problem, but Johnson has been a solution in these past few games.

 

[Boomstick]

Johnson's been a beast. Unlucky for me I saw the crap game in Buffalo. I'm liking what's going on in the last 7 games though. Keep forging ahead boys.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

I don't know if that's true, really. Seems like the shot quality isn't that different. Johnson is just making a bunch of great saves and is controlling rebounds better.

I still don't necessarily think Elliott has been a problem, but Johnson has been a solution in these past few games.

There is a LOT less mindless flailing around on the ice by skaters



In fact once we subtract Engelland, there will be NONE.

Our D are still giving up some shots in dangerous areas, but they are just shots, not "goalie didn't have a chance" moments.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Johnson has been great but we have eliminated the back door empty net passes which have been our kryptonite in the past.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

By the way, Tkachuk had another excellent game today. Our very own Luc Robitaille!

Johnson has been great but we have eliminated the back door empty net passes which have been our kryptonite in the past.

We just haven't played Anaheim in Anaheim in a few weeks

 

[Volica]

Bruins had the puck a lot tonight; to be fair, they also were trailing for a large part of the game. Johnson was the difference maker here. Him and Bennett stole this one for Calgary.

I'd rather we dominate the game a lot more than that. There were 4 guys under 25% CF 5v5 tonight; that's pretty yikes. I'll take that win.

I know Janko's up; not sure where he fits into this roster at this time.

Monahan while not great didn't have a horrible game tonight. He was creating and skating well, but also pretty poor at times.

 

[Lunatik]

Fun fact, since we reached the one month point of the season the Flames are 5-2-0, have allowed just 11 goals in those 7 games. The 2 losses were on a questionable goal against the Hawks in the final minutes and the other more or less due to a terrible 2 minutes of play. The PK has killed 18/22 penalties in that time (3 of the 4ga were in 90 seconds), for 81.81%, while not great they are average and without that Buffalo game and the terrible minute and a half we killed 17/18 opportunities. While we need to work on preventing implosions like against Buffalo, there are alot of positives.

Scoring is an area of concern though, in those 7 games we have only scored 14 goals ourselves. We desperately need Gaudreau to return and Monahan to turn things around. But we also need more help from secondary scoring, frankly the only guys whose offensive production I am happy with so far are Frolik, Tkachuk and Ferland.

 

[Unlimited Chequing]

I had to leave at the first intermission, but I caught the highlights. Now was the overall play in periods 2 and 3?

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

strange game but i will take it

also

also had a hearty guffaw at the arizona game

 

[TkachuksMouthguard]

Bennett looked great to me and so did Brodie, praise baby Jesus.

That Bennett goal was all thanks to Brodie. Amazing takeaway deep in the D zone and quickly transition puck up to Bennett. That was pure beauty and wish they could have this confidence more often.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

I will repeat some of the things that Pinder said, but this is in regards to Meth's post, there are indeed reasons for optimism. Overall, our top players have been not been good: Gaudreau, Monahan, Bennett, Gio, Brodie, Dougie and Elliott. Our PK and PP combined are the worst in the league. Despite all this, we are only sitting 2pts from the Kings for a Wildcard spot (I know we have played the most games).

Now the reasons for the optimism. Imagine if this was team not terrible on the PK or PP. Brodie, Gio and Dougie are looking more like themselves over the last few games. Dougie and Gio have been a good pairing and I've counted 3 games now that I've liked Brodie's game and I thought he was our best Dman last night.

Johnny is out, but he looked really good before he got hurt. Bennett has looked a lot better since moving to wing. If we could just get Monahan going, this is easily a team that could challenge for a playoff spot especially if Johnson can keep playing this way.

 

[DFF]

The big difference is the goalie. The Bruins was controlling the 2nd half of the game, if you didnt see that you must be blind.

Johnson was making all the saves he's supposed to make and more. Rebound control was also great


That's not to say there was not improvement.

 

[Volica]

The Flames are a ridiculously interesting team this year in all honesty. You look at the team and you see that they can run 12 forwards, they have two pairings that anyone in the league would want and they have good names in goal.

I think this year has been a mix of a few things:
1) New coaching system. Gulutzan is a ridiculously smart guy, he has a good hockey background and has developed a solid system for this team. i thought this team at times would simply give up Gulutzan's system and play the ol' Hartley style during the first 10-15 games of the season.

2) Our PDO is literally 3rd worst in the league. Our Shooting % is 8th worst in the league and our Save % is 3rd worst in the league. With Johnson and Elliott back there, that shouldn't be the case. With guys like Gaudreau, Monahan, Bennett, Hamilton, Giordano, Brouwer and Versteeg our shooting % shouldn't be expected to be that low.

3) Our 'stars' really struggling. Gaudreau was starting to heat back up until they broke his finger. Bennett is looking much more confident on the wing; especially when given a responsible centre. Now, Bennett is a natural centre, but I think if the Flames play their cards right they could really run with some of the nastiest lines in the NHL. Monahan has been hot garbage; I had my fears that he was a Gaudreau and Hartley product, my hope is that he's just struggling a bit right now.

I remember an article by Travis Yost of TSN; where he outlined the teams that are actually 12 forwards deep. Flames were 1 of 9 teams mentioned. this team list included LA, Washington, Pittsburgh, St Louis and SJ. That's some good company.

I feel like this team turned the corner, they're getting some lights out goaltending; but they're also playing a lot smarter, especially in their own end. The next step is to figure out these special teams play and develop that killer instinct with it. We've been taking leads and then turtling, what we need to do is score that second goal and make the game unreachable for people. Since our team has actually started playing like one:

5-2
1.57 GAA (would be best in the league by a wide margin)
2.00 GFA (which would only put them above the Sabres)
I feel scoring chances, especially those of high danger have gone down; we're not giving up as many breakaways and 2-1s

 

[DFF]

I remember an article by Travis Yost of TSN; where he outlined the teams that are actually 12 forwards deep. Flames were 1 of 9 teams mentioned. this team list included LA, Washington, Pittsburgh, St Louis and SJ. That's some good company.

If your star players are playing like 3rd/4th liner then you are indeed 12 forward deep.

 

[AgeOfBennett]

I don't disagree, however the style of defending (stick-lifts and playing the body) does Johnson a lot more favors than having all five guys acting as a screen for the goalie while essentially being sources of juicy, loose rebounds with their shot-blocking.

I still think our breakouts are awful though.

I actually thought we've had better breakouts recently? I've seen on multiple occasions in that past few games that we've had some great, calm, controlled exits out of our zone and into the offensive zone.

 

[Calculon]

For what it's worth, Bennett had similar flashes of dominance while at centre earlier this season. Of course, it came with a ton of offensive zone penalties but I don't think that had anything to do with playing centre.

The big three on defence seemed to have turned things around. Gaudreau was looking like his old self prior to his injury while Bennett will likely alternative between being on fire and being ice cold all season. So really, the only struggling star left is Monahan, and Elliott if you consider him as such. Very odd; he's never been this bad even when away from Gaudreau.

 

[OvermanKingGainer]

For what it's worth, Bennett had similar flashes of dominance while at centre earlier this season. Of course, it came with a ton of offensive zone penalties but I don't think that had anything to do with playing centre.

Yep the only struggle Bennett had at center was carrying crappy wingers (With the exceptions of Tkachuk and Versteeg) Stajan at center an upgrade on Brouwer or Stajan at wing hence why Bennett is clicking. We have a center who may be the closest thing to Gilmour or Forsberg and we are putting him at age 20 with some terrible linemates. That said I don't mind Stajan's play at center in the expanded role - I just don't see it as maximizing the team's potential. We have already been down the "Number One Center Matt Stajan" path. 2010-2013

I actually thought we've had better breakouts recently? I've seen on multiple occasions in that past few games that we've had some great, calm, controlled exits out of our zone and into the offensive zone.

Tkachuk/Backlund have produced excellent breakouts. Ferland and Bennett are one-man breakouts and Gio/Hamilton/Brodie/Wideman/Kulak have great first passes.

However on a whole, we have had a lot of forwards botching zone exits. Poor positioning to receive the first pass, braindead giveaways, missed exit passes, and poor acceleration/separation. Also a lot of lost board battles by players like Frolik and Brouwer who should be winning them.