GDT: Habs @ Flames, 7:00 PM MT Dec 19 - Run With Us!

[Anglesmith]

We gave up 20 high danger chances tonight...

No ****ing way that should've been a win.

And yet it would've been if not for bad goals against and completely wasted chances.

Also, chances created or nullified by the refs not doing their jobs don't factor into that. We should have had PP time on a few occasions which would have greatly affected momentum swings that we saw.

 

[lightstorm]

CP with the narrative that Rittich cost us the game...

Not like we give up 43 shots. Cesspool is cesspool.

He hates BSD and always had a hard on for Smith

 

[JPeeper]

Oh well, only 3 more hours until The Witcher is released on Netflix.

Time for that all-night binge.

 

[BobColesNasalCavity]

Disgraceful. I don’t want to hear about moral victories. What’s the point of fighting back to the top of the division to not take it over? Losing to the Habs makes me sick.

 

[Mobiandi]

I'm ecstatic about the way the team is playing system-wise since Ward took over.

Those 7 straight wins were free-flowing, entertaining hockey. How much of that was Ward vs new coach bounce? Hard to tell.

But rattling off three straight home losses where for long stretches of the game we were outplayed is disheartening. Again, just a preliminary assessment but I really don't like how little we see our Dmen involved in the offense - it's supposed to be a strength of ours and a guy who's into his 2nd season here should be seeing that

 

[super6646]

And yet it would've been if not for bad goals against and completely wasted chances.

Also, chances created or nullified by the refs not doing their jobs don't factor into that. We should have had PP time on a few occasions which would have greatly affected momentum swings that we saw.

Blaming refs for loses = bad deflection. 20 HDCA is just not good enough, and everyone knows reffing is a league-wide problem. Nobody is showing their sympathy for human error.

I'm starting to think our dcore has some serious problems. They either have to play like a trainwreck to generate offense, or we play conservative and we look like the Arizona coyotes with less offense. Even then, our dcore isn't generating much point production. They aren't close to pacing for the 150 pt benchmark at this point (which is usually what you need to get to the playoffs). And the negative goal-differential is also a bit of a sign as well.

I don't see us making the show at this point. Team just isn't good enough.

 

[super6646]

Those 7 straight wins were free-flowing, entertaining hockey. How much of that was Ward vs new coach bounce? Hard to tell.

But rattling off three straight home losses where for long stretches of the game we were outplayed is disheartening. Again, just a preliminary assessment but I really don't like how little we see our Dmen involved in the offense - it's supposed to be a strength of ours and a guy who's into his 2nd season here should be seeing that

Maybe our dcore is overrated?

Gio falling back to earth and Hammer playing like shit is more than enough to wreck our top 4. Look at the struggles with our second pair because one dman cannot move the puck if his life depended on it... Hanny really made his money off playmaking on the rush last year.

 

[Anglesmith]

Those 7 straight wins were free-flowing, entertaining hockey. How much of that was Ward vs new coach bounce? Hard to tell.

But rattling off three straight home losses where for long stretches of the game we were outplayed is disheartening. Again, just a preliminary assessment but I really don't like how little we see our Dmen involved in the offense - it's supposed to be a strength of ours and a guy who's into his 2nd season here should be seeing that

The thing is, these past three losses have been very, very different to the losses earlier in the season (especially that shutout streak). The word "free-flowing" is a good way to put it. We are consistently generating chances and often looking like the better team, and that's been still present even in these games we've lost.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Honestly I think Hamonic being below average this year has really hurt our team. It’s affected our depth on the backend and made an excellent core, average. Then you pair that with Gio playing way to much and slowing down, that’s been the biggest difference in my mind between this and last year.

 

[DFF]

And yet it would've been if not for bad goals against and completely wasted chances.

Also, chances created or nullified by the refs not doing their jobs don't factor into that. We should have had PP time on a few occasions which would have greatly affected momentum swings that we saw.

I am tired of blaming on wasted chances

Maybe these guys are not very good and can't score no matter how many chances they get

 

[Anglesmith]

I am tired of blaming on wasted chances

Maybe these guys are not very good and can't score no matter how many chances they get

They scored 5 times in a period three times last year and were what.... second overall in goals for? They can bury over an 82 game season. What you're seeing is just statistical variance. Three games in a row of bad finishing isn't something outlandish at all.

The problem is needing something to blame. It's sports. The other team wants to win too, and sometimes it goes their way. Why does every game need to be pinned on a villain? From the Flames' perspective, all that matters is whether they're doing things that should work out in future games. I think they are, mostly, right now. Obviously they can clean up certain aspects from tonight, but as long as we're creating chances and drawing penalties, we'll win more than we lose.

 

[Body Checker]

Overall I do currently like the 18 guys we have out there right now but too many left shots up front - 10 vs 2 right shots. Just seems like things are a bit uneven that way which is affecting some positional shooting and puck transition.

 

[JurassicTunga]

Arizona gives up 8 at home.

Thankfully the division we're in is pretty awful.

 

[FerklundCGY]

The Flames, having come off 2 straight home losses after ghosting the second period, and talking post-game how good teams don't lose 2 games in a row, decided to not show up at all tonight:

44.95 CF%
44.05 FF%
40.74 SF%
44.83 SCF%
48.00 HDCF%
43.13 xGF%

In the 10 games with Geoff Ward behind the bench, the Flames at 5v5:

47.52 CF%
47.75 FF%
45.86 SF%
48.76 SCF%
49.229 xGF%

Only improvement is their HDCF% (53.67%)

This is not a good team playing good hockey under a good coach. Don't let the record fool you.

 

[Anglesmith]

The Flames, having come off 2 straight home losses after ghosting the second period, and talking post-game how good teams don't lose 2 games in a row, decided to not show up at all tonight:

44.95 CF%
44.05 FF%
40.74 SF%
44.83 SCF%
48.00 HDCF%
43.13 xGF%

In the 10 games with Geoff Ward behind the bench, the Flames at 5v5:

47.52 CF%
47.75 FF%
45.86 SF%
48.76 SCF%
49.229 xGF%

Only improvement is their HDCF% (53.67%)

This is not a good team playing good hockey under a good coach. Don't let the record fool you.

Don't let those numbers fool you, let these numbers fool you.

Just watch the games. It's obvious that the Flames are doing a lot of good things right now. It's also obvious that the Flames didn't "decide not to show up at all tonight." What is nonsense like that supposed to achieve?

 

[FerklundCGY]

Don't let those numbers fool you, let these numbers fool you.

Just watch the games. It's obvious that the Flames are doing a lot of good things right now. It's also obvious that the Flames didn't "decide not to show up at all tonight." What is nonsense like that supposed to achieve?

You provided zero numbers.

Sure, you can say they're playing more confident, which I wouldn't deny. However, it doesn't matter how confident you're playing if you're playing confident in a crap system, which Geoff Ward's system has proven to be so far.

Today was the worst game the Flames played out of this 3 game losing streak. Through 2 periods tonight:

37.97 CF%
39.68 FF%
38.1 SF%
38.46% SCF%
36.84 HDCF%
35.27 xFG%

That is horrible, no matter what way you want to look at it.

Like I said above, even if you want to say they "showed up" tonight, there's a big difference between showing up while having a strong system in place and showing up while having a poor system in place.

Through 10 games, an argument can easily be made that Geoff Ward's system is very poor.

Maybe (hopefully) after getting his system fully integrated and the players getting fully comfortable playing his system will the Flames start playing actual good hockey, but as of right now, the numbers show they haven't been good under Ward, no matter how many good things they're doing and how confident they look out there.

 

[Anglesmith]

You provided zero numbers.

No, I've opted to make a hockey-based argument instead.

Since Ward has been behind the bench, we have consistently generated offensive chances game in and game out, something we were incapable of doing prior to the change. We have seen pretty much every line he's put together generate good scoring chances. That's a very positive change. We're falling victim to too many individual mistakes, but the systematic production of chances means that we should be in every game, so it's just up to each individual to make more of those plays that they haven't made the last three games, and we'll be fine.

And for what it's worth, it is highly unlikely that Ward has introduced new systems since the coaching change. Perhaps minor tweaks and suggestions for different decisions, but in terms of organization, I doubt that's something you can truly overhaul in the middle of a season. What he has done is get them skating again, which was 90-95% of their problem since last ASB.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

I appreciate the proper use of you’re in this tweet.

Can someone explain to me how that wasn’t blatantly offside?

Officials all around were garbage tonight.

 

[FerklundCGY]

No, I've opted to make a hockey-based argument instead.

Since Ward has been behind the bench, we have consistently generated offensive chances game in and game out, something we were incapable of doing prior to the change. We have seen pretty much every line he's put together generate good scoring chances. That's a very positive change. We're falling victim to too many individual mistakes, but the systematic production of chances means that we should be in every game, so it's just up to each individual to make more of those plays that they haven't made the last three games, and we'll be fine.

And for what it's worth, it is highly unlikely that Ward has introduced new systems since the coaching change. Perhaps minor tweaks and suggestions for different decisions, but in terms of organization, I doubt that's something you can truly overhaul in the middle of a season. What he has done is get them skating again, which was 90-95% of their problem since last ASB.

Yes, we have been generating more scoring chances (28.55/60 vs 26.32/60), high danger chances (11.49/60 vs 9.06/60) and xGF (2.29/60 vs 2.18/60).

Nobody is denying we haven't been better offensively under Ward so far.

But on the other hand, we're giving up way more under Ward than we were under Peters in terms of scoring chances (30.01/60 vs 25.99/60), high danger chances (9.92/60 vs 9.91/60) and xGA (2.36/60 vs 2.22/60).

While we've seen a slight improvement offensively under Ward, we've seen a bigger drop defensively.

Not a good recipe for success

 

[super6646]

The Flames, having come off 2 straight home losses after ghosting the second period, and talking post-game how good teams don't lose 2 games in a row, decided to not show up at all tonight:

44.95 CF%
44.05 FF%
40.74 SF%
44.83 SCF%
48.00 HDCF%
43.13 xGF%

In the 10 games with Geoff Ward behind the bench, the Flames at 5v5:

47.52 CF%
47.75 FF%
45.86 SF%
48.76 SCF%
49.229 xGF%

Only improvement is their HDCF% (53.67%)

This is not a good team playing good hockey under a good coach. Don't let the record fool you.

And now I know your cp burner

 

[Anglesmith]

Yes, we have been generating more scoring chances (28.55/60 vs 26.32/60), high danger chances (11.49/60 vs 9.06/60) and xGF (2.29/60 vs 2.18/60).

Nobody is denying we haven't been better offensively under Ward so far.

But on the other hand, we're giving up way more under Ward than we were under Peters in terms of scoring chances (30.01/60 vs 25.99/60), high danger chances (9.92/60 vs 9.91/60) and xGA (2.36/60 vs 2.22/60).

While we've seen a slight improvement offensively under Ward, we've seen a bigger drop defensively.

Not a good recipe for success

And while the numbers may say that, the reality is that in this game, the Flames allowed one goal that you'd expect an NHL goalie to allow, while both teams spurned several glorious chances. And none of the goals against were instances of defensive breakdowns (though there were several mistakes and lost battles on the GTG). You add into that the fact that I think objectively speaking, the Flames should have been on the other side of the penalty advantage tonight (because of beating their man, not just through chance), which would potentially have changed the whole game, and it is yet another game that the Flames could easily have won.

 

[FerklundCGY]

And now I know your cp burner

I regularly repost the same stats both here and there. Never been or tried to be secretive about what my CP account is haha

And while the numbers may say that, the reality is that in this game, the Flames allowed one goal that you'd expect an NHL goalie to allow, while both teams spurned several glorious chances. And none of the goals against were instances of defensive breakdowns (though there were several mistakes and lost battles on the GTG). You add into that the fact that I think objectively speaking, the Flames should have been on the other side of the penalty advantage tonight (because of beating their man, not just through chance), which would potentially have changed the whole game, and it is yet another game that the Flames could easily have won.

The numbers are the numbers. Saying "in reality" and then following it up with a bunch of personal opinions isn't the right combo.

The reality is that under Ward, the Flames have been a little better offensively but a lot worse defensively and have been outplayed by a fair margin in the 10 games he's been behind the bench. That's the reality.

 

[Kranix]

It was those brown pads

 

[mattyboy]

We are very lucky we’re playing one of the worst PPs in the league tonight

 

[2023FriendshipTour]

The defense is starting to become a big issue. Brodie and Andersson are the only ones I am really confident in at the moment, while Kylington and Gio have had there ups and downs. That second pairing is a complete disaster and it needs to be addressed badly, as they blow. Valimaki being injured all the time has been a huge blow.. he's the prototypical defender for this age, but he can't stay healthy and you have to wonder how he'll progress at this point.

We are a middle of the pack team, but we have the luxury of a crap division where we only have to compete with other garbage like Edmonton.