Post-Game Talk: Oilers 1 Flames 0

[RegDunlop]

Too bad brave Rittich didn't come all the way down the ice... Mikko the giant probably would've had him for dinner.

I think so too but good on Rittich. Love the old time hockey attitude!

 

[North]

Hell the season we made the playoffs I was screaming at McLellan constantly. The team was playing great but he was doing so much to stifle it.

That’s the thing. They were resilient and Cam was supernova but I never thought it was great coaching by McLellan.

 

[oobga]

Hell the season we made the playoffs I was screaming at McLellan constantly. The team was playing great but he was doing so much to stifle it.

How scared and conservative we played with a lead that year still, even though Talbot kept shutting the door. I think many people had a thought in their back of their head that would kill us eventually. And god, in the worst possible way it did.

 

[rboomercat90]

Interesting. I suspect Kostco had no idea he was waiting for him at centre, nor was he likely concerned about the fact that Rittich was there. Good on Rittich to be ready there, as he should be when that happens, but that's Twitter take is a Flame's fan looking at a really non-item to turn into a positive.

It’s a penalty when the goalie comes across the red line isn’t? I thought the league put something like that in to curb the late Ray Emery.

 

[Drivesaitl]

It’s a penalty when the goalie comes across the red line isn’t? I thought the league put something like that in to curb the late Ray Emery.

How is Rittich even playing, and not suspended after his stick breaking/throwing towards officials incident? Did he get any suspension for that. Keeping in mind goalie suspensions should be longer, and period of time rather than games missed to reflect that they do not play every game anyway.

This clown showed me what he's made of last week. Seen enough of dirty goalies.

 

[SnooPac]

Thank you for grabbing the clip, but you gotta pay attention to your mouse.

Should be clean:

YouTube:


Streamable:

 

[I am the Liquor]

It's also the sign of a hockey team that is getting lucky bounces. One bounce the wrong way and your 1 goal lead is gone. Like I said, it's not a coincidence that Buffalo has lost 5 straight after their winning streak.

As for playoffs (if we make it), we might be able to get out of the first round if we're playing another pacific team, but we stand no chance against teams like the Preds, Jets, or even the Avs in a 7 game series.

 

[rboomercat90]

How is Rittich even playing, and not suspended after his stick breaking/throwing towards officials incident? Did he get any suspension for that. Keeping in mind goalie suspensions should be longer, and period of time rather than games missed to reflect that they do not play every game anyway.

This clown showed me what he's made of last week. Seen enough of dirty goalies.

I must have missed the incident you’re referring to, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I find myself watching fewer and fewer hilites of other teams games as the years go by.

 

[Oilers in NS]

Benning is precisely the type of player who should be doing better under Hitch as well. He’s pretty good offensively, and hits like a train, but he needs structure. Sekera was able to carry him in that regard. Last year and this year, he lost that steadying presence. I’m really hoping Hitch can get him to a point where he doesn’t need that other guy. If he can put up ~25 points, and be that physically presence, while anchoring our 3rd pairing, that would be huge for this team.

The Russell hate might be one of the stupidest things around the league. He’s a solid #4, or a great #5, and people hate him simply because someone came up with a stat that says he sucks. Anyone who watches the game can see his value out there.

I don’t live in Edmonton but I can see how players are driven outta Edmonton. When the team struggles , the fans pick a player and vent on him. Unfortunately, that is usually Benning and Russell. In preseason, everyone hated Koskinen

 

[SnooPac]

We’ve been talking about this for weeks but you’re the first person to post some video of it. Watching it for the first time was kind of like putting a face to a voice.

Just a quick note, that's not actually me who made the video. Just saw it on Twitter and thought I'd pass it along.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I must have missed the incident you’re referring to, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I find myself watching fewer and fewer hilites of other teams games as the years go by.

just last week against Dallas;



As noted the stick throwing is at the direction of the official. How on earth is that not a severe suspension?

He breaks the stick and then throws it towards an official. The NHL prevents broken sticks from even being used to the dangers that broken sticks can injure someone.

This assturd is throwing his broken stick towards an official.

 

[TheRebuild]

What the hell was Mclellan doing here for 4 years? Comment after comment from players about playing a more structured game plan where the players support each other defensively. More comments from Hitchcock about not understanding what they were doing here before.

I was seriously worried in training camp when the new coaches were telling him that they did a lot of things "right", last year after only 5 months ago he was admitting that the team's failures were almost entirely due to coaching.

I don't think he necessarily needed to be overly hard on himself on Day 1 of training camp, but there was something about the message that made me worried (I highlighted the relevant part)

The exact quote from Todd in reference to the new coaches at training camp was: “Their presence and the way they present things is new and refreshing. There are a lot of positives to it. There are also reassurances. The coaching staff we had in the past wasn’t a group of dummies; we did some things well.This group, Gully or Yawny, came in and said ‘This is a strength of your team, we just have to do it right, do it longer, do it better.’ so there are reassurances from those new faces that we are doing things the right way.”

McLellan welcomes fresh faces behind the bench

After hearing that, my first thought was "OH, great. So he's just going to do the exact same thing he did last year and hope for a better result... yeah, that's bound to work this time."

 

[Da McBomb]

I love how Larsson doesn't let up when he plays Gaudreau... he seems to play little Johnny extra hard.

 

[GodPucker]

I'm looking forward to the next Flames game. We had more break aways and chances against a full team with Giordano and Backlund than last night lol.

I love watching McDavid turnstile Gio

 

[bone]

It’s a penalty when the goalie comes across the red line isn’t? I thought the league put something like that in to curb the late Ray Emery.

I think so, but reading the quote, I think he was just hanging out there in case things escalated to the point it was worth the penalty.

 

[Aerrol]

This team had no structure to its game with Mclellan. They had to start somewhere so they could start winning games. They haven’t had much practice time since Hitchcock took over and by the looks of things they’ve spent that working on the defensive side of their game. It’s working and they’re winning games. If they were still losing games and we had to rely on comments like “visually better” like we had to in the past then I’d agree with you and be calling bull **** on it too. Because they’ve started to win because of defensive changes that Hitchcock put in it gives me optimism that other areas of their game will also improve as time goes by.

Hey I never said I wasn't seeing improvement! The team is absolutely better defensively, playing calmer and with a clearer defensive system. I just said it was pretty boring hockey where they're trapping (or clogging up the neutral zone as it's usually called today) and I'm not a fan of that style.

Don't mix that up with me saying I'd rather see them lose excitingly or that I'm not seeing any improvement. I don't think that improved defensive play will magically turn into better offensive hockey though, regardless of Hitch's line about 'doing whatever you want in the offensive zone'. They don't have enough creative forwards for that to mean much and part of offensive hockey is not falling back so quickly to push the pace in the o zone.

 

[Da McBomb]

Once Rieder and Caggiula are healthy... all of a sudden we have some depth!

 

[BlackDogg]

Once Rieder and Caggiula are healthy... all of a sudden we have some depth!

Already forgot about Reider lol

 

[McDaddy]

I'm not sure if he's been talked about already, but Kevin Gravel was in my eyes our best defenceman yesterday. I may be wrong but it looked like he was out with Larsson a lot of times? He's a solid defenceman, and he's being trusted with more minutes and he's making the most of it imo.

 

[Crude]

Already forgot about Reider lol

Will definitely be interesting to see how Chiasson, Caguilla, Reider, Khaira, Zykov and Spooner all fit together.

Leon with Connor, Jesse with Nuge, and the Identity Line means that there are really only 4 winger spots to go around.

I really hate Spooner as 3C...

 

[onetweasy]

It's also the sign of a hockey team that is getting lucky bounces. One bounce the wrong way and your 1 goal lead is gone. Like I said, it's not a coincidence that Buffalo has lost 5 straight after their winning streak.

As for playoffs (if we make it), we might be able to get out of the first round if we're playing another pacific team, but we stand no chance against teams like the Preds, Jets, or even the Avs in a 7 game series.

Of course we are not realistically getting out of a series against the Preds or the Jets.......Chia made sure of that.

I have re-adjusted my mindsight on what is realistic for this team.......a 2nd round playoff team if things go reasonably well.

 

[Missing smitty]

Glad to hear it looked better in person. The Snet telecast was as usual awful. Bad sound mix, such poor picture quality (definitely not HD) that you sometimes had trouble picking out the numbers.

I watch the games over SN Now, and the picture quality is amazing. I set up my dad's 4k TV and we watched a game that night, you could damn near see the individual pieces of snow from guys stopping. I have no idea what you are talking about with bad sound and poor image quality.

 

[The Batman]

I'm not sure if he's been talked about already, but Kevin Gravel was in my eyes our best defenceman yesterday. I may be wrong but it looked like he was out with Larsson a lot of times? He's a solid defenceman, and he's being trusted with more minutes and he's making the most of it imo.

With how bad Nurse is playing I'd swap them. Can't get any worst right?

Klefbom - Larsson
Gravel - Russell
Nurse - Benning

 

[Missing smitty]

Now isn't it hilarious that we have large screen HDTV's and due to poor Hd quality of the telecasts and inane camera work that you never see this on the telecasts? They could pan out more if the hd quality was anywhere near what it is supposed to be. I think the SNet telecasts are closer to Standard Definition.

If you are seeing the telecasts as close to SD, you either haven't watched an SD broadcast in a long time or your TV is messed up. What are you using to watch Sportsnet?

 

[dssource]

Man hearing Bob Cole call the game really brings back memories. Congrats on 50 years Bob!

That was a solid defensive win. Smart coaching. We weren't going to beat that team in a high scoring affair but we could beat them in a low scoring game. I thought Kosk played very well but the team defense in front of him earned that win. We gave them very little and Kosk took care of the rest.

Rittich was really the only reason the flames were even close. Feels really good beating that trash team. Such turds on that team.