Post-Game Talk: OPENING NIGHT! October 8th - VAN @ CGY - 8:00MT (Sportsnet)

[Anglesmith]

Yeah a rule is a rule, but I still think Ref's should be able to make certain judgement calls. But I guess that's a whole other story all together.

Exactly. All I was saying was that the ref made the right call given the rules of the game.


Anyway, tonight was a frustrating game overall for us to watch. If this was a February game, we'd all be pretty upset at the way we played, I think. The problems we had in this game were exactly the problems we had during our really bad stretch last season. Namely, we weren't able to move the puck through the neutral zone with any kind of speed, and far too many times we ended up playing right into the hands of their defensive system. Standing three guys on the blueline and firing a pass from your own zone up to one of them isn't going to generate offence. We need our centres to move up with the play or we're going to spend too much time defending and chasing like we were today.

 

[StreakingRed]

Win or lose its great to have hockey back.

Amen.

 

[Huggy]

Monahan is gonna be better than Hall.

 

[Volica]

I thought the team looked only alright tonight. They have to play excellent to even have a shot at most games... Canucks looked awful and still got the W.

I don't know why Bouma's playing anything higher than the 4th line. I know we have an abundance of mid-grade players and it's hard to sort through them... but why even dress Matt Stajan if he's going to play less than 10 minutes (I know he got dinged, but he was back) on the fourth line. I'd rather see Calgary ship him out for anything, move Bouma down to the 4th line center roll (if he can at least win 50%) and either activate Guch, Jones or bring up Sven.

Sven - Backlund - Raymond or Raymond - Backlund - Guch
Gaudreau - Monahan - Hudler
Glencross - Colborne - Byron/Jones
Bollig - Bouma - Big Ern

Makes much more sense than what they are currently running as their 4 lines right now.

 

[MonaHan Solo]

At least the Flames play the Oilers tomorrow. The Canucks should be a playoff team this year, so I'm not surprised by the loss. The Oilers are garbage, can't wait to see Johnny walk around them.

 

[CraigsList]

I thought the team looked only alright tonight. They have to play excellent to even have a shot at most games... Canucks looked awful and still got the W.

I don't know why Bouma's playing anything higher than the 4th line. I know we have an abundance of mid-grade players and it's hard to sort through them... but why even dress Matt Stajan if he's going to play less than 10 minutes (I know he got dinged, but he was back) on the fourth line. I'd rather see Calgary ship him out for anything, move Bouma down to the 4th line center roll (if he can at least win 50%) and either activate Guch, Jones or bring up Sven.

Sven - Backlund - Raymond or Raymond - Backlund - Guch
Gaudreau - Monahan - Hudler
Glencross - Colborne - Byron/Jones
Bollig - Bouma - Big Ern

Makes much more sense than what they are currently running as their 4 lines right now.

Keep in mind the first few games will probably be experimentation for Hartley. Who knows, maybe Stajan was supposed to be a middle 6 C until Monahan decided that he was to play this game. Stajan will probably go back to that 3C for us later on. Just because he didn't play as much minutes as the both of us thought he would does not mean his career here is ending and that we are going to trade him. That would be ridiculous thinking on your end since he just inked a 4 year contract not too long ago.

 

[bambamcam4ever]

Gaudreau looked great. Incredibly smart player.

 

[Lunatik]

800+ posts! I love that everyone came out today to post.

GAME SUMMARY

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD
11:55 VAN PPG - Alexandre Burrows (1) ASST: Dan Hamhuis (1), Christopher Tanev (1)

2ND PERIOD
04:08 CGY Paul Byron (1) ASST: Joe Colborne (1)
05:16 VAN Zack Kassian (1) ASST: Linden Vey (1), Brad Richardson (1)
11:07 VAN Radim Vrbata (1) ASST: Henrik Sedin (1), Daniel Sedin (1)
13:19 CGY Jiri Hudler (1) ASST: Sean Monahan (1), Mark Giordano (1)

3RD PERIOD
18:44 VAN EN - Henrik Sedin (1) ASST: Christopher Tanev (2), Brad Richardson (2)


PENALTY SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD
03:34 VAN Kevin Bieksa Interference against Lance Bouma
04:31 VAN Chris Higgins Delaying Game-Puck over glass
11:47 CGY Paul Byron Hooking against Luca Sbisa
16:32 CGY Mason Raymond Tripping against Jannik Hansen
19:42 VAN Zack Kassian Interference against TJ Brodie

2ND PERIOD
06:57 VAN Brad Richardson Hi-sticking against Joe Colborne
07:25 CGY Curtis Glencross Hi-sticking against Zack Kassian
19:58 VAN Kevin Bieksa Roughing against Deryk Engelland
19:58 CGY Deryk Engelland Roughing against Kevin Bieksa
19:58 CGY Mikael Backlund Roughing against Alexandre Burrows
19:58 VAN Alexandre Burrows Roughing against Mikael Backlund

3RD PERIOD
NONE


THREE STARS

1. VAN Henrik Sedin
2. CGY Mark Giordano
3. VAN Daniel Sedin​

 

[CraigsList]

Wideman was terrible today. If he keeps this up, I want him out. The only reason I see him still on this team is the right handed shot. If we are keeping a player for his handedness, that's not good.

 

[CraigsList]

Monahan is gonna be better than Hall.

You think so? That'll take quite a while for Sean to do that.

 

[Jihadi Flames Fan]

I thought the team looked only alright tonight. They have to play excellent to even have a shot at most games... Canucks looked awful and still got the W.

I don't know why Bouma's playing anything higher than the 4th line. I know we have an abundance of mid-grade players and it's hard to sort through them... but why even dress Matt Stajan if he's going to play less than 10 minutes (I know he got dinged, but he was back) on the fourth line. I'd rather see Calgary ship him out for anything, move Bouma down to the 4th line center roll (if he can at least win 50%) and either activate Guch, Jones or bring up Sven.

Sven - Backlund - Raymond or Raymond - Backlund - Guch
Gaudreau - Monahan - Hudler
Glencross - Colborne - Byron/Jones
Bollig - Bouma - Big Ern

Makes much more sense than what they are currently running as their 4 lines right now.

I agree. I blame Hartley for this loss, he did not give us the best chance to win this game.

On a side note, when did we become Vancouver's b!tches? These days every time we play the Canucks we seem to get one of these...

Not a good way to start the season.

 

[Skobel24]

Not impressed with that second line at all.

 

[Body Checker]

Going back to Brent sutter, I'm tired of these flames coaches and their stupid line combos and lineups in general. I'm a Hartley fan but wonder how much is being dictated from above. With McGrattan in, Bouma on the 2nd line and Stajan with little ice time it's no wonder we had trouble generating offence.

I would like to see colborne off center and on RW with backlund and Raymond. Stajan promoted to play with Johnny and jones on the right side. Monahan line stays same. Then an excellent 4th line of Byron, Bouma and Bollig with Byron/Bouma being the lead penalty kill combo up front.

And no I'm not overreacting to one game. Last night just felt the same as last 3 years.

 

[1989]

Going back to Brent sutter, I'm tired of these flames coaches and their stupid line combos and lineups in general. I'm a Hartley fan but wonder how much is being dictated from above. With McGrattan in, Bouma on the 2nd line and Stajan with little ice time it's no wonder we had trouble generating offence.

I would like to see colborne off center and on RW with backlund and Raymond. Stajan promoted to play with Johnny and jones on the right side. Monahan line stays same. Then an excellent 4th line of Byron, Bouma and Bollig with Byron/Bouma being the lead penalty kill combo up front.

And no I'm not overreacting to one game. Last night just felt the same as last 3 years.

I disagree, it feels pretty overreactive to me. Wanting to see change is one thing after a loss. After a very chippy season opener by both teams on the ice where neither team had much offensive flow for more than 90 seconds at a time and enough defensive gaps that the game could have easily been 5-4 on the night is overreacting.

Hartley did fine last season with line combinations. This is the season opener and he wanted to see what certain players would do in certain situations in an actual NHL game - and as painful as it is sometimes, you can't just rip apart a line because the first 3 shifts aren't any good. It's the season opener, there's nerves and rust everywhere. Hartley did the right thing by committing to his lines and seeing if they could build momentum on their own.

If you don't like the lineup, that's the general manager position's duties. You can either be patient and let Treliving work with the hand he's dealt, or demand change, but I for one would say there's been enough instability in that position the last 8 years. But blaming it on the coach is laughable.

 

[SabresSharks]

Didn't catch as much of this game as I wanted (was enjoying my Sharks' beatdown of the Kings!).

From what I saw JG was dangerous almost every shift, but still playing sound hockey - short shifts, defensively responsible.

Would have liked to have seen him with Monahan. I recall them having excellent chemistry in the 2013 training camp, and I think he really needs top-quality linemates to fully exploit his talent.

Lots of non-Flame fans are rooting for JG. There's such a unique creativity to his game. He's a pure pleasure to watch. (The whimpering from Oiler fans about him, jealousy really, must give you guys a good laugh.)

Speaking of which ... pummel Edmonton tonight, please.

The BoA should be entertaining this season with both teams improving.

 

[Volica]

Keep in mind the first few games will probably be experimentation for Hartley. Who knows, maybe Stajan was supposed to be a middle 6 C until Monahan decided that he was to play this game. Stajan will probably go back to that 3C for us later on. Just because he didn't play as much minutes as the both of us thought he would does not mean his career here is ending and that we are going to trade him. That would be ridiculous thinking on your end since he just inked a 4 year contract not too long ago.

Actually, you can take off the ridiculous cap, because even when he signed it there was talk that that would be a very trade-able contract after a couple years. I think we all knew he was signing the contract on a stop-gap basis, now just how long that stop-gap is, is up to our youth. And it appears that it won't be very long.

Colborne, Monahan and Backlund are all better centers than Stajan, unfortunately for him... so it didn't help with Big Joe moved into center.

 

[InfinityIggy]

Didn't catch as much of this game as I wanted (was enjoying my Sharks' beatdown of the Kings!).

From what I saw JG was dangerous almost every shift, but still playing sound hockey - short shifts, defensively responsible.

Would have liked to have seen him with Monahan. I recall them having excellent chemistry in the 2013 training camp, and I think he really needs top-quality linemates to fully exploit his talent.

Lots of non-Flame fans are rooting for JG. There's such a unique creativity to his game. He's a pure pleasure to watch. (The whimpering from Oiler fans about him, jealousy really, must give you guys a good laugh.)

Speaking of which ... pummel Edmonton tonight, please.

The BoA should be entertaining this season with both teams improving.

Thanks mate! We will do our best to trounce the Oilers im sure.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Stajan won't be staying on the 4th line all season. Hartley put him there because he knows he can play him at that role (or anywhere in the lineup for that matter), thus while giving Hartley an opportunity to look at the other guys and seeing how they do in different roles. Also, going on the motton "Always earned, never given", there were other guys that were more impressive in camp than Stajan, so I fully agree with Hartley's decision to play him there.

I loved the effort from our guys last night, but you could tell it was game #1 because it was very sloppy. I thought Hiller looked really good, Gio, Brodie, Russell and Engelland all looked very good to me last night, I am actually super impressed from I have seen out of Engelland so far, I think our fanbase is going to really like him, he's like a prime version of Cory Sarich.

Gaudreau offensively was our best player (no surprise). I loved Byron's game, Colborne was meh, but solid on the dot. Backlund looked really good, you could tell Mony was not himself. Glencross had an up and down game, sometimes he frustrated me and other times he played really good. Hudler created some offence, I thought Raymond was invisible. Bollig and Grats both had really solid games, I believe Bollig had 6 or 7 hits to lead our team.

We gave a really good effort, this will be an easy team to cheer for this season. But you can tell offence is going to be a problem, expect to see Sven, Granlund or Reinhart sooner than later.

 

[Anglesmith]

Stajan won't be staying on the 4th line all season. Hartley put him there because he knows he can play him at that role (or anywhere in the lineup for that matter), thus while giving Hartley an opportunity to look at the other guys and seeing how they do in different roles. Also, going on the motton "Always earned, never given", there were other guys that were more impressive in camp than Stajan, so I fully agree with Hartley's decision to play him there.

I loved the effort from our guys last night, but you could tell it was game #1 because it was very sloppy. I thought Hiller looked really good, Gio, Brodie, Russell and Engelland all looked very good to me last night, I am actually super impressed from I have seen out of Engelland so far, I think our fanbase is going to really like him, he's like a prime version of Cory Sarich.

Gaudreau offensively was our best player (no surprise). I loved Byron's game, Colborne was meh, but solid on the dot. Backlund looked really good, you could tell Mony was not himself. Glencross had an up and down game, sometimes he frustrated me and other times he played really good. Hudler created some offence, I thought Raymond was invisible. Bollig and Grats both had really solid games, I believe Bollig had 6 or 7 hits to lead our team.

We gave a really good effort, this will be an easy team to cheer for this season. But you can tell offence is going to be a problem, expect to see Sven, Granlund or Reinhart sooner than later.

I'm not sure if offence is going to be a problem all season, but it certainly is if we play like we did last night. I think Colborne at centre had a lot to do with that, unfortunately, because he played a lot of minutes there. I also think Monahan wasn't skating very hard due to illness.

Not sure what we'll see tonight, but I hope Colborne is on the wing.

 

[InfinityIggy]

I'm not sure if offence is going to be a problem all season, but it certainly is if we play like we did last night. I think Colborne at centre had a lot to do with that, unfortunately, because he played a lot of minutes there. I also think Monahan wasn't skating very hard due to illness.

Not sure what we'll see tonight, but I hope Colborne is on the wing.

Yeah I am still not seeing the logic of Colborne at center :/

It bumps Stajan down, when we don't really need to be. Colborne looked great on Monahans wing last season. I am not sure why they wouldn't try to build on that.

 

[DCDM]

Just looking at NHL.com boxscores, and I noticed that the Flames were terrific on faceoffs last night.

Pretty clear that's been something that's been worked on in practice. I know at one point in the game, Monahan was like 71% or something in the dot.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

I'm not sure if offence is going to be a problem all season, but it certainly is if we play like we did last night. I think Colborne at centre had a lot to do with that, unfortunately, because he played a lot of minutes there. I also think Monahan wasn't skating very hard due to illness.

Not sure what we'll see tonight, but I hope Colborne is on the wing.

For guys that can create offence, I have Gaudreau, Byron, Monahan, Backlund and Hudler. Raymond is fast, but he needs to play with a setup guy. Other than that, we don't have much skill in our lineup so unless we call up some skilled players, I think this team is going to be struggling to score all season. They will need create lots of traffic in front of the net and try and score dirty goals, they need to get our PP going to convert some chances. It's really early so who the heck knows, but I don't see a ton of offence coming from this group. I think Hartley's plan is to keep the games close and out work the opposing teams to get W's.

 

[Ace Rimmer]

For all those worried about Stajan's ice time / placement in the lineup last night, he missed a considerable amount of the first period. I'm wondering if he had the flu that's been running through the team?

 

[Flames Fanatic]

Was at the game last night with the GF. She downright said several times "I don't know much about hockey but man Shifty(her nickname for Gaudreau) is good!!!"

Was thoroughly unimpressed by Wideman, Colbourne and Bollig last night. Wideman for obvious reasons. Colbourne because the puck died on his stick far too often in the offensive zone (especially when his line mates in Byron and Gaudreau were probably our best). Bollig because he was mostly invisible.

Props to McGratton helping getting the team to wake the **** up. I think it was early in the second when one of our guys got crunched and he came out and laid his two big hits. It was the first time the crowd truly woke up last night in the Dome.

The first was just off season rust, I get that. But man was it painful to watch both teams.

Russel and Backlund were the only two players on the whole team that could enter the zone and keep the puck on their sticks. That has to change. Far too much unsuccessful dump and chase last night. Raymond tried but every time it did work his line mates had gone off for a change.

Lastly, unfortunately Vrbata looks quite good with the Sedins

 

[Kranix]

Hudler and Monahan are literally going to carry the scoring the whole year. And Jhony Hockey.