Post-Game Talk: Oilers 3 Flames 0 - McDavid Hatty

[rboomercat90]

It was a great defensive performance from the whole team. But honestly the reason Gaudreau and Monahan got nothing going was because they never had the puck. McLellan went power vs power and Gaudreau/Monahan couldn't keep up with McDavid/Drai.

It's got to sting being a Flames fan and knowing your "star" forward isn't at all close to what we've got here. lmao

It’s got to sting even more if you’re old enough to have lived through the 80’s Battle of Alberta too.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

anyone seen OKG's thoughts on the game?

 

[Digger12]

Hamonic, back in the locker room after game 1:

A nice tidy -3 to start his Calgary adventure. Have fun, buddy!

A couple other things that stood out for me, now that I've had a night to sleep on it.

• The 2nd line was a non-factor offensively and couldn't generate any forecheck until Yamamoto had his icetime reduced and ultimately replaced by Kassian. Once that happened, they looked a lot more dangerous.
• Yammy looked like stage fright got to him a bit. Hopefully he'll settle himself and the coach gives me more than 6 minutes to get his legs under him in the games to come, otherwise he might not even make it to 9 games once Slepy gets back.
• RNH had some solid defensive play and made a couple of good passes (that tic-tac-toe play from himself to Lucic to Kassian was great, it should've been a sure goal if Kassian hadn't screwed up on his shot), but I didn't really think he was oustanding or anything. Zero shots on goal and 44% on faceoffs isn't going to cut it moving forward.
• I actually thought the 3rd line wasn't that bad. They held their own and had some decent play along the boards. Caggiula in particular stood out, for someone I'd criticized previously for how indifferent he looked during preseason he was playing with reckless abandon last night. Led the team in hits and was playing with intensity along the boards.
• The bottom 2 dman pairs held their own for the most part. Gryba/Nurse had a good night for them, if they can give the team 18 minutes per night like that then I will have zero complaints. Russell/Benning were mostly good, a couple shifts where they got caught running around a bit and Russell had that one shift where he was stumbling all over the ice, but otherwise it was a good first game for them.
• It's such bliss watching Klefbom blossom into the dman we were hoping he would become. Remember those first couple of injury-plagued years where every good play he made was countered by a head-scratchingly stupid play, sometimes on the same shift? Nearly all of the stupid had been removed from his game now, and it's obvious that Larsson is a big reason why. Chiarelli didn't just gain one solid NHL dman with the Hall trade, he actually obtained a bona fide top pairing when looked in that light.

All in all, I breathed a huge sigh of relief after that win. What a great way to start the year with a solid team effort like that.

And like Chia said during his presser, don't forget about Slepyshev. I have a gut feeling that he's going to have a very good year once he finally gets his feet under him, everything I've seen and read about the guy over the summer and during camp makes me think he's ready to raise his play up a notch.

 

[Aerchon]

Hamonic, back in the locker room after game 1:

A nice tidy -3 to start his Calgary adventure. Have fun, buddy!

A couple other things that stood out for me, now that I've had a night to sleep on it.

• The 2nd line was a non-factor offensively and couldn't generate any forecheck until Yamamoto had his icetime reduced and ultimately replaced by Kassian. Once that happened, they looked a lot more dangerous.
• Yammy looked like stage fright got to him a bit. Hopefully he'll settle himself and the coach gives me more than 6 minutes to get his legs under him in the games to come, otherwise he might not even make it to 9 games once Slepy gets back.
• RNH had some solid defensive play and made a couple of good passes (that tic-tac-toe play from himself to Lucic to Kassian was great, it should've been a sure goal if Kassian hadn't screwed up on his shot), but I didn't really think he was oustanding or anything. Zero shots on goal and 44% on faceoffs isn't going to cut it moving forward.
• I actually thought the 3rd line wasn't that bad. They held their own and had some decent play along the boards. Caggiula in particular stood out, for someone I'd criticized previously for how indifferent he looked during preseason he was playing with reckless abandon last night. Led the team in hits and was playing with intensity along the boards.
• The bottom 2 dman pairs held their own for the most part. Gryba/Nurse had a good night for them, if they can give the team 18 minutes per night like that then I will have zero complaints. Russell/Benning were mostly good, a couple shifts where they got caught running around a bit and Russell had that one shift where he was stumbling all over the ice, but otherwise it was a good first game for them.
• It's such bliss watching Klefbom blossom into the dman we were hoping he would become. Remember those first couple of injury-plagued years where every good play he made was countered by a head-scratchingly stupid play, sometimes on the same shift? Nearly all of the stupid had been removed from his game now, and it's obvious that Larsson is a big reason why. Chiarelli didn't just gain one solid NHL dman with the Hall trade, he actually obtained a bona fide top pairing when looked in that light.

All in all, I breathed a huge sigh of relief after that win. What a great way to start the year with a solid team effort like that.

And like Chia said during his presser, don't forget about Slepyshev. I have a gut feeling that he's going to have a very good year once he finally gets his feet under him, everything I've seen and read about the guy over the summer and during camp makes me think he's ready to raise his play up a notch.

Agreed 100%

 

[Jet Walters]

anyone seen OKG's thoughts on the game?

Whiskey>Beer

 

[CupofOil]

Watching yesterday game, I couldn't help but wonder how much better the Oilers would be if we added someone like Doughty to push Klef and Larsson one spot down and we have the pieces to make the move too without hurting our current team

I don't know how you get that from watching yesterdays' game. Klef and Larsson were dominant and looked like a legit top pairing.
Not to take away from your point that Doughty would be an amazing add. Just saying that Klef/Larsson needing to be knocked down a pairing is a weird observation to make based on last night.

I don't see any realistic package that would entice L.A. to trade Doughty to the Oilers. They might be a cup contender without Doughty, I don't think L.A. has any interest in turning their division rival into an impossible hurdle to climb. I think Doughty to Toronto makes too much sense on many levels.

 

[CycloneSweep]

I don't know how you get that from watching yesterdays' game. Klef and Larsson were dominant and looked like a legit top pairing.
Not to take away from your point that Doughty would be an amazing add. Just saying that Klef/Larsson needing to be knocked down a pairing is a weird observation to make based on last night.

I don't see any realistic package that would entice L.A. to trade Doughty to the Oilers. They might be a cup contender without Doughty, I don't think L.A. has any interest in turning their division rival into an impossible hurdle to climb. I think Doughty to Toronto makes too much sense on many levels.

Right now if the cap doesn't go up, we have 13 mill in cap space.
With that space we need to... sign/replace
Jokinen, Letestu, Strome, Cagguila, Pakman, Benning, Nurse, Brossoit.
If we add Doughty to that we can lose Benning or Nurse but that leaves 8 mill to sign the remaining 7 players.
To add Doughty we would have to move out Sekera and probably Nuge in separate deals to make room.

 

[nhlisajoke]

anyone remember the 2nd period intermission song they played on the video before the oilers came out?

 

[CupofOil]

Right now if the cap doesn't go up, we have 13 mill in cap space.
With that space we need to... sign/replace
Jokinen, Letestu, Strome, Cagguila, Pakman, Benning, Nurse, Brossoit.
If we add Doughty to that we can lose Benning or Nurse but that leaves 8 mill to sign the remaining 7 players.
To add Doughty we would have to move out Sekera and probably Nuge in separate deals to make room.

Sure, I'd do all of that and then some to fit in Doughty but L.A. would never EVER trade him here so it's a moot point.

Toronto is the perfect fit because they have the assets to get him, their one real need is a top pairing RHD and he's more likely to sign there because of being a local kid and potential cups factor.

 

[FlameChampion]

Might be the arrogance of winning but I disagree with this. I felt that the Oilers were the better team from top to bottom and Calgary's coaching is the only thing that kept it close. We really didn't have many true grade A scoring chances, outside of McDavid of course.

When I look at the Flames on paper I am not a fan of their team. Their team has too many puck movers and shakers and far too few two way types and players just difficult to play against. Harmonic was a great add but he had a terrible year last year and needs to return to form. I think Glen has done wonders for this team. Has them playing far above anything Hartley every accomplished, at least in terms of a two way game. I didn't expect them to make the playoffs last year and they did it by feasting on lower end competition and ended up with a good record. Which is exactly what you have to do if you don't have a power house team yourself.

Glen isn't Eakins. Their systems and play are much improved under him. He is no superstar coach but he is legit NHL calibre IMO and the Flames most likely could do a lot worse.

If you wanted an easy example of what I am talking about all you had to do was watch the game shown before, Toronto & Winnipeg, that was coaching at its worst. Maurice needs to be fired asap. That was embarrassing. No answer for anything. When I look at Winnipeg on paper I see a better team than Calgary that's poorly coached. When Flames cry about their goaltending it's because they don't have the personnel to play a team 200 foot game. When Winnipeg cry about their goaltending it's because their coach either can't or won't teach them proper systems and play. In neither case is it actually solely about the goaltending. Elliot for example played beautifully behind St. Louis/Hitchcock, that's not a coincidence. Flames pinch and pinch and pinch and cheat for their offense, Glen has reduced that significantly.

Not sure I totally agree. I think the main reason it was close was Smith. I do think you are right that they didnt give up a ton of grade A chances. But even Klefbom could of had a couple goals. But the Flames hardly created anything offensively. Gulutzan definitely isnt Eakins, but I do think hes average at best (and I would say below average). But I guess not every team can have a great coach. I do agree on Maurice though.

 

[Del Preston]

And it's not the first time an Oiler did that to him. MA Bergeron gave Smith a concussion during the infamous Patrik Stefan game.

 

[s7ark]

Good start. Lots of players shaking some rust off. Top line was nearly uncontainable for the Flames. I hope to see them do that against a lot of teams.

 

[Connor McFries]

One thing to caution against. Beyond obvious that the Flames didn't have the speed to bother Russell-Benning or even Gryba-Nurse. I want to see how these two pairings do against a team with actual depth and speed like Nashville or Minnesota.

 

[Cloned]

Defenders around the league are shaking in their skates realizing McDavid worked on his skating in the offseason.

 

[fancy dan]

pretty sure Brodie has PTSD after that one.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

↑↑↓↓←→←→BA
McDavid code.

 

[Connor McFries]

Defenders around the league are shaking in their skates realizing McDavid worked on his skating in the offseason.

I. Just, couldn't comprehend that sentence. A McDavid after he worked on his skating????

I need to sit down.

 

[NeverForget06]

One thing I liked about Strome is he seemed to be pretty chippy out there, hack'in and wack'in in the corners and actually fighting for the puck. Not something we saw with Ebs

 

[Cloned]

I. Just, couldn't comprehend that sentence. A McDavid after he worked on his skating????

I need to sit down.

Everyone was expecting him to work on his cycle game and shot, and I'm sure he did, but he goes ahead and gets even faster.

 

[Brian McDavid]

97 you mean?

This needs waaaaay more love. Fantastic post.

 

[Connor McFries]

Behold my photo shop skillz

 

[Dorian2]

↑↑↓↓←→←→BA
McDavid code.

Now the key is to try that on every video game you play to see what might happen.

 

[McTrashBoat]

Behold my photo shop skillzView attachment 78297

holy shit that's good

 

[Connor McFries]

holy **** that's good

Tell me about it. No spelling errors either.

 

[LMFAO]

One thing I liked about Strome is he seemed to be pretty chippy out there, hack'in and wack'in in the corners and actually fighting for the puck. Not something we saw with Ebs

You play bigger and with more confidence when you know Lucic, Maroon, Kassian, Nurse, Khaira and Gryba have your back