Game 1: Flames 5 Canucks 3

i’m okay with the defense as it is constituted, because i think they will provide a lot more offense this year and they are not much less sound defensively than last year. erhoff is going to make a few mistakes on the back end but he was making some great breakout passes and he gets back to dump ins a lot quicker than ohlund did. add to that SOB looks quicker, although still prone to the dumb penalty (big shocker) and all of the defense did a great job of pinching down the boards to keep pucks in. keep this in mind too, for offensive dmen edler and especially salo are very good defensively.

one thing i was not very happy with was the 4th line, individually and as a group. the team was down 3-0, taking the brunt of the physical plays and where was the spark? i want to see some big momentum-changing, yard sale hits and a scrap or two. rypien especially looked almost disinterested and was directly responsible for both powerplay goals.

I also thought those bright red retro jerseys made the flames look bigger and more intimidating, must be something with how the color contrasted against theice.

flames looked scary for the first half of this one. shirokov looked like the greenhorn he is, bobbling a handful of scoring chances. mitchell was also pretty painful to watch during a few offensive pushes late in the game, but that’s not his fault he and his stick were built for defense not offense.

samuelsson looked good as the game wore on, gritty and looks like he hates losing important games like these ones.

Is it too early for every loss to destroy my spirit?

1) The penalties called in the first period were especially ridiculous, but it was a bizarre refereeing game all around. I think it more or less balanced out in the end, but the 2 ridiculously soft calls (and O’Brien’s wasn’t exactly a strong call either) and a bizarre non-call on Phaneuf’s elbow to Daniel’s head…what was into them last night? Although the calls evened out, the 1st period decided the game.

2) Shirokov. The preseason is different from the regular season. He looked fairly overmatched out there.

3) Samuelsson. I liked him alot. Scored and then gives the Calgary d-man a two hander across the ass. Looks like he played with a mean streak, which this team needed a bit more of in them last night.

I thought the Cancuks were largely the better team. The Flames were opportunistic to start the game and Kipper managed to hang on by the end.

Also – I was actually fairly impressed with Shirokov given that he’s a rookie.

Do you guys always have 3 game threads?

My thoughts on the game is “same old same old”. Stupid SOB penalty and stupid Sedin penalty cost us the game. Only playing 2 periods cost us the game. Etc. Nothing new here.

I also thought Kevin Weekes sucked. Granted, he is new at this. Since he was formerly our much-touted “goalie of the future”, I shall from now brand him the “colour commentator of the future” to signifying the great esteem he holds in my mind.

Spent the 2nd period listening to the Stars from Montreal out of disgust, but what I did see in the 1st was our ongoing inability to get the puck out of our own end.
How’s about giving two rookies, ’Rok and Weekes some slack (although Weekes does need to add some excitement to his voice ala our Tommy).

Canucks in the 1st period looked, in their own zone, like they weren’t really sure who was supposed to take the puck out of the zone, or how.

Later, the Flames sat back and nursed their lead, so the Canucks offence was called upon, and they looked great.

I guess that sums up what they’ve been working on.

Sean,

Your points are well taken, but it’s also early in the year. Yeah, they can’t overdo the O at the expense of D, and their first effort at rebalancing went overboard. I’d still like to see ’em move a little, just not so much.

To be honest, I’m not too worried about our d-men. They had a terrible night, but the odd-man rushes were about even. The ones that killed me were the open slot goals and letting Dion Phaneuf get his shot off from the point so easily. Those kind of plays are normally held in check by the blue line, but not tonight. That being said, I was happy with their offensive contributions.

Shirokov did alright. He was fast, and at times, carried the play. His offensive upside is undoubtable. Unfortunately he has to adjust to the game over here and he was 100% mismatched in the corners. He took a legit slash and went down, but I thought that hich stick was embellished soccer-style.

Our penalty trouble, and our sleeping out of the gate, continues this season.

But, let’s call it how it is, Luongo had a bad start and gave up 3 goals in 7 shots. They were quality chances, but your star goaltender has to stop quality chances. He didn’t find his game until later in the 2nd, after that atrocious Prust goal, and by then the Flames were on their heels. Kipper played great and played the type of game that allowed Calgary to survive the barrage that was the 2nd half of the game. It’s one of those rare occasions where goaltending wins the game, but Luongo is on the losing side of that duel.

My thoughts:

-Show up for the 1st period!
-Shirokov looked alright, I trust him with the puck. I really hope he doesn’t get hurt because of his size.
-Too many dumb penalties.
-4th line was invisible. As were Wellwood and Kesler.
-Burrows, Sammy and Edler impressed me.
-I like how they started pumping shots at the net in the 2nd half of the game. Sure they don’t go in most of the time, but they can look for rebounds and at least they can get a faceoff in the O-zone to set up better chances.

I like how they started pumping shots at the net in the 2nd half of the game. Sure they don’t go in most of the time, but they can look for rebounds and at least they can get a faceoff in the O-zone to set up better chances.

Absolutely.