dat's sick

I love that AA scored, I think he looks damn good and he's the kind of d-man that I think we need instead of Quincey/Smith/Lashoff. His instincts when it comes to jumping into plays offensively are top notch. 1st line is sick tonight, my one issue is that Pavel has to shoot the puck more. He keeps passing it from good scoring areas. Dallas goal was a downer but if we play the 3rd like the 2nd we've got this.

Why the secrecy if he was being benched? And why bench him, regardless of what LGW thinks he hasn't been bad enough to pull him out of mid-game for poor play. Also 1 game should send the message just fine, why bench him for any longer?His faceoff success alone could help us, and not even Babcock would have Samuelsson in the lineup over a lazy Mule. Either it's just some nagging injury/sickness that for some reason they're keeping under wraps, or there's a trade in the works, or Mule has other issues. Lots of speculation on hfboards that it's related to the anxiety issues he's struggled with in the past. Who knows, hopefully it's not serious.

So... whatsup with Franzen? edit: just saw the other thread. Mysterious. I think people should chill with all the hateful comments towards him though. Could be personal issues.

I like Tootoo but I don't think he's very important to the team. If waiving him is the first step towards having Nyquist in the lineup then so be it. Atleast Holland is doing something finally.

Winnipeg played one hell of a game. This wasn't a case of a bad effort against a bad team, it was more like a kind of bad effort against a team playing like it was Game 7. As long as we get back to winning in the next game I'm willing to let this one slide.

Good play by Almqvist at the end, jumping into the play. Bad period. Only the 3rd and 4th lines looked good. If Quincey wasn't Quincey we could have had a 0-0 game though.

Chance to get into the game here.

This lineup looks pretty good to me. Fingers crossed for Almqvist, sadly he probably won't get many more chances if he has a bad game. He'll apparently be on the 2nd PP so that's gonna be fun to see.

Did Smith get hurt in the fight at the end? Unfortunate and unnecessary for him if so. BUT. I've been calling for Almqvist to get a shot and I'm glad he gets his opportunity. Can he be worse defensively than Smith? Doubtful. Can he move the puck better than Smith? Probable. Hope he does well and gets some PP time. Good puck-moving d-man, his size and defensive play are the most common negatives mentioned.

What. He is just destroying that league Didn't see anything too impressive from him at camp, but I guess it may just have been too soon for him to impress at that level. This kid is gonna be interesting to follow.

I like him but he does speak a bit quietly and sometimes goes on for too long instead of making quick points and letting Ken get back to it.

They're really bad. We've played some really solid hockey tonight and the last couple of games though. Definitely a turnaround in many ways.

At some point I would trade either him or one of our many young prospects on Defense, maybe combined with Franzen, to acquire a top pairing d-man or a good top 6 winger.

It would be a tough one but I might pull the trigger if those "spare parts" weren't any other of our best prospects or high draft picks.

I wish Weiss would show some chemistry with someone. Hasn't really happened so far. Right now we're seeing great chemistry on the 1st and 3rd lines. Nyquist is the obvious missing piece of the puzzle to create a functioning 2nd line.

Come on! Helm scoring on his 2nd shift and Tatar adding one seconds later?? Is this real life?? Awesome start.

I think previously Daniel has had a somewhat higher status beause he's scored more goals but the last couple of years it's become more clear that Henrik is the superior player, especially after Daniel was out injured and Henrik didn't miss a beat. Honestly I don't think a lot of people really rate them differently though.

2011-12 season called, it wanted me to remind you it happened. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thIsL_oBN-o

Silly looking lucky goal. No matter, we win. Okay 1st, terrible 2nd, great 3rd. Still so much work to do. Smith-Quincey pairing needs to die, very soon.

Abby! Good things happen on Tatar's lines.

Top line winger to Z and D is where he needs to be to be. Ideally he doesn't have the puck anywhere except the o-zone. He's pretty slow and turnover-prone, but with those two he makes it work because he's got skill and puck-protection skills.

This, sadly. No one is able to execute even the simplest plays, atleast outside of the top line and Kronwall-Dekeyser. We can't get the puck to the net, we can't get it out of our zone, we can't get through the neutral zone, we can't make a clean entry into the o-zone.. every inch of ice is a huge challenge for us.

Tatar's been all over the place, but also has missed a lot of passes. Would like to see him play a bit of a simpler give-and-go game and get himself towards the net.

Whoa horrible shift by Quincey & Smith. Kill this..

Missed some of the beginning but overall it looked like a pretty good period. Top line is sick, that's imo the only place Bert looks good but damn he can look good there. Fantastic pass on the 2nd goal, good net-fron presence on the 1st. Keep it up, Flames are not to be taken lightly this year.