Todd Cordell: Five takeaways from the Flames' loss to the Canucks

Haha I thought Jankowski looked great. He creates chances, skates well, and uses his size to his advantage. It really bugs me that you would break down his game using stats, after all it is the preseason. But the reality is we should be analyzing him by the plays he makes.

I liked that pest line of Lomberg-Glass-Dube. Lomberg really skates well and he's a rat. He could play on the team this year IMO, same with Dube, but he needs some pro seasoning. Glass looked good. He was physical, and even created some chances with those young guys. I think he will find a spot on the club.

EDIT: I shouldn't be too critical of your Janko comments, but can we really use advanced stats from one preseason game that was complete poop? haha

Can't quote for some reason.

Man that Jon Gillies save... I thought Jankowski actually played a really good game. Foo was kind of quiet, considering he was so dominant in the other pre-season game. Cramarossa didn't really do much to make his case. That Glass hit on Chatfield was a beauty. Overall, Gillies played a great game, looks solid.

Janko is starting to get more comfortable...looks good.
Dube needs more time I think.
Glass surprised me.
Gillies is better than Lack.
Bartkowski is horrendous.
Kylington can really skate.
Kulak should be with the club this year.
Fat Rass is looking good again.
Foo was pretty quiet, Still showed so skill around the net though.

time2produce is the biggest ass hat on this site.

Can't quote for some reason.

Man that Jon Gillies save... I thought Jankowski actually played a really good game. Foo was kind of quiet, considering he was so dominant in the other pre-season game. Cramarossa didn't really do much to make his case. That Glass hit on Chatfield was a beauty. Overall, Gillies played a great game, looks solid.
- Codes1087

Yeah gillies looked alright...couple bad rebounds, but showed the pedigree I thought. Foo was quiet with his new linemates....I think he needs some more skilled linemates.

Interesting that Mangiapane has been attached to Janko's hip. Could that be 2/3's of the 4th line?

Janko is starting to get more comfortable...looks good.
Dube needs more time I think.
Glass surprised me.
Gillies is better than Lack.
Bartkowski is horrendous.
Kylington can really skate.
Kulak should be with the club this year.
Fat Rass is looking good again.
Foo was pretty quiet, Still showed so skill around the net though.

time2produce is the biggest ass hat on this site.
- jessehub

Janko is starting to get more comfortable...looks good.
Dube needs more time I think.
Glass surprised me.
Gillies is better than Lack.
Bartkowski is horrendous.
Kylington can really skate.
Kulak should be with the club this year.
Fat Rass is looking good again.
Foo was pretty quiet, Still showed so skill around the net though.

time2produce is the biggest ass hat on this site.
- jessehub

haha....agreed!!!

Has Emile Poirier or Shinkaruk played any of the pre-season games yet? Where are they at in terms of making opening night roster?

What's up with Tkachuk? Last thing I heard was he had a maintenance day...

I don't see the big push to have Kulak in the NHL, yeah he played some games in the NHL and was highly average. He and Bartkowski were on the ice for 3 of the 5 goals yesterday against a terrible Van team. If one of our main dman goes down during the year then that pairing would be our 5 and 6 and they would get torn apart. I would rather give it to someone with more skill, Kylington is looking much better than the rest of the D and him and Stone could mesh well together. I would even be open to bringing in a Veteran Dman who doesn't have a team if no youngsters look ready. Maybe pry Franson away like we did versteeg.

I don't see the big push to have Kulak in the NHL, yeah he played some games in the NHL and was highly average. He and Bartkowski were on the ice for 3 of the 5 goals yesterday against a terrible Van team. If one of our main dman goes down during the year then that pairing would be our 5 and 6 and they would get torn apart. I would rather give it to someone with more skill, Kylington is looking much better than the rest of the D and him and Stone could mesh well together. I would even be open to bringing in a Veteran Dman who doesn't have a team if no youngsters look ready. Maybe pry Franson away like we did versteeg.
- shayne

No to Franson. Surely one of the guys in camp will make it.

^

Bartkowski was probably the 6th best dman that we dressed last night--putting him with Kulak did not do Kulak any favours.

Kulak is an NHL calibre player. He is usually pretty good defensively and he is capable of chipping in with some offence.

One of Kulak, Rass or Kylington should be able to handle bottom pairing minutes well.

What's up with Tkachuk? Last thing I heard was he had a maintenance day...
- Clyde334

Hip flexor & they are doing what they did with Monahan last year & letting him heal. He will probably get in a preseason game near the end.

^

Bartkowski was probably the 6th best dman that we dressed last night--putting him with Kulak did not do Kulak any favours.

Kulak is an NHL calibre player. He is usually pretty good defensively and he is capable of chipping in with some offence.

One of Kulak, Rass or Kylington should be able to handle bottom pairing minutes well.
- Saskabush

Fcking power play sucked balls. Hope we don't have another year of this horsec0ck.

What's up with Tkachuk? Last thing I heard was he had a maintenance day...
- Clyde334

Sore hip--they just want him to be 100% before he plays. With the way he plays it doesn't bother me to see him miss some of these meaningless pre-season games anyway.

Fcking power play sucked balls. Hope we don't have another year of this horsec0ck.

- Kevin R

Ya, I think it'll get better. Versteeg & Backlund were the only guys we had that actually play on the PP weren't they?

I'll reserve judgement until the regular season starts and the veteran guys start going all out.

Edit:
I think this story about Mario sums up how most veterans feel about training camp/pre-season

No one bag skates the legend Mario Lemieux, no one.@BizNasty2point0 @spittinchiclets https://t.co/mgudqQqyiw pic.twitter.com/ICl161t9Ku

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 15, 2017

Fcking power play sucked balls. Hope we don't have another year of this horsec0ck.

- Kevin R

you guys wont lose to the Canucks this year, I wouldn't worry too much about the lack of PP. I was also going to say, Versteeg looked good last night too. He stood out.

Reflecting on last night's game, it's hard to avoid thinking about Eminem's "Lose Yourself" .

Look
If you had
One shot
Or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted
In one moment
Would you capture
Or just let it slip?

There were very few bus drivers last night, and a whole slew of passengers.
Lomberg, Dube, and Glass were ready to go from the word "go" and didn't let up all night.

Kylington and Andersson demonstrated their good Hockey sense and solid play, while easily being the best D-pairing on the ice.

Kulak made a strong case to be the 3LD to start the season. He had a couple instances of poor judgement, but also made up for and covered those mistakes and prevented them from being costly.
Valimaki showed why he was a great first round pick that will one day probably play in the NHL and might even be a top 2 Offensive d-man.
Stone was not very impressive, and had better get up to speed sooner than later, or Andersson might be our best Right shooting option for the third pairing.
Bartkowski was a tire fire, and it's mostly because he tries to do too much and that's when he gets in trouble. He has the skating ability of an NHL defenseman, he even has decent Hockey sense. He just doesn't have the skill to match. If he'd play a simple defensive d-man game, and simply support a more skilled partner who can move the puck up the ice, he'd be fine, and stop being a liability.
Versteeg played a strong game.
Backlund and Frolik turned in a 80% effort but didn't look terrible.
Hrivik has NHL speed and skill, the effort was there, but strikes me as a guy who's hot or cold with no happy medium. Right now he's cold.
Mangiapane is full out every shift and the effort is definitely there. He had a solid game where he wasn't very noticeable, but he was also not negatively noticeable.
Jankowski didn't have as good a game as he did on Monday, when he was the cream of the crop. However, even in a less than stellar game, he still found a way to get onto the score sheet. How many times over the last decade have you heard Flames coaches say, "We aren't looking for moral victories, it's about finding ways to win. We're in a results oriented business." ? Mark Jankowski is a winner. He finds ways to get the job done, even when he isn't having his best game.

Lazar had spurts of energy and some good play, but on both Vancouver goals, he earned a minus as he was back checking like he had snowshoes on. When he's in the Offensive zone, he reminds me of a gyroscope; always spinning around at a frantic pace, but never getting anywhere.

Foo - did he play last night? Can't remember one second of his 16:42 TOI.
Cramarossa - the only thing I remember about Cramarossa is him trying to start a fight with Carcone off the faceoff and it just didn't happen as he was called on to step in and take the faceoff and that ended it.

Gilles looked pretty solid. He made some tough saves, and some spectacular ones too. His biggest issue was rebound control, which is definitely a preseason commonality for goalies. Another year of seasoning in Stockton splitting time with Rittich will be just fine.

Parsons looked pretty good in the third too. Mason MacDonalds days as Thunder's #1 are numbered.

The poor display on PK and PP only highlight how important it is to trim down to as close as possible to the 23 man roster the team will start the season with, as soon as possible. GUlutzan said the Flames need to be early adopters of the new standard of how the rules will be called, and then they can be the beneficiaries of PP's against other teams that are slow learners. If your PP isn't scoring, there's no benefit to be had. The sooner we can have the PP and PK units working together and getting going, the better.

Fcking power play sucked balls. Hope we don't have another year of this horsec0ck.

- Kevin R

You're really complaining about the powerplay when 8/10 powerplay regulars weren't playing? The Flames also had a great powerplay last year, especially when you take out the first month when no one on the team knew what was going on.

you guys wont lose to the Canucks this year, I wouldn't worry too much about the lack of PP. I was also going to say, Versteeg looked good last night too. He stood out.
- Codes1087

Yeah
I just see slow start written all over these games. WTF is Lazar doing? He was invisible last night for a guy that is wanting to prove he belongs & take advantage of this opportunity. He may find himself clearing waivers & a guy like Lomberg staying with the big club.

Yeah
I just see slow start written all over these games. WTF is Lazar doing? He was invisible last night for a guy that is wanting to prove he belongs & take advantage of this opportunity. He may find himself clearing waivers & a guy like Lomberg staying with the big club.
- Kevin R

Lazar had a decent opportunity on the breakaway but for the most part I don't remember him doing much. Your 4th line was the most noticeable last night.

You're really complaining about the powerplay when 8/10 powerplay regulars weren't playing? The Flames also had a great powerplay last year, especially when you take out the first month when no one on the team knew what was going on.
- Hunkulese

You seem to have an Oiler selective memory. The PP sucked balls last year in Oct & November. Cameron was escorted out of Ottawa as they had one of the leagues worst PP's. Vancouver looked good & actually scored on their PP. In 6 PP last nightie the 2nd period, they had a grand total of 6 shots in the whole period. I look at coaching & systems.

You seem to have an Oiler selective memory. The PP sucked balls last year in Oct & November. Cameron was escorted out of Ottawa as they had one of the leagues worst PP's. Vancouver looked good & actually scored on their PP. In 6 PP last nightie the 2nd period, they had a grand total of 6 shots in the whole period. I look at coaching & systems.
- Kevin R

you have to factor in the kids adjusting to the coaches system, which is new to them. Factor in linemates they don't often play with. Lots of different factors, wouldn't read to much into last nights game as an indication of anything moving forward. If your opening night roster played like the flames did last night, then you have something to worry about, but it's only pre-season, you have nothing to worry about.

Bartkowski was brutal. Hrivik was invisible, and I think I heard Frolik's name once on the broadcast.
Mangiapane didn't do much; at least Foo was noticeable.
I thought the goaltending was decent enough. The 2nd goal was a pinball to follow and Virtaenen's was a 1 in 50 shot placement (Nice goal, though).

Lazar had a decent opportunity on the breakaway but for the most part I don't remember him doing much. Your 4th line was the most noticeable last night.
- Codes1087

I like Lomberg & have no problem keeping him with the team. Lazar needs to show more urgency in my view.