Ahhh yes, the old "my teams not winning so its obviously the refs fault" excuse.
- wreckage

Not at all my friend. That's just it - it's not obvious. It's the Wideman curse.
It's only the ref's fault when they call things that shouldn't be called and then have to "even it up." None of that in this game, thank goodness.

Oilers would have lost without Smith and McDavid.
They were outshot but Smith was really dialled in.
I don't think even Bobby Hull's slap shot was any harder than the one McDavid ripped from the circle.
And no way anyone else could get that 5th goal before it crosses the line except him.

So bottom line is it's McDavid's gramma's fault the Flames lost. He was just showing off to her and if she hadn't been at the game the Oilers would have been run out of the rink.

Not at all my friend. That's just it - it's not obvious. It's the Wideman curse.
It's only the ref's fault when they call things that shouldn't be called and then have to "even it up." None of that in this game, thank goodness.

Oilers would have lost without Smith and McDavid.
They were outshot but Smith was really dialled in.
I don't think even Bobby Hull's slap shot was any harder than the one McDavid ripped from the circle.
And no way anyone else could get that 5th goal before it crosses the line except him.
- itwasin

Yeah they beat the flames. But the oilers didn’t impress. Hyman was good. But this oilers team will only win if they get a lot of power play in a game.

Flames looked pretty good. If they can look like that most nights, they should be hosting their first game of the playoffs.

If that's what Flames hockey is now, it should be a fun year.

Not at all my friend. That's just it - it's not obvious. It's the Wideman curse.
It's only the ref's fault when they call things that shouldn't be called and then have to "even it up." None of that in this game, thank goodness.

Oilers would have lost without Smith and McDavid.
They were outshot but Smith was really dialled in.
I don't think even Bobby Hull's slap shot was any harder than the one McDavid ripped from the circle.
And no way anyone else could get that 5th goal before it crosses the line except him.

So bottom line is it's McDavid's gramma's fault the Flames lost. He was just showing off to her and if she hadn't been at the game the Oilers would have been run out of the rink.
- itwasin

The Oilers were called for more penalties than the Flames in this game already. The tackle on McDavid near the blue line by Dube towards the end of the 2nd was uncalled. Tkachuk could have been called for roughing when he was the 3rd man in the scrum between Kassian and Zadorov.

Yes the Flames out shot the Oilers. and 90% of their shots were low quality shots being wristed at the net from distance with hopes of a deflection or rebound.
The Oilers had other players perform nicely as well. Jesse Puj had a good game. Bouchard looked good out there. Drai and McDavid just did what they always do vs Calgary. They show up for those games.

As for Flames I only really noticed Johnny and Tkachuk tonight. Everyone else was more concerned with winning the battle instead of the game. Not a recipe for success.

But you live in your fantasy world where the Flames would have won if it wasn't for them conspiring officials.

The Oilers were called for more penalties than the Flames in this game already. The tackle on McDavid near the blue line by Dube towards the end of the 2nd was uncalled. Tkachuk could have been called for roughing when he was the 3rd man in the scrum between Kassian and Zadorov.

Yes the Flames out shot the Oilers. and 90% of their shots were low quality shots being wristed at the net from distance with hopes of a deflection or rebound.
The Oilers had other players perform nicely as well. Jesse Puj had a good game. Bouchard looked good out there. Drai and McDavid just did what they always do vs Calgary. They show up for those games.

As for Flames I only really noticed Johnny and Tkachuk tonight. Everyone else was more concerned with winning the battle instead of the game. Not a recipe for success.

But you live in your fantasy world where the Flames would have won if it wasn't for them conspiring officials.
- wreckage

Not sure what game you were watching, but the Flames were better at every aspect of the game except the only one that matters. All the fancy stats backup that opinion as well.

The Oilers got some lucky goals and have McDavid. That's pretty much the difference. The Flames even did a great job containing McDavid, but he's McDavid so that doesn't matter.

Not sure what game you were watching, but the Flames were better at every aspect of the game except the only one that matters. All the fancy stats backup that opinion as well.

The Oilers got some lucky goals and have McDavid. That's pretty much the difference.
- Squeaky

Bottom line flames lost. They were the better team for the most part tho.

Hopefully Coleman's return will help the Flames.

What is everyone's thoughts on the D tonite?

Gotta think the DoPS will look at that headbutt.
- wreckage

The slow motion, and Elliot pointed it out, is that his hand was in between the contact. Kev named it a hand butt lol.

Not sure what game you were watching, but the Flames were better at every aspect of the game except the only one that matters. All the fancy stats backup that opinion as well.

The Oilers got some lucky goals and have McDavid. That's pretty much the difference. The Flames even did a great job containing McDavid, but he's McDavid so that doesn't matter.
- Squeaky

Oilers were better at goaltending face offs,PP,PK just at a quick glance. Everything was pretty close except shots. Flames threw everything at smith, not a lot of high quality though. No minus players for Edmonton. “Sutter hockey” isn’t a great game plan against the Oilers PP. Fun game to be at, great atmosphere in there. I was with a buddy from Calgary, who told me before preseason that Ryan was a great add for the oilers, looks like he was right so far.

Decided to read your blog. Whining about Kassian beating up a small guy then watching Anderson go after Yamo is pretty comical. I’m sure you’ll spin it as “protecting his goalie”. Also, the Oilers didn’t look intimidated at all. Can’t wait for the next one.

Definitely a few positives and a few negatives to take away from the first game.

Goaltending:
The first goal was pretty flukey and there’s not much you can do on McDavid’s one timer but the other 2 while not by any means easy saves are ones you need him to make, especially when you’re paying him good money and expecting him to start 65-70 games. Overall it was a very average game for him and I’m not really concerned as it is the first game.

Defence:
Having nearly an entire core of defensive defenceman seemed like a bad bet before the season and after one game that remains true. Not having anyone capable of rushing the puck up the ice or making plays is really going to hold this team back. I would suggest a longer leash needs to be given to Vali/kylington to fill this role and while Hanifin/anderson didn’t look bad I think we should reunite hanifin with tanev to open him up offensively a bit more.

Forwards:
I have no idea as to how we got that many shots as no one necessarily stood out as good or bad. The top line and specifically tkachuck looked like they were leaving a little bit out there but I’m also questioning if that’s the system as they were pretty electric on the powerplay. If they were to play like that at 5v5 there’s no doubt they could put up points. Lastly Mangiapane is earning every cent of his next contract, he’s a model of consistency and wether we are still trying to contend or if we wind up tanking he’s somebody you want to have on your team. Ask me 3 years ago and I would have told you tkachuck was going to be my next jersey but if we manage to lock up the bread man long term I might be getting myself an 88 jersey.

Overall not the best first game but not the worst either. The team definitely showed a lot of fight and structure. The after the whistle penalties I wasn’t a fan of as they were pretty unnecessary but at least the boys showed some passion (maybe if it was kassian Ras’s penalty would be understandable but Yamamoto isn’t going to hurt a fly). So like I said not bad but I would definitely say with LA and Anaheim looking better than I expected we need to be scoring more goals.

A lot of you I consider friends and I love you guys!!

People ask why I’m not around as much and it’s because I’m a grown ass man and I’m tired of the trolls and short bud riders, and from our fan base, the group that think the sky is falling already or that have no back bone. Anyways I digress.

Personally I thought we played a pretty darn good game! In net Marky was pretty sharp. On D, Hanifin, Andersson and Tanev were rock solid, Valimaki and Kylington played pretty decent, it’s nice that Guddy and Zadorov are big but man, they make some bone head plays. On the McDavid goals they were clearly playing pure box formation defence and McDavid recognized and capitalized by skating outside and at the circle. For the love of (frank) you need to play man on man when facing him and Drai’s line, on their PP anyways.
On offence, standouts for me were Mangiapane, Tkachuk, and Lindholm. Jonny got the puck a reasonable amount, but when not passing and on attack mode, he still stick handles himself into opposition and gets stripped. It’s getting old, but it’s only game one and I hope he addresses that early on this season, he needs to. Most of the rest played an uptempo smothering type game which is Darryl’s M.O. Lewis looked pretty bad, not winning my vote yet. I don’t want to see Richardson either. It will be good to have Coleman back in the lineup, want to see our new horse in action.
All in all, I liked our play and style, and am looking forward to the future.

GO FLAMES GO!!

All in all, I liked our play and style, and am looking forward to the future.

GO FLAMES GO!!
- Flamin_Irishmin

If either Smith or McDavid has an off night we probably win the game.

An effort like that will win a lot of games.

Edit: Rasmus gets fined maximum 5K. No suspension.