Oil @ Flames: Comments From Lowetide's GDT

I thought it would be somewhat interesting for me to share my thoughts on the game from LT's gameday thread. At the very least it will bring a bit of content back to the blog.

Pre-Game:

A couple comments on tonight's game:

- 22 needs to get back to playing simple hockey. He's making the kind of mistakes that a guy in his position can't afford to make (failing to get the puck out of his zone, losing offensive battles, needless icings).

- Quinn has been slowly poaching 'real' NHL players out of the bottom two lines. Can they hold serve against Calgary's lesser forwards?

- Is the new top line for real? CBJ was missing its top two defensive stoppers (Hejda and Commodore), will these guys be able to compete against a superior Calgary blue.

- How will 91-10-19 fair? By my eye they looked pretty good in CBJ up until 18 replaced 91 on the wing. If 91 is absent and Quinn goes with 18, look for this line to get clobbered.

- Can 46 and 22 make up for the loss of beefcake in the line up (44, 32 and 24 to an extent). After opening the year with some pretty physical outings I think we've looked soft in our last few.

In-Game:

- Why doesn't the (bush league) NHL have a camera that sits at the cross bar level?

- 18 needs to wake the fuck up and get into this game.

- I'm not an 18 basher mostly because I really liked the physical element of his game. I could deal with the stupid penalties, as long as he finished his checks and stood up for his teammates.

Something has changed, he looks like he just doesn't give a shit on 80% of his shifts. Maybe he's pouting over the treatment Quinn has been giving him (less minutes, no longer playing a featured checking role), or maybe he's just past his due date.

Post-Game:

- I thought 37-77 had their worst game of the season. I've always liked them as a pair (this and last season), but maybe Quinn's comments about their play is affecting them negatively. He's come out and called them soft and accused them of just keeping guys to the outside rather than trying to win battles. I actually like the way Gilbert plays D (keeps the play to the outside, uses his stick to chip the puck away and generally makes a great first pass out of the zone). Perhaps Quinn is guilty here of some undue criticism (emphasis on what style of play he wants them to play, rather than what is effective).

I did notice a strange play early in the second where Gilbert uncharacteristically stood up a guy at the blue line. He didn't get enough of that player and it led to a 2-1 down low.

My first thought was good for him for showing a physical element, my second thought was how much more effectively he normally plays those sorts of rushes.