Round #1 Western Conference: Calgary Flames (P1) vs Colorado Avalanche (WC2)

[pilldoc]

 

All playoff discussion between the Flames and Avs series should go here.

[OccamsRazor]

I got the Flames in 7.

[pilldoc]

Flames in 6.  Flames are clearly the better team here.  The Avs started out hot and then began to falter down near the end.  I think the Avs steal 2 wins but no more. 

[ruxpin]

I'm going Colorado in 6.

 

Rittich is unproven in the playoffs, Lindholm sleepwalked down the stretch, and I'm not bullish on the Flames until proven otherwise.

 

But it's still up to Colorado to take advantage of that, otherwise I'm just diagnosing the Flames' failure in the 2nd round.  Ultimately, I'm picking the Avs just because it would be added dagger in the heart to everyone that a second round team will be drafting Hughes first overall in June.

 

(In a not completely unrelated note, it's lucky for the Ottawa management that stupidity and gross incompetence isn't a felony in either the US--where it's instead elected--or Canada.  Otherwise, they'd be preparing the syringes.)

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

I don't like the Avalanche at ALL in this match up.
MacKinnon-Landeskog-Rantanen….fantastic....but then again the Flames have Monahan's line followed by Lindholm's line, a more than solid bottom six, and defensemen who act (and perform) like they are forwards in addition to being tough as nails to play against as far as physicality goes.

I will give the Avs the edge in goal. 
Varlamov has made a living out of stealing games for the sometimes anemic offense of his team, but overall, I think the Flames will overwhelm Colorado's relatively weak defense to the point where even Varlamov will be hard pressed to keep pucks out of his net!

Calgary DOES have a tendency (because their D pinches in and joins rushes so much) to leave gaps where fast forwards like Mack's line can take advantage, so Rittich or Smith will HAVE to be sharp, but overall, I can see most of this series being played on the Colorado side of the ice.

Calgary may be able to sweep this series, but I give one win to the Avs out of respect for Varlamov's ability to do stuff in net he should not be able to, but I am taking Flames in 5, despite their sometimes vacant blue line.

Honestly....I think the Coyotes tougher defense and goaltending would have given the Flames a tougher match up....

[ruxpin]

14 minutes ago, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

I don't like the Avalanche at ALL in this match up.
MacKinnon-Landeskog-Rantanen….fantastic....but then again the Flames have Monahan's line followed by Lindholm's line, a more than solid bottom six, and defensemen who act (and perform) like they are forwards in addition to being tough as nails to play against as far as physicality goes.

I will give the Avs the edge in goal. 
Varlamov has made a living out of stealing games for the sometimes anemic offense of his team, but overall, I think the Flames will overwhelm Colorado's relatively weak defense to the point where even Varlamov will be hard pressed to keep pucks out of his net!

Calgary DOES have a tendency (because their D pinches in and joins rushes so much) to leave gaps where fast forwards like Mack's line can take advantage, so Rittich or Smith will HAVE to be sharp, but overall, I can see most of this series being played on the Colorado side of the ice.

Calgary may be able to sweep this series, but I give one win to the Avs out of respect for Varlamov's ability to do stuff in net he should not be able to, but I am taking Flames in 5, despite their sometimes vacant blue line.

Honestly....I think the Coyotes tougher defense and goaltending would have given the Flames a tougher match up....

Interestingly, I think Varlamov is actually Colorado's weakest link. 

 

Guess we're about to find out. 

[yave1964]

  MacKinnon is a flat out stud, mixing and matching the avalanche can run two good solid lines or one great line. Superstars win series in the postseason. Colorado has been hot down the stretch to pull away from the field for the final spot.

 

It wont be enough.

 

 Calgary is healthy (a key) and while I like Colorado quite a lot I just think that the Flames have too much. a lot of 7-4 games here.

 

 Calgary in six.

[OccamsRazor]

Cal Makar scores in his first game in the NHL and it ends up being the game winner.

[Kings Redeem LA]

What's up with the Coach leaving Smith in after five goals went in: 

trying to mess with his psyche? 
sabotage his playoff GAA? 
backup goalie refused to engage the game's weird mojo in which it seemed even Refs and players were about to exchange punches? 

 

 

[OccamsRazor]

Avs made the Flames play with that dumb penalty.

 

Man Rantanen is so good.

[OccamsRazor]

Flames are on the ropes...

[pilldoc]

For the life of me I can't understand why the Flames are starting Smith?  Unless I am missing something (which Is very possible) ... I believe Rittich had the better regular season.  I would have gone with Rittich in the playoffs.  Calgary needs to make a decision about goaltending for next year and move on.  Smith is 37 and is a UFA making 4.2 million this year.  Rittich is 26 and is a RFA at $800 K for a cap hit.  

 

I honestly believe, IMHO)  the Flames chose to start the wrong Goalie for this series.  Especially after that debacle on Monday evening.  (and yes I realize Smith had a SO for Game #1)

 

[OccamsRazor]

27 minutes ago, pilldoc said:

For the life of me I can't understand why the Flames are starting Smith?  Unless I am missing something (which Is very possible) ... I believe Rittich had the better regular season.  I would have gone with Rittich in the playoffs.  Calgary needs to make a decision about goaltending for next year and move on.  Smith is 37 and is a UFA making 4.2 million this year.  Rittich is 26 and is a RFA at $800 K for a cap hit.  

 

I honestly believe, IMHO)  the Flames chose to start the wrong Goalie for this series.  Especially after that debacle on Monday evening.  (and yes I realize Smith had a SO for Game #1)

 

 

I seen on NHL network the other day the Flames have the worst goalie in the NHL in giving up the 5 hole goals.

 

Mike Smith was 2nd and the only worse one was his counterpart...

 

...but yeah it seems they need to find out about Rittch before they venture into free agency.

 

It seems they have to know they need to move on from Smith.

 

Have too....then go make a run at Bob or worse case if he doesn't want to come to the Flames they could try for Varlamov as option B.

[Puck_Pun]

Well, this sure has been an unpredictable round, huh? Avs one game away from knocking out the top seed in the west after an OT win right after another upset in the east

[ruxpin]

4 hours ago, Puck_Pun said:

Well, this sure has been an unpredictable round, huh? Avs one game away from knocking out the top seed in the west after an OT win right after another upset in the east

I don't know. I said Avs in 6.

 

Then again, I also said Tampa in 5.

[Buffalo Rick]

As I type Flames down 1-0 in a game they must have to survive.  They were big time favorites to start this series.  They are the only team I was scared of vs the Blues.  If they stick this game up my arse they wont be costing me any more money the pricks. I bet a small parlay on Toronto and Calgary.  Leafs won.  Calgary down 1-0 and sucking my balls

[pilldoc]

And the top team in the Western Conference goes down without a whimper.  After posting a 4-0 shutout in Game #1 the Flames go down in the next 4 games without a whimper.  IMHO, I truly believe the Flames started the  wrong goalie.  Rittich was the stronger goalie throughout the season over Smith.  

 

Much will be talked about and debated about the Flames big 3 flaming out during the playoffs.  Johnny Hockey 0G 1A, Monahan 1G 1A, and Lindholm 1G 1A.  The Flames scored 11 goals in 5 games.  You simply do not win games scoring 2.5 goals a game while your goalie (Smith) has a GAA of 3.20.

 

So did the Flames overachieve during the regular season.  Like I mentioned with the Bolts, the Flames have some soul searching to do.

[ruxpin]

1 hour ago, pilldoc said:

Rittich was the stronger goalie throughout the season over Smith.  

 

I agree.  This was a dumb call.   Honestly, Rittich scared me down the stretch, so I don't know if it would have ultimately changed things.

 

I think the dumb move, probably, was not shoring up that position at the deadline.   In other news, I really do wonder about your goalie keeper in NAHANA.  

[ruxpin]

1 hour ago, pilldoc said:

So did the Flames overachieve during the regular season. 

 

I don't think so.  I just think they were offensively cold some down the stretch and their goaltending failed.  This one was vastly less a surprise to me than Tampa (In fact, I have to point out again that I called Colorado in this one--but only because I've gotten nearly every other series wrong.  Well, and because if you look above, I was the only one that called Colorado).    But people like Lindholm were cold down the stretch and Gaudreau does his disappearing act every year in the playoffs.  Plus, I didn't like what their goalies were doing. 

 

i just think things became unhinged for them the last 15-20 games.  I also wonder if they need to think about bringing in some big game players.   Their stars seem to shrink when the lights get brighter.

[ruxpin]

On 4/7/2019 at 5:47 PM, TropicalFruitGirl26 said:

I don't like the Avalanche at ALL in this match up.

 

How ya feeling about it now?  

[FD19372]

21 minutes ago, ruxpin said:

 

How ya feeling about it now?  

Makar for Conn Smythe!

[pilldoc]

15 minutes ago, ruxpin said:

 

I agree.  This was a dumb call.   Honestly, Rittich scared me down the stretch, so I don't know if it would have ultimately changed things.

 

I think the dumb move, probably, was not shoring up that position at the deadline.   In other news, I really do wonder about your goalie keeper in NAHANA.  

 

Hehe ... I was wondering when someone from NAHANA was going to ask me that question ......

 

All honesty... I seriously don't know what I am going to do right now.  I know at some point before the trade deadline you were trying to acquire Rittich also.  I find myself right back behind the eight ball again like last year.  Trying to figure out my goalie situation. 

 

My obvious keepers are Eichel / Draisaitl / Karlsson / Petterson / ?????

 

I have a choice of Vorachoke / D. Strome / Rittich for my 5th keeper.

 

I screwed myself royally by trading not only MAF but also Rask the year before last year.  Also I had the concussion issues with Crawford, who may or may not be the same Crawford as years ago.  So I really don't know what to do???

 

Smith is a 35+ UFA goalie making 3.5 million / yr.

Rittich is 27 RFA only making 800K per year.

 

I think I draft #4 overall this year.  I'm not sure what goalies are going to be available come draft time. That is still along way off.  IF Calgary goes after Bob during the off season, I am screwed. 

 

So yeah ... I don't have the foggiest clue at this moment............  story of my life in NAHANA regarding goalies (sigh)

 

 

[FD19372]

2 minutes ago, pilldoc said:

 

Hehe ... I was wondering when someone from NAHANA was going to ask me that question ......

 

All honesty... I seriously don't know what I am going to do right now.  I know at some point before the trade deadline you were trying to acquire Rittich also.  I find myself right back behind the eight ball again like last year.  Trying to figure out my goalie situation. 

 

My obvious keepers are Eichel / Draisaitl / Karlsson / Petterson / ?????

 

I have a choice of Vorachoke / D. Strome / Rittich for my 5th keeper.

 

I screwed myself royally by trading not only MAF but also Rask the year before last year.  Also I had the concussion issues with Crawford, who may or may not be the same Crawford as years ago.  So I really don't know what to do???

 

Smith is a 35+ UFA goalie making 3.5 million / yr.

Rittich is 27 RFA only making 800K per year.

 

I think I draft #4 overall this year.  I'm not sure what goalies are going to be available come draft time. That is still along way off.  IF Calgary goes after Bob during the off season, I am screwed. 

 

So yeah ... I don't have the foggiest clue at this moment............  story of my life in NAHANA regarding goalies (sigh)

 

 

So, how many of you are still sorry we didn't sign Mike Smith. I know he can't score goals for the Flames, but he still stinks.

[ruxpin]

18 minutes ago, pilldoc said:

I think I draft #4 overall this year.

 

I don't know  how to tell you this, but I have your first pick.  You're picking with Pipers' pick,  so 12th, I think.   We should probably move this elsewhere so this stays a Calgary thread, but the goalie thing is something you'll probably need to wait until camp (or after some trade/signing in the offseason) to figure out.   Been there, too.

[hf101]

16 minutes ago, ruxpin said:

 

How ya feeling about it now?  

 

Speaking of NAHANA - I picked up Grubauer off the FA list a couple of weeks before the playoffs started.  How about them apples?