Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
The response from numerous posters to the goaltending situation continues to entertain: Smith wins four-straight starts and there are still complaints that he has not "played lights out." Rittich was pulled in his last start and lost his previous two—a string of three starts in six games—and yet "should get the opportunity to show that he can bounce back."
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Look at the teams smith has beat in his last starts.
LA. Not Good
Chicago. Not Good
Columbus. Not Good that night
Smith still looks shaky in net, has little to no rebound control and flails at pucks and has been lucky to have them hit him. The team is winning in spite of smith to my eye test not because of him.
You could say that fluky save on anisimov saved the game but why on earth was he so out of position to require a back heel save in the first place.
He flounders around out there
Some of us just think Rittich should get a bit more leash than what Smith gets. Especially considering if Smith plays anything more than 40 games in the regular season he is likely too gassed to do anything in playoffs... He is old and we need to look to the future.
Rittich has had one bad start, and against columbus he was terrible, but how many times did peters go right back to smith earlier this season even after he gave us a start like that??