Quote:
Originally Posted by AC
Yep, 100%.
The coaches usually take a goalie's recent success against specific teams to heart. Rittich was recently great in a lopsided Carolina game and managed to get the win.
Just like using Smith once again vs Detroit, who he had beaten a few weeks prior as well.
If we just ran with Rittich until we face an "easier" team, it would have been Feb 14th in Florida, almost an entire month after Smith's last start (Jan 18 vs DET). Like it or not, Smith is going to get games until there's a better option simply so Rittich doesn't get run into the ground.
There are a bunch of difficult matchups this month that Rittich likely gets all of: SJ, @VAN, @TB, @PIT, NYI, ANA, @NYI.
On the flip side there are some more favourable teams that Smith will likely get most of the starts against: @FLA, ARI, @OTT, @NJ (back to back).
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Even if Rittich starts every single game till the end, he will end up with 50 starts, more or less. Last year Gulutzan planned to play Smith 70 games or so and noone was concerned about that. I mean noone from within to organisation, not the CP posters. With every start Smith gets, chance at facing Vegas in 1st round increases. I would better risk burning out Rittich than letting Sharks catch up on me because I have a soft spot for Smith.