Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
I completely agree, but on the other hand interpretations of game events are also hopelessly subjective. Your own bias towards one goalie and against another is glaringly obvious with how strenuously you work to convince others about “shot quality” from one game to another. Yes, it matters, but with how quick you are to forgive every one of Rittich’s mistakes, and with how readily you overlook the quality of Smith’s competition it is abundantly clear that your own judgement on this matter is totally unbalanced.
Rittich did not play as well in Tampa as Smith did in Pittsburgh. The numbers bear that out. The results beat that out. You appear incapable of acknowledging that.
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Again, though, a one game sample size to formulate an opinion is not a very reasonable place to start a serious debate. Never mind that the Flames did not play the same team twice in a row, or that the effort as a team, and quality of competition, varied wildly between those two games. You are also relying (in isolation) on Mike Smith stopping 31 of 32 at even strength. He let in 4 goals. Rittich let in 6 against Tampa. And the even strength quality of chances Rittich faced in Tampa were substantially superior to those faced by Smith, it’s not even close. If you disagree, please explain.
So let’s look instead at the season on aggregate. I think most people would agree that in general, Rittich hasn't been as good the last few months as he was at the start of the year. The numbers bear that out. I'm also sure that most people on this forum tend to watch most games, and so, can generally evaluate how the team has played on aggregate.
The first few months, the team played reasonably sound, structured hockey for the most part, but were undermined by poor goal tending.
They then went on a substantial run, in large part because they went to Rittich. They continued to win by playing reasonably defensively sound hockey. Then there was another inflection point, where the team was blowing the doors off other teams offensively. In the midst of the Gaudreau et al goal scoring binge, I think it is fair to say that the Flames skaters focused more of their attention on scoring, and less on defense.
Now, over this same period of time, Mike Smith was given predominantly (not exclusively), the easier starts against lesser lights in the league. Rittich was trusted to go up against the more potent offensive units.
So now let’s fast forward to post-allstar break Flames hockey. I'll always remember Peter Mahr saying you could tell when a team was about to either break out of a slump, or head into one, because they would be getting away from, or going towards, what made them successful in the first place. You have a team that is focused on scoring, not defense, headed straight into the worst part of the schedule in the entire season, playing river boat hockey.
Is it a surprise, then, that when the offense dried up, and the defensive structure and attention to details were lacking, that the Flames get lit up for a few games by some of the best teams in the league? Not really.
The Rittich vs. Smith debate isn’t a debate. Rittich is, and has been, the better goalie by far this season. It isn’t even close. The eye test supports it, the underlying numbers support it, and his record supports it. If not for some pretty awful efforts by his team mates vs. SJ and Tampa, Rittich’s SV% is still between .915 and .920.
Mike Smith has provided bottom tier goal tending for over a calendar year. He is 36. But to listen to Wills, and many of you here, he has suddenly discovered the fountain of youth by winning 2 of his last three games against the murderers row of Florida, Pittsburgh, and Arizona. Despite routinely making saves look far more difficult than they have to be.
If Mike Smith deserves credit for his recent wins, then make sure we are equally weighing the quality of the competition he’s facing and the quality of effort put forth by his team mates (and the type of chances they are allowing).