Quote:
Originally Posted by transplant99
Since January 1st.
Rittich has started 13 games. He is 9-1-2, .900 sv%, 2.84 GAA.
Smith has started 12 games. He is 8-4-1, .904 save%, 2.81 GAA.
So if Mike Smith shouldn't be starting for an NHL team, what does that mean for David Rittich?
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Well, there is the fact that Rittich still lost fewer games in regulation than Smith despite the mediocre stats - Rittich had the tendency to let in late-game goals in games that Calgary already had a multi-goal lead, which wasn't great for the SV% or GAA but didn't have any impact on the outcome of the game.
In my observations, Rittich has also made some puck-handling flubs lately, but Smith still plays the puck more aggressively so is more likely to make those mistakes, and they are among the more obvious mistakes that goalies make, thus making fans particularly irritated when they happen.
The other major factor I think is that each goalie has a different weakness - Rittich seems to be prone to bad-angle short side shots over the shoulder (Johnny should work on him with this since he loves taking that shot), which is a more forgivable weakness since it requires the opponent to make a great shot to score. Smith has a propensity to let in shots through the five hole, including ones that are straight on and unscreened like Minny's 4th goal. Those ones just look bad and do the opposite of inspiring confidence.
The fans trust Rittich to make the routine saves that any goalie should make - Smith can't be trusted to make those. Smith might make some spectacular sprawling saves from time to time, but I think fans (not sure about coaches and teammates) prefer a steady .900 SV% based on making the routine saves over the sporadic .900% where the goalie makes some spectacular saves but also let's in a ton of stinkers at inopportune times. If you take into account the context of goals that Rittich lets in vs. Smith, it's no contest IMO that Rittich lets in far fewer back-breaking goals against.