Flames 2 Wild 1
With Talbot getting roughly half of the starts in the last 15 games it’s interesting to dig into their stats a bit and look for differences both in the goaltenders and how the team plays with each guy in net.
Talbot has the edge over David Rittich with a .917 save percentage over .911.
Talbot has saved 3.82 goals above average, edging Rittich and his 3.59. That number appears to be close, but when you take into account the disparity in minutes played it’s a much greater gap; 0.29/60 vs 0.11/60. Talbot is 15th league wide in this stat.
When it comes to high danger shots, the Flames have a tendency to look after Talbot more so than they play sound defence when Rittich is in the nets. Talbot has the lowest high danger shots / 60 of any of the 60 most used goaltenders in the league this year at 5.78/60. Rittich faces 7.44/60, or almost two more per game.
Rittich is the second best stopper in the circuit when it comes to high danger save percentage at .863, while Talbot is way down the list at 48th with .787.
Talbot’s average shot length is 37.91 feet (8th longest), while Rittich has an average distance of 35.64 feet (40th). Both goaltenders have been beat at a distance of 24 feet.
The Flames play better in front of Talbot, but Rittich is able to handle the mistakes. Rittich leaks his save percentage in medium and low danger (easy ones) chances.