Quote:
Originally Posted by MrMike
I think we had better goaltending last year other than Smith and his awful goal per game in the first half of the season. But me remembering this is probably because our offence was much more high powered and weren’t relying on it as much as this season.
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A lot of 5-3, 6-4 type games last season.
We weren't stingy, we had pretty elite scoring though.
Smith was worse than either goalie this season last year in the regular season. Then he had 4 or so great games in the playoffs.
Rittich had top 10 starter first halves in both seasons. First 30 or 35 games very solid. Dropped off fairly steeply in both years. I think the main dropoff was in low to medium danger shot saves. Many more gaffes.
The difference in Rittich's physical composure from first to second half of very evident too. I found in both declines it was because he was moving too much and being over-active which was opening up holes. He was minimal and efficient in his movements early on, with consistently good positioning to help that.
Talbot really picked up steam in the second half. I feel like he would've gotten on a roll and been the playoff defacto starter and helped their cause. He like Rittich depends highly on confidence. We've seen both sides of that coin from him in Edmonton.