[Pellanor]

Another great Valiquette article on The Athletic, about goal scoring in the playoffs. It also touches on Rittich a couple times.

What’s it like for goalies to face a lefty shooter versus a righty? David Rittich came to the top of the page here. Has a really good time against lefties but can’t stop righties. His goal differential is 22 (he stops 10 more goals than expected against lefties and gives up 12 more than he should versus righties). You’re asking yourself why. Does it have to do with the way the puck is coming off the stick from that angle? Does it have to do with him lining up to the body more than the puck?

So, there’s something in the data that points to goalies by age being able to stop the puck more frequently when they have clear sight versus older goalies. I looked at the bottom of my list of goalies who had clear vision for more than half a second on shots from the slot — the older guys were all at the bottom. And good goalies, too.

Corey Crawford had a really good year, but this is one aspect he had difficulty with. He was last on the list having faced a minimum of 75 chances. Rittich is only 28, but he was down the list, too. (Henrik) Lundqvist is there, Mike Smith, Marc-Andre Fleury, (Craig) Anderson — all the older guys at the bottom of this list. It makes you wonder if there’s more to it, where they have to develop their eyes as goalies as they age.

There's also some interesting info about the Flames and cross ice passes below the hash marks, but I don't want to share too much of the article.