[PGT] Mike Smith loses the game with 2 abysmal goals against. Flames lose to Habs 3-2.

[Manhattanboy]

You could see in Smith’s demeanour after the third goal - he knew his career ended right then.

Simple as this: with average goaltending Flames are one of the class of the league.

With Smith in net they are not a playoff team.

He should never play for the Flames again.

[Steve Bozek]

Originally Posted by VANFLAMESFAN

In fairness, kipper was given the opportunity to do what he did in that season because Turek got hurt. Kipper proved his worth thru an extended period of time and then when Turek was healthy again, it made zero sense to give him the wheel again.
....

As I recall, Turek actually played well as a backup after he came back from the injury, but Sutter recognized that Kipper had won the number 1 spot.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Well if that's his body language and what not post-game, it is understandable but just underscores you can't go back to him now. A goalie with no confidence is basically no goalie at all.

[Duffalufagus]

Originally Posted by redforever

Problem is the good game is the exception and not his normal level of play. What we saw tonight is what Smith is now...a very poor goalie, like the worst in the NHL.

Smith has played one great game. Nashville. Like 6 weeks ago. He’s cost the team at least 4.5 points.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Silver lining is that by pulling an Elliott, there is no more goalie controversy or question who should be the number one.

Only one win in the last four games, and guess who was in net...

And it was a 1-0 win.

So he actually had less run support than Smith had tonight and still came with a win.

The worst part of these Smith losses is that he’s not even good enough to get us to OT. Always chokes it away in regulation and that’s going to come back to hurt us even more.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Did you just see Peters post game comments? I have bad news for you as well as the rest of us.

What did he say?

[redforever]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

It's not a big deal if Ryan doesn't find his game; not going to live or die if he can't produce. He just needs to kill penalties and win faceoffs. Neal needs to show up and we need NHL level goaltending to give us a chance to win games.

It is if they go to him in the last few minutes of the game when the game is on the line.

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by Kybb79

Fire Sigalet asap!

Agreed. Guy sucks

[heep223]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

Another year, another disappointing flames team. Not sure how i get upset by this franchise every year for the better part of the last 3 decades.

Smith sucks.

Pretty subpar game by gio too. It was a great game by Brodie though.

This team has been playing really well. They dominated this game. Them and the Sharks are the top two teams in the pacific. Not too sure what you’re talking about tbh.

Agree re Gio, not his best.

[timbit]

Originally Posted by nik-

Overall yeah, but they still did enough to win tonight though. They should have won. This isn't the first time this story has been told this season.

How many goals have they scored the last 4 games?

If you think 1 or 2 goals a game is going to consistently win in today’s NHL, you are sadly mistaken.

If they finish tonight, they win, despite Smith’s poor performance.

Not rocket science. Aside from poor goaltending, the Flames are not producing enough goals.

Structurally, they are much improved defensively.

Need to put it all together WITH better goaltending.

[taxbuster]

Not all on Smith. Flames got cocky and stopped chasing the puck hard -- tried stopping it with a couple of lazy sticks and gave up the tying goal. That should NEVER have happened. The third goal? Combo bad play at the blue line and crappy goaltending.

2 points they should have had. Lost intensity and the game with it.

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

What did he say?

I’ll betcha the guy starting in net on Saturday only has 5 letters in his last name

[direwolf]

Originally Posted by kukkudo

I don't know how you can really fault the Flames minus Smith. Your goalie let's in two stinkers and it's gonna suck the life and energy out of the bench. That last goal pretty much killed it and they looked defeated.

Yup. The Flames also hit two posts tonight, so they're definitely generating enough quality scoring chances to win games. I'm actually not too worried about the offence. Every team goes through dry spells once in a while and the Flames are unfortunately experiencing one now. But if they keep playing the way they are, the goals will come. These guys were top 5 in offence during the first 15 games, and I have no doubt they'll continue to be as the season unfolds.

If we can actually get some NHL-quality goaltending going forward, I'm confident this team will still be battling for tops in the division. Bottom line is Rittich needs to be getting the bulk of the starts from here on out. The dude has earned it. Smith has not.

[browna]

Originally Posted by nik-

Overall yeah, but they still did enough to win tonight though. They should have won. This isn't the first time this story has been told this season.

Well, Price looked very shaky on the second goal, that if he was 100% mentally, would have no chance of going in. Take that away and take Smiths 3rd away and MTL wins 2-1. That’s not enough from the Flames no matter how dominant they look.

Offence sure isn’t the big story tonight but it’s a bigger issue, only 6 goals now in last 4 games.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

What did he say?

Basically he thought team coverage was bad on third goal and that it was a tough one to give up but as for Smith they would get right back at it tmrw.

[old-fart]

Flames have lost 3 of 4, all 3 with the same goalie, and the 1 win with a different goalie. 2 of those losses are 100% on crap goaltending in games the team played well enough to win. The other was a bit better, but certainly a “good” goalie could have gotten a point or two out of that game as well.

I don’t really care about his little feelings, he is done as an NHL goalie. He is trash.

[Duffalufagus]

Let’s not lose sight of the fact that this team still lacks finish recently. 45 shots. 2 goals. And Price wasn’t great or anything, just solid.

The five alarm fire is in net for sure, but we still have a short term goal scoring problem.

[dammage79]

I hate our goaltending... anything. It's really depressing. The one true light at the end of the tunnel is still two years away.

They've talked themselves into a corner regarding Smith. But you cannot just toss a season away to help a guy feel better. I said game 25. But the losses are piling up at Smittys feet. Gotta think bigger picture. At this point I don't care who it is anymore as long as his name isn't mike Smith. If I was coach. I'd be telling him tomorrow (only so he can have the night to wallow in his own head) that his door opening skills needs sharpening and his butt is stapled to the bench unless the other guy gets hurt.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by browna

How you think I am defending Smith is beyond me.

He could’ve let in two more #### goals and the Flames still should have won that game if they beared down a bit more up front.

I know we're just talking what ifs now, but I honestly believe Flames would have won this game handily if Smith didn't let in that first weak goal, and the team gripped their sticks harder thinking they're going to have to outscore the suck of Smith to win the game. Flames kept pressing because they knew they had to score a ton to win, and even if they scored a ton, Smith could still cost them the game afterwards.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by Beninho

I honestly feel bad for him, this team has done him little service with playing him like he was a 28 year old last season, to probably rushing him back, to now starting him when it’s clearly evident his time in this league is close to being over. That being said, he gets paid a hefty amount and deserves all this criticism. He’s probably been worse than Hiller was at the end of 2015/2016 and Hiller had ####ing vertigo.

I agree... i mean players aren't robots.

Frankly I blame Peters... anyone with eyes can see Smith has been struggling all season. While i understand why Smith got the start tonight based on his level of play after the 1st goal in SJ, Peters NEEDS to reward Rittich the same way.

Peters is starting Smith despite his issues. Smith isn't turning down starts

Rittich's reward for games where Rittich literally steals the game for Calgary? The bench.

That can't be the case going forward. At a certain point in time, the players will start to balk at this...Smith letting in softies to put the Flames in a hole or back in a hole after fighting back kills the confidence of the room