[PGT] Flames lose 4-3

[zamler]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

What does that have to do with anything I've said?

He's had a bad season. I can only say it so many times. Not sure what else you're looking for.

People are being accused of going too hard after Smith. I don't see it, the vitriol is justified when he's the worst goalie in the league. On a powerhouse team no less imagine him playing for a bottom feeder.

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by zamler

People keep saying Smith is not that bad and that he's getting unfair criticism. The stats say he is the worst goalie in the league and yes he does tend to let in at least 1 stinker per game. I will stop bringing up his numbers when people stop making excuses for the guy.

Smith should not be playing any games in a Flames uniform IMO.

Here's the thing, though: It's unlikely the goalie situation changes. He's the backup, like it or not. Who would you replace him with?

Peters is not going to run with Rittich the rest of the way, which would be insanely stupid to burn him out. So Smith is going to get some starts.

You complain about the people who are being positive, and people, myself included, are complaining about those being negative. The situation is the same, it's how we choose to react and that's all on the person. If you think "too positive" is as bad as "too negative" then I don't know what to say.

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

What does that have to do with anything I've said?

He's had a bad season. I can only say it so many times. Not sure what else you're looking for.

The negative people want you to be negative too. Misery loves company.

[Redrum]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle

Even your first example, the explanation you needed to get into to sell it as a weak goal shows that it wasn’t that bad. And for the 4th PP goal, where the Flames completely broke down and Smith gave the shooter nothing but the toughest spot to hit and the shooter pulled of the great shot is his fault. If you think that goal means Smith isn’t NHL caliber then you must really hate Rittich’s game cause he’s been letting in that sane goal but way worse in almost every single start he’s had prior to the break.

The problem is hyperbole. Is Smith playing great...no. Is he a tire fire right now and not even an NHL caliber backup...no. If he was our starter, we’d need a different option. I think it’s at the very least debatable on whether we need a new back up, cause I’m not convinced an upgrade is out there that doesn’t cost to much. I’m very open to getting one, but the “we must get rid of him at any cost narrative” is just so dumb. He still wins more than he loses and if he remains our backup he still gives us a chance to win must nights abd we shoukd still leverage him to rest Rittich appropriately.

Sorry but this is wrong. Yes Rittich lets in the odd soft goal. But "soft" doesn't describe the kind of goals Smith lets in. He regularly lets goals in that would be considered an anomaly or "gaff" or whatever from an NHL goalie. He lets these in on a regular basis. I'm not talking about last night. I actually think that was one of his better games, which is scary considering how difficult he made every save look. I wish him all the best and that he would prove me wrong but its game over.

[Iggy Snipe]

Rittich will get 20 more starts out of the remaining 30 games, minimum. I bet its more like 22 or 23. This amount of starts is not going to burn a goalie out

The Flames have a lot to play for, as home ice in the playoffs is HUGE.

Basically Smith gets in on back to backs from here on out and thats it.

[zamler]

Originally Posted by the2bears

Here's the thing, though: It's unlikely the goalie situation changes. He's the backup, like it or not. Who would you replace him with?

Almost any goalie would be better.

Peters is not going to run with Rittich the rest of the way, which would be insanely stupid to burn him out. So Smith is going to get some starts.

Rittich is 20th in game starts I don't think it would have hurt to have him start 3-5 more games. Play Smith against the worst teams not the Washington Capitals.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by zamler

People are being accused of going too hard after Smith. I don't see it, the vitriol is justified when he's the worst goalie in the league. On a powerhouse team no less imagine him playing for a bottom feeder.

When he lets in a bad goal, go for it.

But when people are on him after Every.....Single......Goal......it's exhausting.

I mean, the 4th goal was a laser. From in close. On the PK. And yet we see 'well, if he would have come out and played the shot perfectly he could have stopped that.........'.

When is enough enough? Do we just rag on him 24 hours a day because to some people it's 'justified'?

[zamler]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

When he lets in a bad goal, go for it.

But when people are on him after Every.....Single......Goal......it's exhausting.

I mean, the 4th goal was a laser. From in close. On the PK. And yet we see 'well, if he would have come out and played the shot perfectly he could have stopped that.........'.

When is enough enough? Do we just rag on him 24 hours a day because to some people it's 'justified'?

It feels like you complain more than the thing you say people complain about.

[Swifty16]

Originally Posted by MrMike

We now know that Tkachuk will not get any calls anymore. His karma is coming back to bite him in the ass and I get it.



Just look at the way he over reacted after his slash to the leg earlier.



Don't get me wrong, I believe they were both worthy of penalties but he has made his reputation and he has to live with it.

As much as this might be somewhat true...a penalty is a penalty and the nhl has an epidemic on their hands with refs that have zero consistency and long memories. It becomes a personal thing instead of an impartial by the rules thing.

[activeStick]

If I can find something else to do, I've started to try to avoid watching games when Mike Smith starts. I do scoreboard watch though and the point about timing is a good one. Last night, as an example:

- Got a notification about an early Washington goal... 3 minutes in. Yup, sounds about right.

- Flames tie it, great! Now I'm nervously waiting for the quick answer. Yup, there it is...

- 1st intermission over. Praying Washington doesn't get an early goal again... Damn it, Washington scores in under a minute LOL.

I get the comments that there isn't much Smith can do if the team is playing like hot garbage in front of him but... Isn't it a little strange that they seem to be hot garbage in front of Smith and not Rittich, the majority of times they are playing poorly? Maybe it's just coincidence or Smith just has bad luck...

[wired]

Refs gave the game to Washington.
Flames are a softish team.
Washington as a team, seems to be getting more dirty as time goes on.
IMO, any official in the NHL who consistently makes bad calls, or non calls, should be fined and called out publicly. The same as when a player dives.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

If the Flames had a goalie that stopped every shot they'd be first in the league.

If the Flames didn't have the worst goalie in the league (20+ games) they literally would be first in the league though

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by dino7c

If the Flames didn't have the worst goalie in the league (20+ games) they literally would be first in the league though

Right. But they did.
And I expect they will have the same goalies to finish out the season.

But feel free to say it 100 more times.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by transplant99

It has gotten to the point where the viotrol has clouded any objectivity about him.

He can literally do nothing right in a segment of the posters, yet its they who are most vocal about him.

36 saves is a pretty good game for any G at any level, except Mike Smith.

And yet 4 goals is below average for every single goalie in the entire NHL who has played 20 games or more this year.

Sure, he can do some things right, but when people cherry pick a sample of his last, say, 12 starts, they are deliberately including the 6 game win streak back in December which does not resemble his play right now, and are excluding the 3 game losing streak which immediately preceded it.

So if we cherry pick his last 7 starts instead, he has
- gone 3-3, and one no decision
- let in 4+ in 4 of those 7 games
- only once had a single game save percentage above league average.

People aren’t imagining the fact that the Flames have to outscore Smith’s goaltending allowances to win.

[Yoho]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1091497513985568768

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by activeStick

If I can find something else to do, I've started to try to avoid watching games when Mike Smith starts. I do scoreboard watch though and the point about timing is a good one. Last night, as an example:

- Got a notification about an early Washington goal... 3 minutes in. Yup, sounds about right.

- Flames tie it, great! Now I'm nervously waiting for the quick answer. Yup, there it is...

- 1st intermission over. Praying Washington doesn't get an early goal again... Damn it, Washington scores in under a minute LOL.

I get the comments that there isn't much Smith can do if the team is playing like hot garbage in front of him but... Isn't it a little strange that they seem to be hot garbage in front of Smith and not Rittich, the majority of times they are playing poorly? Maybe it's just coincidence or Smith just has bad luck...

This is pure conjecture, but to me the players want to win for rittich. He let's in a bad one or the flames turn it over and it's in the back of the net, there's a concerted effort to get one back for rittich.

I see the opposite body language with regards to smith. Smith let's in a bad one and Neal comes over to tell him to 'make a ####ing save'.

Feels to me like Brian Elliott all over again.

Smith has been better in the last month I guess but he's still a below average backup even after the improvements. The flames have to score 4+ to have a chance with him in net. That shutout against Nashville in October or November is looking vanishingly small at this point.

I'd like to see his energy off the roster as soon as possible.

WINS as a metric doesn't cut it on this roster.

[Joborule]

If Treliving can get a backup to replace Smith by the deadline, it'll really help the team a lot for the final stretch. The team wouldn't have to put up at least 5 goals to win when Smith is in net then.

[KipperFaNaTic]

I understand that people are fed up with the hate with Smith, but I believe it’s completely justified. Smith has been horrible and some. It’s the NHL. People expect NHL saves.

[Mattman]

Originally Posted by Joborule

If Treliving can get a backup to replace Smith by the deadline, it'll really help the team a lot for the final stretch. The team wouldn't have to put up at least 5 goals to win when Smith is in net then.

I have my list of goaltenders I want for our 1b/Backup role based on cost, availability and my preference..

Jimmy Howard
Tomas Griess (Unlikely)
Cam Talbot (Unlikely)
Anton Khudobin
Curtis McElhinney
Darcy Keumper


Also, Mike Smith is now 47th out of 47 goaltenders (> 18 games played) for Save % with a stellar .889 !!!!!!!

I will not defend myself to the Mike Smith apologists, yes there are goals that are not his fault and sure he makes spectacular saves, you CAN NOT argue that this guy isn't in the discussion for worst goaltender this season. He is not consistent.

[GranteedEV]

Smith has been bad, but I think one thing people don't realize is that Rittich hasn't just been average. Going by dSV% Rittich has been the second best goalie in the league (1000+ minutes) 5v5 behind only Thomas Greiss.

On the flip side, Luongo, Dubnyk, and Martin Jones actually have worse dSV% than Smith, though 4th worst among 37 goalies is not something to be proud of.

I bring this up because Smith has had some awful games where he has cost us or we have won despite him, but last night was not one of them. The sheer contrast between Smith and Rittich has led to a serious lack of perspective on what "average" goaltending should look like, especially with the rule changes which have affected pretty much every goalie. Smith wasn't outgoaltended by Holtby last night - we lost for other reasons. So saying Smith has 10 of our 14 regulation losses is a flawed statement because it suggest Rittich has only been average, when Rittich has been far better than average (and we also won the worst game Rittich played this season @ Columbus)