[PGT] Flames lose 5-2 to the Sharks due to a terrible 90 second span and snakebit offense

[Fan in Exile]

I don't think the team was very focussed and not much attention to details tonight, especially some of our top guys, namely Gaudreau, Monahan and Tkachuk - not to mention Rittich. Thought Lindholm was a beast though.

Still could have pulled it out on a real off-night.

[Toonage]

I get why he pulled him but it went south right away after that. I honestly wonder if a timeout would have been better to get Rittich's head into the game. Damned if you do I guess.

[old-fart]

Flames were the better team by a fairly significant margin. Too bad Rittich decided to spot them two gimmes.

Johnny did not have a good game tonight... Lots of bobbled passes and wide open nets missed.

Oh well. On to the next one and put this one behind us.

[browna]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Still can't billieve peters pulled Rittich after 2 goals.....

I can. He pulled him after 3 in Columbus, and should've been after 2 because the the third one was a very stoppable shot went in because Rittich had very low confidence. Peters knows Rittich pretty well.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

No he didn't. He let in the next shot 22 seconds later.

Yeah, on a perfect tip right in front that he had little to no chance to stop.

[Flames1217]

I am legit pissed

[direwolf]

I really hope Peters goes back to Rittich on Saturday. Show some faith in the guy.

[Boo Radley]

I wonder if pulling Rittich was meant to be a wake up call from Peters.

Their record is great. They are tops in the West.
Maybe Peters want to push them so they don't fall back.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Peters simulating a bad playoff game or injury to Rittich, Smith lets in his first shot.

[ASP#26525]

Well, that sucked.

[TheRealPepman]

Today's game = payback for lucky January?

[Toonage]

Nm

[browna]

Originally Posted by old-fart

Flames were the better team by a fairly significant margin. Too bad Rittich decided to spot them two gimmes.

Johnny did not have a good game tonight... Lots of bobbled passes and wide open nets missed.

Oh well. On to the next one and put this one behind us.

Maybe not for JG, but he could've had a hat trick without playing a lick better, just getting a bit more wood on the one in the third, a bit more luck Ina wrap around in the second, and put his stick on one of those wide open scrambles with Jones having lost all semblence of order in front of the net.

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by MisterJoji

Yeah. I mean, Smith isn’t the reason we lost this one but Rittich has earned a much much longer leash. 20-5-4, 2.49, .918 doesn’t deserve to be pulled after 2 goals. Especially when Smith seems to get 3 or 4 before he’s pulled.

Good point but it just didn’t look like his head was in it to be honest. We do need a better backup if possible for playoffs than Smith.

[FanIn80]

It doesn’t matter if you pull Rittich or not. The ugly truth is that we don’t have a backup that can go in and steal a game anyway, so why bother pulling him?

Shaky Rittich is still better than Smith.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

I sure can. He was directly responsible for both goals and did not look engaged at all.

Smith gave the team a chance to win. He had no help on the goals that he let in.

Pretty messed up take. On the subject of being engaged, specifically.

So here’s the thing. Goalies read shots based on shooter body movements. Spinorama shots are near impossible to read and the release couldn’t even be seen, it was around Andersson’s skate.

The Burns goal, Burns got a bounce off Bennett and another when Rittich hit him. A goalie shouldn’t need to play the puck at his blue line on a botched PP entry.

Both ugly, both very unusual.

Smith wasn’t bad either.

It was all about the bounces tonight.

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

If Smith plays like that he's fine.

Frustrating game, but the Sharks had things go their way. 2 ugly goals to take the lead and then a lot of unlucky bounces for the Flames.

Move on to the next one. Hope to see a big game from BSD.

I am not a fan of ragging on the goalie, but dude is a up down mess all season. If someone will part with a backup with term for a 2nd get it done. This season isn’t worth it for Mike Smith and his half season of briliance a year ago.

Oh and could we say his lack of puck control ended with Hamonic injured?

I’ll stop but man I am not comfortable at all with the tandem.

[neo45]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Yeah, on a perfect tip right in front that he had little to no chance to stop.

Even if you don’t fault him for the first goal he still let in one every period, also took a penalty.

He just wasn’t the guy to put in. The odds of Rittich bouncing back after two mistakes are better than going with Smith

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Just an unlucky game. Not scared of the skarks one bit in the playoffs

I'm scared of Kane's inflated shooting percentage, the rest of that team, not at all.

Had they not cashed in on our gaffs, this would be a game described as one where San Jose was "outclassed".

Seriously such a weird game. Between skating past pucks, multiple missed chances with the goalie down and out, and Gaudreau shooting just lightly enough towards an open net for Jones to stop it. That was Honda Center level bad juju.

[SebC]

Rationally I know we're not there yet, but this still feels like last season where the All-Star break killed our momentum.