[GDT] Anaheim Ducks @ Calgary Flames (SN West)

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Flames will win 4-1. Because you can't predict a shutout in the GDT

Really? Who said that? Using the 'shutout' word in the GT is bad form IMO, but I've never seen it mentioned that you can't predict a shutout in the GDT.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I sure hope the Flames show some killer instinct and step on the throats of the Ducks tonight. They could score 20 goals on this team and I would be cheering for more.

I have to say I wanted a piece of the Ducks when the team was intentionally trying to get Carlyle fired. Now that they aren't focused on getting the coach run out of town, they will remember that they can in fact still play hockey reasonably well at times.

I'd love to see a stomp down...but I expect this will be a tough 2-1 type of game.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I never understand why people expect that rookies and veteran players will be treated exactly the same way. It just does not happen, and usually for good reasons.

I'm just worried Smith is going to start the playoffs, play subpar and we blow our home ice advantage in Game 1 after working so hard for it.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

I'm just worried Smith is going to start the playoffs, play subpar and we blow our home ice advantage in Game 1 after working so hard for it.

Worry about that when the time comes. The playoffs are still six weeks away.

[Split98]

The only thing we have to worry about is if the team has lost confidence in Rittich.

Smith has played better in this stretch than he had in any win before the ASG, and it's been great to see. But the only start that confuses me so far was the Islanders. This (and Ottawa) make sense for Smith, so I wonder if the aberration was against NYI, and was the 'ride the hot hand' reward for a bounce back in the season.

I did expect to see Rittich get a game in here to stay warm though, but I think it'll be more telling to see who gets the Islanders game than the lowly Ducks. Could even see Smith against Ottawa if this has been viewed more as a reset for Rittich.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

You're right, the Flames starting the season with Smith is a no brainer considering the situation.

However, I struggle with how you are claiming Rittich is now in a "funk" while sporting similar figures as Smith over the last handful of games? I don't think Smith having two good games against anemic teams like Florida and Arizona should constitute a hot hand label.

Since 1 February:

David Rittich: 4GS 1W 1L 1OTL 0.853 SP 4.24 GAA
Mike Smith: 5GS 3W 2L 1OTL 0.907 SP 2.92 GAA

Those are not by any measure "similar figures."

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

You're right, the Flames starting the season with Smith is a no brainer considering the situation.

However, I struggle with how you are claiming Rittich is now in a "funk" while sporting similar figures as Smith over the last handful of games? I don't think Smith having two good games against anemic teams like Florida and Arizona should constitute a hot hand label.

His other two games during this run against better opposition proved his play is still far below average. At worst he should still be splitting starts until he puts a legitimate run of high quality starts together (like Rittich did for 3+ months). From what I've seen this year, Rittich at his worst is not much different than what many are saying is Smith's "return to form".

I said exactly that .. and that I don't like Rittich out this long.

Smith's numbers as a whole suggest he's been better, but in individual games he's not exactly lights out every night. As has been done with Rittich you can probably point to some tough ones.

Hard to argue Rittich isn't in a funk lately though.

Smith has a .915 save percentage in his last four.
Rittich has a .881 in his last three, .852 in his last four, and .886 in his last ten.

How the hell would you describe a funk?!?!

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

I'm just worried Smith is going to start the playoffs, play subpar and we blow our home ice advantage in Game 1 after working so hard for it.

If that's the case, Rittich plays Game 2 and likely everything after that

[Split98]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I said exactly that .. and that I don't like Rittich out this long.

Smith's numbers as a whole suggest he's been better, but in individual games he's not exactly lights out every night. As has been done with Rittich you can probably point to some tough ones.

Hard to argue Rittich isn't in a funk lately though.

Smith has a .915 save percentage in his last four.
Rittich has a .881 in his last three, .852 in his last four, and .886 in his last ten.

How the hell would you describe a funk?!?!

[the2bears]

Originally Posted by Split98

You hit that out of the park!

[flamesfan1297]

I'm surprised Rittich isn't starting tonight

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[Jeff Lebowski]

ANA always present a challenge and they are looking to make the playoffs so they will be a good opponent. CGY look to be getting back into the nice rhythm they had going before the break. These are great games for CGY to prepare for playoff style hockey. They just need to continue to play the same way - fantastic hockey with so many contributions all throughout the roster.

CGY has a higher level to get to and this is a great chance to keep building towards that goal. Looking forward to seeing CGY play their game and keep the good vibes rolling.

[442scotty]

I’d like to see how Rittich does when the team is playing like they did against the Islanders. I’m betting he looks great just like Smith. Rittich hasn’t been great lately but I think the team threw both goalies under the bus with their lazy sloppy defence. The team put a lot of pressure on both goalies to outperform when they turned sloppy for a long stretch.

The players are back to working their butts off and Smith responded by playing well. Now they have to keep it up to give Rittich some support and he will be back on track.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by keenan87

No, I don't think Rittich has been given a fair chance this year. I think he has been the better of the two goalies this season and at this point, should be the starting goalie.

Since Smith #### the bed against Montreal in November Peters has given Rittich more than a fair chance to take over the starting spot. He's given him strings of 4, 4, 3, 4, 3, 4 starts while before this last string the only time Smith played two games in a row since his win streak in December was when Rittich was hurt.

http://hockeygoalies.org/bio/nhl/logs/CGY2018.html

I know this will be Smith's fifth straight start and that I probably would have gave Rittich the start too to see where he's at but like I said before Peters will give him a shot to win the net back. We all should just be happy that Smith is playing better even if he's not having to steal games.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I said exactly that .. and that I don't like Rittich out this long.

Smith's numbers as a whole suggest he's been better, but in individual games he's not exactly lights out every night. As has been done with Rittich you can probably point to some tough ones.

Hard to argue Rittich isn't in a funk lately though.

Smith has a .915 save percentage in his last four.
Rittich has a .881 in his last three, .852 in his last four, and .886 in his last ten.

How the hell would you describe a funk?!?!

You sure get your back up against a wall easily. Read my post - I'm not arguing whether Rittich is in a funk or not, I'm saying its incredibly weak of you to suggest Smith is the hot hand while saying Rittich is in a funk.

As far as I'm concerned, both goalies have been abysmal for the last 6 weeks (Smith the majority of the season) and I'm certainly not going to be fooled by two gimme games that are inflating Smith's numbers during this run of starts. Rittich still has a positive GSAA compared to Smith's ghastly GSAA figures this season and I'd take that over a few misleading starts on Smith's part.

Go back to 10 games for both goalies, which is a fair comparison of both, and you're talking about a .899 vs .893 sv%.....doesn't seem like much of a hot hand to me no matter which way you spin it. At best it's a dead heat and even that's debatable given Smith's play against the better teams during that time (obviously last night was not the case) is as bad as it has been all season.

[Barnet Flame]

I don’t like the way the goalie situation is being handled.

Then again, I’m not coaching a team lying 2nd in the NHL.

[IliketoPuck]

Mike Smith has played against:

Washington. 4 goals against. .900 Sv%.
San Jose (in relief). 3 goals against. .875 Sv%.
Florida. 2 goals against. .938 Sv%.
Pittsburgh. 4 goals against. .895 Sv%.
Arizona. 2 goals against. .931 Sv%.
NYI. 2 Goals against. .895 Sv%.

Every single game he's played against a team currently in a playoff spot he's had a .900 or below Sv%.

For the love of god. Mike Smith is not back from the abyss. He's managed to somewhat keep it together against some of the worst teams in the league (congrats on being slightly above average against Florida?), and has been absolutely victimized by the offensively talented teams. Even the NYI, who are incredibly low scoring, put an .895 Sv% on him. Halfway through the game he'd let in two goals on ten shots....., and one of them was him swimming through the crease and knocking the puck into his own net because of it.

Let's pump the brakes here on the Mike Smith train. Guy has been acceptable against non-playoff caliber teams, and mediocre at best against actual contenders.

But Smith gets a pass because he's a veteran goalie, or maybe he has compromising pictures of Peters.

[Split98]

^ This is a game against the Ducks, remember

I don't know that Smith has gotten a pass as much as he's playing like a much more reliable backup, and this is what the backup schedule has looked like lately

I don't think you can really make the case that Smith was a problem in the NYI game, either. His SV% on that one is pretty skewed considering NY had 3 shots leaving the 1st (and wasn't it 6 or 7 leaving the 2nd?). I think he played just fine, #2 especially was a good goal and his puck control was giving the Islanders fits. They really only learned how to attack the Flames in the 3rd

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

You sure get your back up against a wall easily. Read my post - I'm not arguing whether Rittich is in a funk or not, I'm saying its incredibly weak of you to suggest Smith is the hot hand while saying Rittich is in a funk.

As far as I'm concerned, both goalies have been abysmal for the last 6 weeks and I'm certainly not going to be fooled by two gimme games that are inflating Smith's numbers during this run of starts. Rittich still has a positive GSAA compared to Smith's ghastly GSAA figures this season and I'd take that over a few misleading starts on Smith's part.

Go back to 10 games for both goalies, which is a fair comparison of both, and you're talking about a .899 vs .893 sv%.....doesn't seem like much of a hot hand to me no matter which way you spin it. At best it's a dead heat and even that's debatable given Smith's play against the better teams during that time (obviously last night was not the case) is as bad as it has been all season.

This was my first post in this topic today ....

Originally Posted by Bingo

Smith:

Don't like it. Too long for Rittich to be out now as it will push what 2 weeks by Sunday? He should be back in.

Smith has a 4 game point streak and a 3 game win streak but he's had a .895 save percentage in two of the games. Hoping NHL coaching/management staff dig deeper than the final score of the game to pick a starting goalie.

So yeah I get it ... Smith hasn't been great.

Rittich has had three rough goes in a row, Smith has points in four straight. This shouldn't be rocket science to say who the better goalie is right now.

And I say that while admitting Smith isn't setting the world afire.

Back up against the wall? Isn't the saying "don't get your back up" not sure the wall comes into it. Should I face the wall?

Either way I'm not that upset, I haven't lavished praise on Smith, and calling Rittich in a funk given his run of sub .900 play is hardly an emotional overreaction.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

I don’t like the way the goalie situation is being handled.

Then again, I’m not coaching a team lying 2nd in the NHL.

You have to keep going to Smith until the wheels fall off again. I mean, worst case he ####s the bed again tonight and Rittich goes in anyway.