[PGT] Wild 4, Flames 2

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by RedHawk12

Frustrating game by Smith, he really blew it on Iginla night. But the lynch mob calling for Smith's head is so frustrating too. We need both Rittich and Smith to do well for us if we are to have a chance in the playoffs. It feels like there's posters out there who want Smith to fail so they can say "See?? Smith sucks!!! He should never play again!!! Put in Rittich!!!"

So let me ask: come playoff time, do you ride and die with Rittich? Hypothetical: If Rittich goes 1-3 in his first 4 games in the playoffs, do you put him back for game 5?

I personally wouldn't do either, so I'm REALLY cheering for Smith to get his act together so we have 2 decent goalies, as frustrating as it sometimes is.

Smith sucks and should not be our playoff starter.

However, I am all for him having a few more starts down the stretch to keep rittich fresh.

If we go into playoffs with smith there are 0 goalie tandems who are less confidence inspiring than ours at this point and smith is by far the worst goalie who may just end up starting in playoffs.

If we play the wild... advantage MIN because dubnyk >>>>>>>>smith

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

Arizona, Colorado, Chicago, Edmonton would all be better opponents for us in round 1.

I don't doubt we can beat the Wild, and with Rittich in net chances are we win tonight too, but there's something concerning about a team with a huge goalie who just needs to be positionally sound because the team in front is collapsing so well. Dallas and Minnesota are not so easy.

I see what your saying but really...bolded aren't realistic options

The other ones are all about the same, if the Flames lose to the Wild in the playoffs they don't have a prayer against the good teams anyway.

[868904]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

The problem with this "90% of the time it's a smart play" discussion for Smith is that that 90% benefit isn't a significant benefit. It's a mild luxury.

The problem is that half the time for the 10% brainfarts, it ends up in the back of the net.

Just be a goaltender.

I’m not going to defend Smith and I am more confident with rittich but I get what Burke is saying. The Flames d core had benefitted from not getting pounded on the forecheck because of Smith. It makes sense, I just wish Smith would make quicker decisions. Just keep it simple stupid. No need to get fancy.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

Zucker looked good. Great set up on the MINN first goal.

Smith really unlucky on the gaffe. A series of unfortunate bounces.

Standing behind the net for 10 seconds after giving away the puck is not unlucky...the second he turns the puck over he should be busting his ass back to the net.

[RedHawk12]

Originally Posted by dino7c

No we don't...we need one of them to play well

Smith is also on his way out of the league...we should see what Rittich is

Agreed but there was a period where that goalie was not Rittich. That's why Peters had to go back to Smith in the first place.

I'm not referring to you specifically, but sometimes reading comments on here it feels like posters want to see Smith suck just to say "told you so, he sucks".

We're Flames fan. Smith is a Flame whether we like it or not. We need him to do well. It serves no one to see him fail. Maybe there are posters on here that think Rittich can carry us to the cup by himself. I don't share that optimism. I think both will falter at some point and we need both to do well.

I do agree also that the next few games belong to Rittich to see what he can do. I hope too that he gets a longer leash this time, like others have said.

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by mikephoen

The definition of insanity is having faith in Mike Smith as an NHL goalie -Albert Einstein

Originally Posted by 868904

I’m not going to defend Smith and I am more confident with rittich but I get what Burke is saying. The Flames d core had benefitted from not getting pounded on the forecheck because of Smith. It makes sense, I just wish Smith would make quicker decisions. Just keep it simple stupid. No need to get fancy.

This has been proven false. Someone from the athletic broke down the actual stats on number of hits taken by d men with smith in net vs. His backup and guess what?

Smith didn’t have any discernible impact

[Classic_Sniper]

Rough loss tonight on such an important nationally televised night. Team played pretty well but couldn’t finish while the Wild were extremely optimistic on the occasional chances they received.

What more can you say about Mike Smith? Just when you think he might have turned things around he stinks up the joint. The organization has focused on finding puck moving defensemen, maybe Smith should like them do their job once in a while. He doesn’t have to play every single puck. The dump in was in our own zone, he needs to let that one rim around.

Secondly, that leaky goal that effectively ended the game was an absolute crusher. Really thought we were going to tie the game up until that moment. We’ve seen soft goals like this in the playoffs and this cannot be tolerated at all in the playoffs especially this season.

Really should’ve went after an insurance policy in goal because now there’s nothing we can do.


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[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper

Rough loss tonight on such an important nationally televised night. Team played pretty well but couldn’t finish while the Wild were extremely optimistic on the occasional chances they received.

What more can you say about Mike Smith? Just when you think he might have turned things around he stinks up the joint. The organization has focused on finding puck moving defensemen, maybe Smith should like them do their job once in a while. He doesn’t have to play every single puck. The dump in was in our own zone, he needs to let that one rim around.

Secondly, that leaky goal that effectively ended the game was an absolute crusher. Really thought we were going to tie the game up until that moment. We’ve seen soft goals like this in the playoffs and this cannot be tolerated at all in the playoffs especially this season.

Really should’ve went after an insurance policy in goal because now there’s nothing we can do.


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Yeah they seemed pretty upbeat.

[taxbuster]

Well that was disappointing.


Couldn't understand the disallowed goal. Puck carrier is allowed contact..and the result of that contact was a loose puck deposited in the net. Doesn't make sense to me.


Hath's penalty? Beats me, too...maybe he "could" have been more careful, but he was in the moment of avoiding a check, too. Careless, maybe?


The first line was sloppy; the D was frequently sloppy. Lousy passes from both, too much time setting up the "pretty shot" (or whatever those guys are doing out there). The ONLY time they looked good -- when they reacted and didn't think. Johnny to Monny is exactly right and that is what they should always be doing. Bang, bang, bang, celly. Not all that hesitating and changing lanes, and moving around letting Dub get set. Not gonna beat a goalie like that in that fashion.


Smitty? Well, just not good. Dumb play back of the net (but no dumber than Raz' play that cost them a goal either.)

[RedHawk12]

Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder

Smith sucks and should not be our playoff starter.

However, I am all for him having a few more starts down the stretch to keep rittich fresh.

If we go into playoffs with smith there are 0 goalie tandems who are less confidence inspiring than ours at this point and smith is by far the worst goalie who may just end up starting in playoffs.

If we play the wild... advantage MIN because dubnyk >>>>>>>>smith

I agree with this. Here's my predictions of the starters for the current playoff teams in the west, as of tonight.

Calgary - David Rittich; 2.56 GAA, .913 Sv%
San Jose - Martin Jones; 2.95 GAA, .896 Sv%
Winnipeg - Connor Hellebuyck; 2.99 GAA, .910 Sv%
Nashville - Pekka Rinne; 2.50 GAA, .914 Sv%
Vegas - MA Fleury; 2.56 GAA, .910 Sv%
St. Louis - Jordan Binnington; 1.68 GAA, .933 Sv%
Dallas - Ben Bishop; 2.25 GAA, .926 Sv%
Minnesota - Devan Dubnyk; 2.59 GAA, .912 Sv%

Read into it what you will. I agree that Smith, if he starts any games, will be by far the worst goalie in the playoffs. Rittich seems more on par with the other goalies.

It's interesting that some goalies on paper have worse stats than Rittich, but I would be pretty worried going up against them in the playoffs. I think that includes Fleury, Dubnyk and maybe Hellebuyck.

On the other hand, there are goalies that have better stats on paper than Rittich, but I'm not as worried from watching them play: Bishop, Binnington and maybe Rinne.

The other goalie is Jones. I'm on the fence about SJ. On the one hand their team scares me. On the other, Jones has looked pretty awful this year.

If either Colorado or Arizona sneak in, I'm not too worried. I think we can really wear down those two teams in the playoffs.

All of which is to say: start Rittich in the playoffs and we have a fighting chance against any team in the West. I'm still a little worried about playing Vegas though.

[Zarley]

Was at the game so I didn’t get a great look, but what was with that major on Hathaway? I thought it was going to be a charging call on the Wild player when I saw the arm go up. Are you not allowed to dodge a hit anymore?

[BsFaninCGY]

Say what you will about Smith, that's a great hat! Anyone know where to get one of those bad boys?

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by BsFaninCGY

Say what you will about Smith, that's a great hat! Anyone know where to get one of those bad boys?

I assume at west49 or some other skate shop a 36 year old shouldn’t be shopping at...
Put a damn bend in your brim

[bettercallbettman]

Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder

I assume at west49 or some other skate shop a 36 year old shouldn’t be shopping at...
Put a damn bend in your brim

LOL who put you in charge? Internet fashion boy. Probably just a stud

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by Dube

LOL who put you in charge? Internet fashion boy. Probably just a stud

Forgot green text. But honestly, who wears flat brims at 36???

[AC]

@Fan960Steinberg
One more story on Saturday’s man of the hour. On my way out after 1 am was surprised to see a big crowd just inside the main exit.

Jarome Iginla STILL signing autographs and posing for pictures. Pretty cool. #Flames


Wow.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by tripin_billie

Smith is entirely responsible for this loss. Should have been 2-1 Flames. Can we please be done with this recent Smith experiment? Rittich is clearly the better goalie (at least he has some semblance of rebound control).

Two goals yes, but three ?


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[Hockey_Ninja]

We better destroy the Leafs to make up for not showing up for Iggy

[FireGilbert]

I was reminded a bit of that last Nucks loss. The Flames more than deserved to win but ran into a hot goalie, got no breaks, and had pretty much every bad play go in their net. Like the Nucks the Wild don’t scare me at all as a 1st round matchup. Yes they can fluke out one win but good luck winning a series getting dominated like that.

[combustiblefuel]

Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder

Forgot green text. But honestly, who wears flat brims at 36???

How old are you ? 50? 60?

I don't like it either but Its super common for anyone that age to still rock an uncurved hat. He has an 1983 birthdate its not like he's that old. Hockey years he is ancient but regular human years he is still really young.