Rittich's first goal vs SJ wasn't great... the second goal, he made the right decision to come out, but didn't make the right choice as to where to play the puck...
I think you really need to get Rittich back in there as he hasn't played a game since before the all star break
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Except they aren't.
They are investing in Rittich.
Handling his workload. Handling his shaky starts (all 2 or 3 lol). Credit for his great play goes mostly to him, and the rest to the fantastic way Peters is handling him, in my opinion. So I trust coach implicitly when it comes to his handling of Rittich. The others nights pull is more about the long game than an individual result.
This is all only my opinion, but I am convinced it's accurate. Rittich hasn't been successful in spite of coach. He is, in part, because of coach.
I agree with this, while I also truly don’t believe it is all about Rittich. Peters and the organization still believe they can salvage Smith for this season IMO. Maybe that is why he started coming off the break.
Perhaps Treliving sees the goalie market and believes the best hope for having two effective goalies are the two we have. In that scenario, they are trying to prep both to succeed and not going all in on Rittich carrying the club through an extended playoff run.
I don’t mean to trigger all the Smith haters but if the definition of your “starting goalie” is whoever starts game 1 of the playoffs, then Rittich is the starter, right now. But I don’t find it impossible seeing Smith in that role.
Rittich's first goal vs SJ wasn't great... the second goal, he made the right decision to come out, but didn't make the right choice as to where to play the puck...
I think you really need to get Rittich back in there as he hasn't played a game since before the all star break
With other positions sure. With Smith I dont. There seems to be a undeserved love fest with Smith this entire season. He plays like trash but continues to get playing time. For what? A 37 year old goalie who will probably never play a game again after this season. Just mind boggling why they are investing so much in him.
First off we don't know the plan tonight yet.
I'd go Rittich and I expect that, but we will see.
But bottom line backup goalies play.
Smith had 9 appearances in October ... didn't look good. The team went to a tandem in November and December (Smith 6 appearances). In January he had only four, February 2 so far.
That's starter to tandem to backup movement in deployment.
The guy has to play some games, and the Canucks are a middling team offensively, it might be Peters pick.
Either way I'm going to wait and hear before losing it
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Just speculating, but I fully expect Rittich to start tonight. Peter's mentioned he pulled Rittich early last game to try and get a spark, but it didn't work. That doesn't scream losing faith in Rittich to me.
I am curious to see what happens if Rittich gets lit up on national television by Pettersson and co. Obviously I hope that doesn't happen but I do wonder if management trusts Rittich and Smith for a long run.
Then that is ridiculous. Why is the backup playing 2 out of the first 4 games after the break?
I think that the only reason you'd start a back up is if the team is weak or in a BTB or close to that type of situation. Now Vancouver isn't a very good team and the next team, TB, is. But there is lots of space between the games.
The Flames won't lose tonight because of Smith sucking, they'll lose if Gaudreau, Monahan, and Tkachuk fail to show up (which has been the case far too often lately).
Get Smith some run support and this one should be a laugher.
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flames have a good team and can win despite their top guys not showing up. case in point last sunday.
i'd say their chances of winning with rittich and the top guys not showing up are vastly superior to their chances of winning with the worst goalie in the league and hoping you put up 5 or 6 on the other team
Also I feel like posters should stop freaking out over Smith starts. This isn't a unreasonable love fest for Smith or a long leash, etc.. Tre has two weeks before the deadline to decide whether a Rittich/Smith tandem is good enough for a long playoff run. There's a greater than zero percent chance Rittich falters in the playoffs because he has no experience. It's better to find out now if Smith can pick up the slack if that happens than in April or May. I think Tre is just looking two steps ahead.
Who knows, maybe the price on a decent goalie right now is a 1st or a top prospect like Dube and our GM has no interest in paying that if the solution is in house.
I'd expect Smith to get quite a few more looks in the next few weeks, to the horror of many posters here.
The Flames won't lose tonight because of Smith sucking, they'll lose if Gaudreau, Monahan, and Tkachuk fail to show up (which has been the case far too often lately).
Get Smith some run support and this one should be a laugher.
Lol c’mon, lately? It’s been like 3 games. We have clearly been spoiled as a fan base this season
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That's fine, except Gaudreau and Monahan have been consistently absent and the PP has been significantly worse lately, to the point where I actually feel better about PP2 than I do about PP1. That urgently needs to change -- the stars need turn come to play.
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