[PGT] Gaudreau leaves early; Flames lose 3-2

[madmike]

Originally Posted by Travis Munroe

I am not sure that Rittich has completely earned the spot as much as Smith has lost the spot. Rittich has played some great games but has also struggled in a couple. He deserves the opportunity but I am not convinced it is the saving grace.

If Rittich struggles, do you bring up a 3rd goalie or is Tre forced to go get someone who is a proven number 1 given the troubles he has had in the past picking goalies?

Problem is both Gillies and Parsons have stunk in Stockton so far - as in far worse save percentages than even Smith. I don't think calling one of them up would fix anything.

[flamesfever]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

Comparing Rittich to Kipper is just setting yourself up for disappointment.

Kiprusoff's NHL stats before we acquired him Nov. 14/03 for a 2005 conditional 2nd round pick (#35 Marc Edward Vlasic)
SJS 2000 - 2001 (age 24) 5 2 1 .902 1.94
SJS 2001 - 2002 (age 25) 20 7 6 .915 2.49 2 SOs
SJS 2002 - 2003 (age 26) 22 5 14 .879 3.25 1 SO
CGY 2003 - 2004 (age 27) 38 24 10 .933 1.69 4 SOs

Rittich's NHL stats:
CGY 2016 - 2017 (age 24) 1 .900 3.00 0 SOs
CGY 2017 - 2018 (age 25) 21 8 6 .904 2.92 0 SOs
CGY 2018 - 2019 (age 26) 7 4 1 .927 2.23 0 SOs

Although Kiprusoff was a year older than Rittich when he was made a no. 1 goalie, his stats were not as good. Although Kiprusoff did have more shutouts and Sutter (former coach of SJS) must have seen something special in him to make the trade.

[bax]

Originally Posted by Ped

They could, but they seem unwilling at that point to give it a try.


Maybe his performance last year when he was given the ball is concerning them, I don't know.


But when you have a guy struggling as much as Smith has, then it seems bizarre that they haven't already turned to Rittich more often.

I think it’s just been luck. Smith has sprinkled in enough good (Toronto and Nashville) to keep the coaches thinking he is about to round the corner. Couple that with the Penguins game where I don’t think they put any blame on Smith and here we are.

[Otto-matic]

Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder

This road trip is now teetering on the edge of being one of those critical tipping points of the season.

If the flames can take 6 points, they are ahead and giving themselves a cushion. But now thanks to smith, and smith likely starting another game later in the road trip, the flames will be extremely lucky to come away with 3 points.

The kings game is a trap game, new coach, feeling re-energized, they are gonna come out hard and its gonna be a battle.

SJ is just really really good and would be a tough game and likely penciled in as a 50/50 chance of getting points.

So the Ana game is 2 missed points that could really come back to haunt us at the end of the year.

So that said, I think you go with Rittich for both games of the back to back, because at this point smith is lousy and not gonna inspire confidence

I don't get why we were penciling in Anaheim as 2pts for the Flames. We all know that place is cursed and the ducks could have played blindfolded and with a empty net and we'd probably still lose.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

Maybe, sometimes thats how you find a number 1(bring up a 3rd goalie). What scares me is that the GAA for Parsons and Giliies are both in the high 4s with save percentages around .85.

Gillies is having a terrible start to his AHL season, but Tyler Parson's numbers have a silver lining. He has played only three games, and has looked better in each one compared to the last one. He won his last game on the strength of a good showing— 2 goals on 28 shots, and a 0.929 SP. Parsons has not played since 21 October.

[Sutter_in_law]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

.800 - .714
.966 - .889
.925 - .960
.978 - .808
.923 - .875



.848 -.867
.967 - .923
.962 - .792
.879 - 1.00
.731 -.800
.938 - .818
.733 - .944
.906 - .897
.897 (This one's not even that bad. 4 GA on 43 shots against in that wide open game against Boston) - .727

.938 - .893
.919 - .871
.953 - .700
.938 - 1.00
.941 - .846
.946 - .920
.923 - .889

found his stats - Rittich on the left, Smith on the right.

Yikes...

15 good and 6 bad for Rittich
6 good and 15 bad for Smith

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by bax

I think it’s just been luck. Smith has sprinkled in enough good (Toronto and Nashville) to keep the coaches thinking he is about to round the corner. Couple that with the Penguins game where I don’t think they put any blame on Smith and here we are.

That toronto game was not good by smith...

The leafs took something like 17 shots on goal...

They barely tested him. but if thats the bar for "good" from smith then we are in trouble.

To me he has had one quality start all season and that was against nashville.

He hasn't made many saves when the team has needed him to make them, which is his job, to be the last line of defense.

[The Yen Man]

At this point, you'd have to just give Rittich a try. What's the worst that can happen? He can't possibly play as bad as Smith. That guy is done as an NHL goalie. Can't track pucks, can't cover his five hole, gets beat short side. Guy is beer league goalie level now. And Flames aren't going anywhere with that type of goaltending.

[bax]

Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder

That toronto game was not good by smith...

The leafs took something like 17 shots on goal...

They barely tested him. but if thats the bar for "good" from smith then we are in trouble.

To me he has had one quality start all season and that was against nashville.

He hasn't made many saves when the team has needed him to make them, which is his job, to be the last line of defense.

Fair enough, but I don't think it was bad either. Just enough to give him a little more leash- that's my point.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder

That toronto game was not good by smith...

The leafs took something like 17 shots on goal...

They barely tested him. but if thats the bar for "good" from smith then we are in trouble.

To me he has had one quality start all season and that was against nashville.

He hasn't made many saves when the team has needed him to make them, which is his job, to be the last line of defense.

I think we need to be fair. .. Smith stopped 24/25 and had a .960 save percentage in the Toronto game. That's one of his three "quality starts", the others are Boston and Nashville.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Rittich may not be proven yet, as he hasn't really been given that chance. But what I like about him is that he just seems so calm in net. His positioning and rebound control is generally solid, and routine saves don't appear to be a struggle for him like they are with Smith. He never seems to panic or flop around like Smith does, and just looks like a more confident goaltender based on the few games we've seen him in so far.

Watching as a fan, I'm not terrified like I am watching Smith, and I'm confident that Rittich will actually make a big save once in a while.

and he does not flop around like a fish out of water.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

Kiprusoff's NHL stats before we acquired him Nov. 14/03 for a 2005 conditional 2nd round pick (#35 Marc Edward Vlasic)
SJS 2000 - 2001 (age 24) 5 2 1 .902 1.94
SJS 2001 - 2002 (age 25) 20 7 6 .915 2.49 2 SOs
SJS 2002 - 2003 (age 26) 22 5 14 .879 3.25 1 SO
CGY 2003 - 2004 (age 27) 38 24 10 .933 1.69 4 SOs

Rittich's NHL stats:
CGY 2016 - 2017 (age 24) 1 .900 3.00 0 SOs
CGY 2017 - 2018 (age 25) 21 8 6 .904 2.92 0 SOs
CGY 2018 - 2019 (age 26) 7 4 1 .927 2.23 0 SOs

Although Kiprusoff was a year older than Rittich when he was made a no. 1 goalie, his stats were not as good. Although Kiprusoff did have more shutouts and Sutter (former coach of SJS) must have seen something special in him to make the trade.

I'm not certain that there is sense in suggesting that all goalies with mediocre stats will turn into Kipper because Kipper did.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by AC

Can't know for sure, but that reddit poster definitely seemed to have inside info during the off-season. Posted about several signings / firings / hirings days before they happened.

https://youtu.be/8f19yAJjmok?t=617

This was the documented example of Neal getting a little heated with Smith.

If it's that same reddit user you had linked here during the summer a couple times than he's not really trust worthy. He followed the same path as anyone who gets a following after breaking something - He started beefing things up to feed his audience and ended up a speculator.

He still may have things, but I usually shut out those guys that can't just stand on their periodic inside info, instead trying to keep things going.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I think we need to be fair. .. Smith stopped 24/25 and had a .960 save percentage in the Toronto game. That's one of his three "quality starts", the others are Boston and Nashville.

Yeah, you can't say "the Leafs were bad so Smith wasn't good". He did what he was hired to do in that game.

[flamesfever]

nm

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by redforever

and he does not flop around like a fish out of water.

Mike Smith's crease after a close-in shot on goal.

[heep223]

How about Rittich for the first two periods and Smith for the third?

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Yeah, you can't say "the Leafs were bad so Smith wasn't good". He did what he was hired to do in that game.

But you can't point to it as an example of stellar or even good goaltending because he simply did his job but you could have put any other goalie on an NHL roster in net that TO game and it would have been the same result.

[AC]

Originally Posted by jayswin

If it's that same reddit user you had linked here during the summer a couple times than he's not really trust worthy. He followed the same path as anyone who gets a following after breaking something - He started beefing things up to feed his audience and ended up a speculator.

He still may have things, but I usually shut out those guys that can't just stand on their periodic inside info, instead trying to keep things going.

I may have missed them, what was he speculating on?

[Ped]

Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder

But you can't point to it as an example of stellar or even good goaltending because he simply did his job but you could have put any other goalie on an NHL roster in net that TO game and it would have been the same result.

But it was a good performance. He only let in one goal and stopped a high percentage of shots.


That's the very definition of a good game.


Just because he's been terrible doesn't mean he's not going to have good games here and there. Just like good goalies have terrible games sometimes.


Admitting had three quality starts doesn't diminish the terribleness of the rest of them.