[PGT] Mike Smith loses the game with 2 abysmal goals against. Flames lose to Habs 3-2.

[Geeoff]

I forget. Do the Flames pay a guy who's job is to coach these goalies? A guy who was there to coach Hiller and Elliott and Smith? A guy who survived two waves of coach firings?

[Voodooman]

What makes me crazy (and this isn’t just the Flames, it’s league wide) is the absolute lack of accountability the players are held to. Peters first statement in the post-game should have been “Mike Smith cost us this game.”

Forget all this team building BS, and not losing the room, blah, blah, blah. These guys are being paid millions of dollars per year to perform, and if they don’t, they should be called out. Don’t say things like “We have confidence that Smitty can find his game.” No you don’t.

At least call the guy out and see if he has any pride at all, and responds to a public dressing down.

[iamca]

Owning it, being a nice guy, any other positives, bleh!

It's a business and this is the best hockey league in the world, which Smith doesn't belong in anymore.

[fireguyfire]

Originally Posted by Voodooman

What makes me crazy (and this isn’t just the Flames, it’s league wide) is the absolute lack of accountability the players are held to. Peters first statement in the post-game should have been “Mike Smith cost us this game.”

Forget all this team building BS, and not losing the room, blah, blah, blah. These guys are being paid millions of dollars per year to perform, and if they don’t, they should be called out. Don’t say things like “We have confidence that Smitty can find his game.” No you don’t.

At least call the guy out and see if he has any pride at all, and responds to a public dressing down.

I agree; Peters had no problem public ally calling out Eddie Lack and roasting him about his bad play; this is a way worse situation because Smith is costing an extremely competitive hockey team critical points that will haunt us by the end of the season.
Time for Peters to be “brutally honest” and do the same for Smith; if that doesn’t motivate the guy, then he is done.


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[crapshoot]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

New Flame goaltender Empty Net turned in a 1.00 save percentage and 0.00 GAA against the Habs. Look for him to start on Saturday in place of Mike Smith.

Maybe this is the way to go? The team usually plays with fantastic desperation not to allow any goals against with an empty net while keeping the pressure in the offensive zone. Maybe they can even keep the Oilers to one or two shots in the game, that should suffice, as long as we stay away from the PP so that the opponents can't just toss the puck on net at will.

[flambers]

Darren Haynes was on Fan 960 this morning, he has re-watched all of the Flames games and tracked the goals.

For Smith in 13 games, he has let in 11 soft goals.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by flambers

Darren Haynes was on Fan 960 this morning, he has re-watched all of the Flames games and tracked the goals.

For Smith in 13 games, he has let in 11 soft goals.

That sounds about right. By my estimation he's lost the Flames a minimum of 6 points this season to date. Come late March I have a feeling the Flames would dearly love to have 6 points back. It's all just unacceptable and not just Smith but Peters as well for taking things this far with a guy that's just not playing well at all.

I keep going back to those Burke comments where he said Rittich isn't good enough to start and I have to wonder if Treliving also feels this way which is why Smith is getting the kid gloves treatment. Last two seasons it was Brouwer and this season it's Smith. Why is this organization so protective of guys that don't deserve it? When is winning going to become more important than protecting the feelings of some of the GM's hand picked failures? The coaches and players change but it's the same thing over and over under this GM with simply terrible philosophies in regards to player utilization.

[Toonage]

I'm generally very happy with Peters as coach but I too can't understand why a guy that should know better (if anyone knows what bad goaltending does to a team, its him) keeps going back to this well. I know that he and Treliving (and the others) all get together to discuss where things are at, what the plan is moving forward etc so they must know this is the end of the road. Otherwise, yeah, something smells bad.

Edit - I also want to point out, that while it was extremely brief, Gaudreau-Monahan-Neal had immediate jump last night and I think with the 1L going cold as it has this may be worth a look sooner rather than later. Just maybe not against Edmonton.

[Hackey]

I dont think calling Mike Smith out is going to make him play better. Im sure he is fully aware of how bad he is playing and so is everyone else. Peters calling him out in the media might be satisfying as a pissed off fan but I dont see it helping the team or Smith. Whats more important to me is that Rittich gets the next start and as long as he plays decent gets to start again. I fully expect that to happen. If it doesnt that is likely my breaking point as a fan. The way last night unfolded should be the final straw. Im sure Treliving is considering all options as well like he always does. Landing a future goalie is unlikely to happen at this point in the season though. If people are expecting that any time soon i think youll be in for a frustrating season. This off season or trade deadline seems most promising. Hopefully Rittich is ready for a bigger role.

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by Toonage

I'm generally very happy with Peters as coach but I too can't understand why a guy that should know better (if anyone knows what bad goaltending does to a team, its him) keeps going back to this well. I know that he and Treliving (and the others) all get together to discuss where things are at, what the plan is moving forward etc so they must know this is the end of the road. Otherwise, yeah, something smells bad.

Edit - I also want to point out, that while it was extremely brief, Gaudreau-Monahan-Neal had immediate jump last night and I think with the 1L going cold as it has this may be worth a look sooner rather than later. Just maybe not against Edmonton.

Bennett also looked really good on the second line. Thachuk Lindholm and Bennett could be interesting if Neal moves up. Puy Backlund back with Frolik.

[flambers]

Personally i have no issues with Peter's, he has no choice but keep placing Smith in the net hoping he can regain his game.

Rittich is a good backup, however I don't see him playing 50+ games.

[kukkudo]

Originally Posted by flambers

Personally i have no issues with Peter's, he has no choice but keep placing Smith in the net hoping he can regain his game.

Rittich is a good backup, however I don't see him playing 50+ games.

The same was said for a lot of goalies especially Kipper. Give Rittich a shot for 10 games and see what happens.

[Bingo]

Game Takes:
Habs 3 Flames 2

- new second line looks good
- Flames dominate from coast to coast
- Smith lets up terrible winning goal

[the_only_turek_fan]

This game was on Peters. We all knew this was going to happen.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by kukkudo

The same was said for a lot of goalies especially Kipper. Give Rittich a shot for 10 games and see what happens.

Not sure if the Flames organization believes that he is a starter....

Next 4 or 5 games will be interesting.

Will they keep rotating or will they play Rittich a bunch of games?

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by flambers

Not sure if the Flames organization believes that he is a starter....

Next 4 or 5 games will be interesting.

Will they keep rotating or will they play Rittich a bunch of games?

Rittich was a raw rookie last year and was incidentally his first year in Canada... not sure whether one can drawn such an emphatic conclusion that he's not a starter based on the sample from last year.

Rittich needs to start like five games in a row at this point to see if he can be solid over longer periods of play.

Smith needs to sit to figure things out; letting in a softie a game isn't going to rebuild his confidence either.

If Carey Price can sit for 5 games straight because he wasn't right, then Smith can too...

Peters has made some boneheaded decisions wrt to Smith and its really disappointing

[Travis Munroe]

Peters can't win. Start Rittich and Rittich has a weak game and the same people who are saying we should have started Rittich would be saying we should have started Smith because he looked great last game after the first soft goal.

We also don't know if anything is being asked from above in terms of what goalie to play. Who knows, Tre may have told Smith he is on very thin ice. Smiths camp may have asked for a couple starts in a row to prove he has it back. Again, who knows but when nearly ever decision from Peters has been perfect all year except for some questionable goalie starts, I will continue to put my trust in him.

[Otto-matic]

Originally Posted by the_only_turek_fan

This game was on Peters. We all knew this was going to happen.

I don't blame Peters, the team played pretty damn well for the game. Smith had a strong showing in SJ and they need to get him going. Sure it was a risky move to play Smith but its not Peters fault he decided to let in a beach ball shot.

[gamesaver]

Originally Posted by bigrangy

As bad as Smith has been, playoff Elliott was much, much worse.

Hopefully Rittich is ready to be the #1 now, he fell off completely after being made the starter last season.

I hate when people keep saying this. Flames made him a backup that plays 3 times a month. There was a ton of opportunities to rest Smith more and prevent a possible injury as well as getting Rittich more used to a heavier workload IN CASE he would have to take over the reigns. But they were stubborn. And then all of a sudden, they had to make him a full time starter when he only had like 8 starts or so. I dont think poeple understand the difference between full time starter and rookie backup playing only back to back games. The transition is really difficult.

This year, Rittich is more experienced, looks more ready and more confident. There is a different coaching staff, but guess what? Still stubborn with Smith. And it will probably go to that point again when we are in desperate situation and will come to Rittich asking: "Hey dude, remember when you have played great and we just never let you to build from that? Ignored the fact and prefered veteran goalie feelings over winning? Well, its turning out it probably was not the best idea, can you please bail this organisation out? Please? Btw we are almost out of playoff contention and there is no room for error from now on. But no pressure..."

[Flamenspiel]

Originally Posted by Otto-matic

I don't blame Peters, the team played pretty damn well for the game. Smith had a strong showing in SJ and they need to get him going. Sure it was a risky move to play Smith but its not Peters fault he decided to let in a beach ball shot.

He did not have a strong showing in SJ, its just that a lot of people have been conditioned to just how bad he is, it was still not up to whats expected of an average NHL goalie. The low shot across the net by Kane would be an easy save for most NHL goalies.

Yes, it appears that even the coaching staff has now been conditioned to expect an extremely poor goaltending performance from Smith, when its only poor or fair it has become "ok".