Goaltending

[conundrumed]

2 minutes ago, cross16 said:

 

The biggest reason I would have gone back to Rittich is I think you need a guy going into the playoffs, you can't go in undecided. Going with the "hot hand" is not a recipe for going on a run. 

 

Nit pounding the table upset upset but I think you need to pick one here and for me it's Rittich. 

As long as Rittich is keeping the reflexes and mind sharp I'm okay with it.

Honestly, I think this is Smith's sink or swim time.

Just imo, but I think we're cool with Rittich but Smith HAS to play well now or we have to get aggressive for Howard.

My biggest fear is Smith will play well until tdl, then sink again.

I've tried to avoid getting on him too hard this season, but he's also got to regain our trust.

I really want him to, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous.

His puck tracking has not been good for the most part. He's still playing too deep imho, but if that's how he thinks he needs to play to be successful, I'll leave it up to him.

But I don't like him giving up a foot at the top of his crease. That's where most interference calls live imo. And you cover a few more inches of net on incoming shots and tips.

[robrob74]

21 minutes ago, JTech780 said:

 

I have been as hard on Smith as anyone here, but if I am going to be hard on Smith for not playing well I have to do the same with Rittich, and he hasn't been playing great for awhile. 

 

I also think Rittich's history shows that he plays better when he has to fight for his minutes.

 

I am not saying that we give the number 1 job to Smith, but right now neither goalie is playing like a number 1, and I don't think we have a number 1 goalie at the moment, so we have to go with goaltending by committee.

 

I didn't have any issue with Rittich getting pulled in that game. It was a huge divisional game for us and Rittich wasn't mentally prepared for it and gave up two of his weakest goals this year.

 

We currently are sitting in 23rd place in the league for save % at .900. Goaltending is our biggest weakness and something I think that needs to addressed. I am a little worried, because there are a lot of reports out there saying that management is fine with where our goaltending is at.

 

He made a mistake on one goal. He usually recovers and plays well after a bad goal. The other goal he should come out for every time. But Burns faked one way which made Rittich go the other and burns played it perfectly. 

 

Whos to say he’d not have recovered. But putting Smith in he lets in a bad goal while cold. 

 

We will never know. 

[conundrumed]

On 2/15/2019 at 7:40 PM, 420since1974 said:

I knew that Howard had a good glove but until watching those highlights, I didn't realize that he uses that forward flop so often, something that many criticize Smith for doing.

Every goalie does that in close. Falling fwd, or jumping at the shooter, covers more net and cuts down time and space. If they try to shoot high, typically your shoulder is in the way. So you see net, but when the goalie jumps fwd, it changes what they see in a half second.

It's a good move.

Why I'm such a Howard fan was going to playoff games in the D.

The 1st time I heard the,

"Jimmy"

thump thump

"Howard"

chant, it brought a tear to my eye. But I also thought, "Really 20,000 people? He's not under enough pressure?"

But I was wrong. Talk about beast mode.

You'd hear that chant more than, "Go Wings Go". lol

I can attest to this for sure, he's a playoff goalie.

[travel_dude]

1 hour ago, JTech780 said:

 

I have been as hard on Smith as anyone here, but if I am going to be hard on Smith for not playing well I have to do the same with Rittich, and he hasn't been playing great for awhile. 

 

I also think Rittich's history shows that he plays better when he has to fight for his minutes.

 

I am not saying that we give the number 1 job to Smith, but right now neither goalie is playing like a number 1, and I don't think we have a number 1 goalie at the moment, so we have to go with goaltending by committee.

 

I didn't have any issue with Rittich getting pulled in that game. It was a huge divisional game for us and Rittich wasn't mentally prepared for it and gave up two of his weakest goals this year.

 

We currently are sitting in 23rd place in the league for save % at .900. Goaltending is our biggest weakness and something I think that needs to addressed. I am a little worried, because there are a lot of reports out there saying that management is fine with where our goaltending is at.

 

I'm not going to dump on Smith for his recent starts or replacement.

Rittich gave up 2 goals.

And we gave Smith the net to give up 3 more.

 

Smith played well enough to get a point against FLA.

And good enough to only let in 4 against the Pens.

Fine.  Let's not fool ourselves that he's back.

 

We talked about giving Rittich a bit of a break to get him ready for the playoffs.

How much of a break?

3 in a row?

4 in a row?

Points are important, but getting your number 1 ready is more so.

I'm okay if the logic is seeing what we have in Smith before the TDL, but only if it's a realistic thing.

He faded faster than Rittich last season.

 

Okay.  Woosaaa.

I'm okay now.

[The_Tribal Chief]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/flames-looking-inward-answers-goaltending-questions/

 

Doesnt seem were getting goalies by trade either so we better hope smith and rittich are the answer

[rocketdoctor]

interesting take from the article Snowbear....

 

[travel_dude]

Good to see people quoting Francis as some kind of expert.  

 

Sorry guys.  Just could not resist.  Francis had been bleating out how Smith was better than his numbers for a long time.

Only recently has he been saying Smith was done.  Until the MSM stopped pumping up BSD.

If you look at stats in a vacuum, then maybe he's right.  Smith has played the better of the two.

Somehow, one win in his last 3 starts with two of those games 4 GA doesn;t give me a lot of happy feelings.

 

Smith needs to channel his Nov.25-Dec.8 starts 50% against bottom feeders.  Not being insulting, we need those kind of wins too.

Francis can say what he wants as click bait, but the bottom line is that the coach makes decisions based on a bigger picture.

[conundrumed]

35 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

Good to see people quoting Francis as some kind of expert.  

 

Sorry guys.  Just could not resist.  Francis had been bleating out how Smith was better than his numbers for a long time.

Only recently has he been saying Smith was done.  Until the MSM stopped pumping up BSD.

If you look at stats in a vacuum, then maybe he's right.  Smith has played the better of the two.

Somehow, one win in his last 3 starts with two of those games 4 GA doesn;t give me a lot of happy feelings.

 

Smith needs to channel his Nov.25-Dec.8 starts 50% against bottom feeders.  Not being insulting, we need those kind of wins too.

Francis can say what he wants as click bait, but the bottom line is that the coach makes decisions based on a bigger picture.

I want to hear how Francis' mom feels about it.

[DHT]

To be fair to Rittich, Smith took the easier teams while Rittich played against tough teams during the run. Smith is playing better lately and Rittich has letting some soft one in but out of the two, I trust Rittich more. If we can trade Smith for Ward at TDL, we would be in very good shape for deep run in the playoff.

[travel_dude]

10 minutes ago, DHT said:

To be fair to Rittich, Smith took the easier teams while Rittich played against tough teams during the run. Smith is playing better lately and Rittich has letting some soft one in but out of the two, I trust Rittich more. If we can trade Smith for Ward at TDL, we would be in very good shape for deep run in the playoff.

 

Smith for ??.

Not sold on Ward.

Others may be better or more solid.

 

I do agree that Smith played some weak sisters.

Also, I felt that Smith has not been good on the PK.

Yes, we need to give him better help, but I didn;t like many of the goals scored on him on the PK.

[conundrumed]

24 minutes ago, DHT said:

To be fair to Rittich, Smith took the easier teams while Rittich played against tough teams during the run. Smith is playing better lately and Rittich has letting some soft one in but out of the two, I trust Rittich more. If we can trade Smith for Ward at TDL, we would be in very good shape for deep run in the playoff.

cough cough

What?

Ward??

Why do you hate us?

Howard

Smith

Ward

imo

fricking Rebels fans, lol.

[LouCifer]

At the end of the day, Rittich has made saves he has no business saving and that’s banked some cred with me. That’s why he gets a longer leash on a soft goal for me. 

 

Additionally, I don’t know if y’all are seeing what I’m seeing, but Smitty looks like he’s not seeing the puck until it hits him or whizzes by him, too often for me to feel comfortable. 

[travel_dude]

16 minutes ago, lou44291 said:

At the end of the day, Rittich has made saves he has no business saving and that’s banked some cred with me. That’s why he gets a longer leash on a soft goal for me. 

 

Additionally, I don’t know if y’all are seeing what I’m seeing, but Smitty looks like he’s not seeing the puck until it hits him or whizzes by him, too often for me to feel comfortable. 

 

That's what I am seeing.

IMHO, his positioning deep in nets is why he makes a lot of saves and lets in a lot of PP goals.

Play deep and a lot of pucks are going to hit you.

Play deep and the extra space on the PK means you are facing a shooter more often.

Or you have to be perfect in seeing deflected and screened shots.

 

So, to say it a different way, Smith is winning however he can.  Doesn't mean it feels comfortable.  He's battling though the fading skill.

How's that?  Too negative?

[conundrumed]

To be brutally honest if Howard were available at a reasonable price like a 3rd I'd have to do it.

Smith just isn't tracking the puck well.

His angle looks off, he's not coming out far enough to challenge. just imo.

His mechanics just look off to me.

I'm getting nervous.

 

edit

Howard (my take): I haven't had a D like this since Lidstrom retired. lol

[cross16]

9 hours ago, conundrumed said:

To be brutally honest if Howard were available at a reasonable price like a 3rd I'd have to do it.

Smith just isn't tracking the puck well.

His angle looks off, he's not coming out far enough to challenge. just imo.

His mechanics just look off to me.

I'm getting nervous.

 

edit

Howard (my take): I haven't had a D like this since Lidstrom retired. lol

 

I thought Smith was very good against Florida, solid against the Pens but I did not like him at all yesterday. he kicked out many rebounds right into high scoring areas and while his movements were deliberate and confident in those other 2 games I thought he was back to the sporadic Smith yesterday. I did not like the Garland goal. I thought the Flames played their best defensive game in months yesterday and Smith was the benefactor. 

 

I actually don't dislike Smith at all and I think Plan A would be both he and Rittich find their games but I just don't have any faith it will happen for smith based on what i've seen this season. If you could get Howard for a cheap price (like mid round pick) i'm all for that. 

[MAC331]

10 minutes ago, cross16 said:

 

I thought Smith was very good against Florida, solid against the Pens but I did not like him at all yesterday. he kicked out many rebounds right into high scoring areas and while his movements were deliberate and confident in those other 2 games I thought he was back to the sporadic Smith yesterday. I did not like the Garland goal. I thought the Flames played their best defensive game in months yesterday and Smith was the benefactor. 

 

I actually don't dislike Smith at all and I think Plan A would be both he and Rittich find their games but I just don't have any faith it will happen for smith based on what i've seen this season. If you could get Howard for a cheap price (like mid round pick) i'm all for that. 

Agree with the rebound comment but you have to know this was yet another building block of confidence for him as a player.

[travel_dude]

20 minutes ago, cross16 said:

 

I thought Smith was very good against Florida, solid against the Pens but I did not like him at all yesterday. he kicked out many rebounds right into high scoring areas and while his movements were deliberate and confident in those other 2 games I thought he was back to the sporadic Smith yesterday. I did not like the Garland goal. I thought the Flames played their best defensive game in months yesterday and Smith was the benefactor. 

 

I actually don't dislike Smith at all and I think Plan A would be both he and Rittich find their games but I just don't have any faith it will happen for smith based on what i've seen this season. If you could get Howard for a cheap price (like mid round pick) i'm all for that. 

 

I was a little concerned with all the PP goals against, but I can't fault Smith directly for them.  Would another goalie have stopped them?  Perhaps.  I didn't feel he was well positioned on them, but that's as much the scrambly PK as the goalie.

 

I agree about the Yotes game.  It seemed like he can play two games and then revert to the usual play.  The signs are there that he will not play well in the next game, against a good opponent.  If we can't find a 1b option going into the playoffs, then I really hope they concentrate on getting Rittich back to form.  He's our best bet right now.

[travel_dude]

Philly has 4 goalies on their active roster plus one on IR.

Bunch of contract piggies.

Elliott

Talbot

Hart

McKenna

+ Neuwirth

[travel_dude]

Radio silense on who gets the start against the Isles.

Next game after that is the Ducks, fresh off two wins in a row.

 

Wills would have you believe that Smith has taken back the net.

Francis would have you believe that Smith is playing better than Rittich for some time now.

 

Whatever.

We've been fooled before.

[Cowtownguy]

5 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

Radio silense on who gets the start against the Isles.

Next game after that is the Ducks, fresh off two wins in a row.

 

Wills would have you believe that Smith has taken back the net.

Francis would have you believe that Smith is playing better than Rittich for some time now.

 

Whatever.

We've been fooled before.

Faith in our goaltenders is the only thing that changes faster than Calgary weather. Why can't they just accept the reality that we have two goalies trending in very different directions?

[conundrumed]

1 hour ago, Cowtownguy said:

Faith in our goaltenders is the only thing that changes faster than Calgary weather. Why can't they just accept the reality that we have two goalies trending in very different directions?

Should be safe to assume Rittich gets the NYI.

If not, I'd be alarmed.

And likely come up with stupid stuff, like "we must be showcasing him" lol

[travel_dude]

1 hour ago, Cowtownguy said:

Faith in our goaltenders is the only thing that changes faster than Calgary weather. Why can't they just accept the reality that we have two goalies trending in very different directions?

 

After that long stretch of cold weather, you are saying the weather changes fast?

The Flames have not been the same since the polar vortex crept in.

 

Help me out Cow.  What direction do you see the goalies trending in?

Has Rittich had some tough games?

Has Smith won a game here and there but is being touted as finding his game?

 

Last 10 starts:

Rittich 6-1-2 and one no decision (2 GA)

Smith 5-3-1 and one no decision (4 GA)

 

I am trying to trash Smith here.  I am being realistic.  Rittich gives us the best chance to win most nights.

[cross16]

I hope Rittich goes against the Isles. Won't be thrilled if it's Smith. 

 

Edit: and i'm not happy...

 

 

[conundrumed]

 

[The_Tribal Chief]

As i posted Before The flames are not Trading for A goalie there looking inner for goalie issues rather then trading