Post-Game: Rittich tames Panthers, Flames keep streaking

On Thursday night in Tampa Bay, Calgary Flames goaltender Mike Smith was a huge difference-maker for his team. He made timely saves and gave his team a chance to win, despite his club getting out-chanced. On Friday night, backup goaltender David Rittich responded to Smith’s performance with a resounding “I can do that, too!” Rittich was good and the Flames got a few timely goals, just like the night before, en route to a 4-2 victory over the Florida Panthers.

The first period was scoreless, but largely even. Both teams had chances to score, often really good ones, but the netminders were sharp on either side. Shots were 12-11 for the Panthers, but scoring chances were 12-9 Flames.

The offensive dam burst in the second period. Florida got on the board first just 27 seconds in on a carry-over power play. Troy Brouwer had the puck but couldn’t quite clear it, leading to a rapid-fire sequence of passes and a shot from Evgenii Dadanov that beat Rittich to make it 1-0. That lead lasted just 33 seconds, as the Flames responded back almost immediately. A nice passing sequence from Mark Giordano to Dougie Hamilton set up Sean Monahan nicely for a one-timer that beat James Reimer to make it 1-1.

Some nice back-checking by Matthew Tkachuk made it 2-1. The Panthers attempted to clear the puck, but Tkachuk jumped all over some errant passing and fed the puck to the point for Travis Hamonic. Reimer stopped Hamonic’s shot, but Tkachuk poked in the rebound to give the Flames a lead. Johnny Gaudreau gave the Flames some insurance on a power play late in the period. He was given some time and space on the left side of the zone. Rather than get fancy, Gaudreau merely leaned into a slap shot that beat Reimer to make it 3-1.

Shots were 19-9 Panthers and scoring chances 11-6 Panthers.

Some sloppy defensive work led to a second Dadonov goal to cut the lead to 3-2 midway through the third. The defense halted Sasha Barkov’s advance into the slot, but the puck squirted out to an uncovered Dadonov who buried it past Rittich. But that’s as close as they got, and Mikael Backlund added an empty-netter to make it a 4-2 final score. Shots were 12-9 Panthers and scoring chances 9-5 Panthers.

Once again, the Flames were out-played at even strength. But their special teams game was even and their goaltending was simply much better than the Panthers’. It was a coin-toss game because of their goaltending, and at crunch time Florida simply couldn’t bury enough of their opportunities.

It cannot be anybody but Rittich. He was superb.

Gaudreau’s slapper goal on the power play made it 3-1 and gave the Flames some breathing room heading into the third period.

Glenn Gawdin had three points in Swift Current’s 4-0 win over Prince Albert. Matthew Phillips had two assists in Victoria’s 6-5 win over Kamloops. Tyler Parsons had a rough time in his AHL debut, allowing seven goals in a 7-2 Stockton loss to the Texas Stars.

The Flames now have 52 points with 38 games remaining. They need 43 points over their remaining schedule – the equivalent of a 21-16-1 record to hit the 95 point mark that’ll probably be the playoff cut-off.

The Flames (24-16-4) are off to Raleigh, where they’ll play the Carolina Hurricanes in an afternoon game on Sunday before heading off on their five-day CBA-mandated break.