What a beautiful Saturday morning. It’s getting warmer and the Calgary Flames are on a six-game win streak! More Flames news here.
It’s always fun waking up after a win. The Calgary Flames are on the best run of their season so far and it will most likely be the best run for the rest of the season. They’re on a six-game win streak and they’re sitting third in the Pacific Division.
They’re now only one point back from the LA Kings. While they do have two games on hand, they were 11 points back from them less than two weeks ago. David Rittich, who got just his fifth NHL start last night (and fifth of the season), has been solid as well. He stopped 41 of 43 shots last night to help the Flames reach that six-game win streak.
His five starts have all come on the road and he’s 4-0-1 with a 0.942 sv%. The highest number of wins one of Miikka Kiprusoff‘s backup goaltenders ever had in the last decade? Four wins. Rittich’s already there. In fact, one of the only road goaltenders better than Rittich this season? Mike Smith. The Flames are 12-5-4 on the road which is second best in the NHL this season – after the league-best Tampa Bay Lightning. Who the Flames beat two nights ago.
Related Story: Flames win six straight vs. Panthers
Via Calgary Flames:
"“I came in the net and I want to win every game,” Rittich said. “I knew we had five (wins) in a row before this game and I want to keep it up, so I try to show my best and give the biggest chance for the guys to win and we did it.”“You want to ride these as long as you can,” said captain Mark Giordano, who commended goalie David Rittich for making 41 saves to improve his record to 4-1-1 since being recalled from the AHL’s Stockton Heat on Nov. 24. “I thought he made some big, big saves, especially late in the third. We enjoy obviously playing in front of whoever’s in the net, but both of them (Rittich and Mike Smith) have been outstanding this year.”“It’s his effort to in practice and then he comes in and he competes this hard in games,” Gulutzan said. “Guys want to play in front of him. That’s important for a guy that’s a backup goalie and is trying to make his way in the league to put in the work and have your teammates want to go to battle for you. He made some saves early and it kind of gave us a little bit of a boost and we responded.”"
Rittich has been proving to be a legitimate NHL backup goaltender and has shown worthy of starting more starts than just back-to-back games. But it’s hard when Mike Smith has also been performing well. This is the opposite of a problem that the Flames haven’t had in a while.
Some links surrounding the Flames
Flames Thoughts: Calgary’s confidence in Rittich growing (Sportsnet).
Flames stay hot with sixth straight win (Calgary Sun).
Flames hold on to beat Panthers for 6th straight win (CBC Sports).
Father Ferland enjoying career year with Flames (Calgary Sun).
Some links surrounding hockey and the NHL
U.S. Army challenging Vegas Golden Knights on name (FanSided).
3 things we learned in the NHL: Best birthday ever (Sportsnet).
Duclair, Blackhawks get what they wanted with trade (NHL.com).
Hockey gods replaced by hockey human beings on Canada’s team for the Olympics (CBC Sports).
Next: Three former Flames make Team Canada Olympic roster
That’s all in today’s Flames Daily!