David Rittich enjoyed every single minute of his National Hockey League All-Star weekend experience.
Cam Talbot enjoyed every single minute of his child-free Caribbean vacation with his wife Kelly.
And both indicated that they were well-rested for the upcoming, important stretch of hockey to be played for the Calgary Flames — that includes the week’s slate of games starting with Tuesday’s clash against the St. Louis Blues (7 p.m., Sportsnet West, Sportsnet 960 The Fan).
So what’s the plan to break up the imminent schedule, then, as both gentlemen are deservedly game for the challenge(s) that lie ahead?
“Lots of things to consider,” Flames head coach Geoff Ward was saying following his team’s second practice since the All-Star break ended. “But I don’t think it’s any different with the goaltending as any other position. You’d want to play the guy that’s fresh. You’d want to play the guy that’s going to give us the best opportunity to win on that particular night. But we’ve talked about it before — we’ve got a lot of confidence in both of our goalies. They’ve both been playing well.”
Ward has used this narrative before and he’s not wrong.
The Flames (26-19-5) have been particularly fortunate with both of their netminders and what they’ve brought to the table this season. They play confident in front of both, and are able to rely on them — especially right now.
Those are nice sentiments, but who gets what assignment this week?
First up is Tuesday against the Blues, then Wednesday in hostile territory with a Pacific Division battle on the line against the Oilers at Rogers Place and back at home Saturday for another Battle of Alberta.
Rittich has already played the Blues twice this season, a 3-2 overtime loss on Nov. 9 at the Saddledome and a 5-0 loss on Nov. 21 at Enterprise Center.
But do you start the guy that is “fresh” off the All Star festivities, still buzzing after being recognized as one of the top goalies in the NHL?
Or do you start the guy that is “fresh” after having gone 16 (!) nights without seeing live, game action?
Depends on one’s definition of “fresh”…
“I think it depends on the goaltender and the person,” Ward said. “You’ve seen David has come out here and gotten extra work in. Obviously, he feels like he’s fresh enough. Some guys will come back and they’ll want an extra day of rest before they start playing again …”
Others?
“When I was at the All-Star Game (in 2012),” Ward continued, “Pavel Datsyuk was on our team and he went to the optional morning skate to work on his game. Then, in the All-Star game, he was worried about his shift lengths.”
Goaltenders, you’d imagine, are similar and judging by the way Rittich approached the weekend, he wasn’t about to let his game slip.
But for Rittich, Matthew Tkachuk, and Mark Giordano — all representing the Flames on Team Pacific who were the eventual winners of the All-Star Game — the entire weekend is sure to have given them a boost.
“I think it’s a shot in the arm, confidence-wise,” Ward said. “But when you get there and you perform well against the top players in the league, I think it’s great for your confidence as well. The other thing, I think, you’re around a lot of other players that have won and understand what it takes. So, when you’re in a room with those guys, you pick things up from them. For a guy like Ritter, that experience is probably invaluable. That goes for any player.
“Chucky probably learned a few things listening to some people that have been around and guys that have won. Gio, same thing.”
Rittich agreed.
“It was awesome,” he said. “You never think about if you can be that guy that’s going to be at the All Star game with those awesome players and awesome personalities. So, it was a cool experience for me and my wife and I was glad I had two other Czech players there too (Tomas Hertl and David Pastrnak).”
The 27-year-old has played the lion’s share of this year for the Flames, going 19-12-5 with a 2.77 goals against average and .913 save percentage — and after facing so many questions at the start of the season (“Is he ready for the starter’s role?” “Can he handle the workload?”), he is ready for more.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Rittich said. “If you’re going to look around our locker-room, everyone wants to go there and everyone wants to be in the playoffs and go far. I think we’ve got a really good team, really good coaching staff, and really good trainers, and we can do it.
“The break was good and it’s a long season … that was good for us and, for sure, we are fresh.”
Speaking of “fresh,” Talbot happily accepted the mental and physical break between the team’s bye week and All-Star break.
So, when trying to nail down a plan for their goaltenders this week and factoring Talbot into the mix, the only game worth remembering is his 29-save effort against the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 11 — Calgary’s second win against their provincial rivals this season.
It was his last appearance in net.
Common sense would dictate Talbot starts on Wednesday against his former team — then, again, potentially on Saturday. Or do you go back to Rittich on Saturday against the Oilers at home, knowing that their next game isn’t until Feb. 4 at home against the San Jose Sharks (which would give him a week between games)?
Talbot, for one, is not bothered either way.
“No preference,” he said. “I didn’t play probably as much as I wanted to in the first half of the season but any chance I get to play, I’m looking forward to it. It doesn’t matter who it’s against. I was lucky enough to get into the game last time against Edmonton. But that’s enough for me.
“If Ritty gets the rest of the games against Edmonton, I just wanted that one to get back at ‘em a little bit. But doesn’t matter who I play down the stretch, I just want to help the team the team win and get into playoffs.
“That’s the most important thing.”
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