Flames undecided on starting goalie for Cup Qualifier, coach says

CALGARY -- The Calgary Flames won't decide their starting goalie for the Stanley Cup Qualifiers until they see how David Rittich and Cam Talbot perform during training camp.

"Quite simply, it'll be the best guy coming out of camp," Calgary coach Geoff Ward said Wednesday. "We made that clear at the beginning to the guys coming into camp. That'll be how we determine it. Intersquad games when we get to them, exhibition game (against the Edmonton Oilers on July 28), all those things will play a big role in that. That's just part of the philosophy.

"We're going to play the best 20 players that we have. We owe it to everybody here to do it that way. Ultimately, that'll be how the decision is made."

Training camp started Monday, and Game 1 of Calgary's best-of-5 series against the Winnipeg Jets is Aug. 1 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the Western Conference hub city.

Rittich was 24-17-6 with a 2.97 goals-against average and .907 save percentage in 48 games this season. Talbot was 12-10-1 with a 2.63 GAA and .919 save percentage in 26 games (22 starts). But Talbot was 9-5-1 with a 2.42 GAA and .926 save percentage after Dec. 15; Rittich was 9-9-2 with a 3.30 GAA and .897 save percentage.

"I think every single goalie wants to start in the playoffs once we're starting, and during the season," Rittich said. "It's up to Coach what he's going to pick. It's up to me and [Talbot] how we're going to work hard and how we're going to be ready for playoffs. The last call will be [Ward's]."

Talbot, who turned 33 on July 5, is 7-7 with a 2.48 GAA and .922 save percentage in 15 Stanley Cup Playoff games; he started 13 games in 2017, when he helped the Oilers reach the Western Conference Second Round.

Rittich, who turns 28 on Aug. 19, has never played in the NHL playoffs; he backed up Mike Smith when the Flames were eliminated by the Colorado Avalanche in five games in the Western Conference First Round last season. But should he win the job in training camp and help Calgary eliminate Winnipeg, Rittich would get an opportunity to make his NHL playoff debut.

"Everyone wants to play; it's the same [with] me," Rittich said. "… It's the biggest opportunity for me right now to be a starter in the playoffs and get some games, get some experience, and hopefully, hopefully, we are going to go a long way."

The Flames were 36-27-7 (.564 points percentage) in the regular season and enter the Qualifiers as the No. 8 seed in the West; the Jets (37-28-6, .563) are the No. 9 seed. The winners from the No. 5-12 seeds playing in the four best-of-5 Western series will advance to the first round against the four teams from the round-robin. The losers will have an equal chance to win the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery, to be held Aug. 10.

"We've got two good goalies that we think are capable of winning games for us," Calgary general manager Brad Treliving said Sunday. "To me, we're in a good position. Either guy can win for us. I think it's getting them up to speed. Obviously, you've got to put one in the net for Game 1. That question might get asked 47 times between now and Aug. 1.

"We'll see how it goes. But it's going to be whoever you feel comfortable with. It's no slight to the other guy. We're comfortable with either guy in the net. They've shown it throughout the course of the year."