Islanders, David Rittich just can't find a way to beat Flames
Islanders goalie David Rittich cannot stop the Flames' Justin Kirkland from scoring during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Calgary, Alberta, on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. Credit: AP/Larry MacDougal
CALGARY, Alberta — Patrick Roy wasn’t following a statistical blueprint detailing when the optimal moment is to pull the goalie if trailing by three goals.
The Islanders’ coach just wanted to somehow earn the two points.
In this case, David Rittich came off for an extra skater at 11:56 of the third period in an eventual 4-2 loss to the Flames on Saturday afternoon at Scotiabank Saddledome.
“I believe that we’re going to win the game,” Roy said. “I’m not doing this for analytics. I’ll give you an example. Tonight you’re looking at expected goals against. The first [goal], there’s a tip, they gave point-20-something. That never hit the net. The wraparound, they gave .17. That never hit the net. So I don’t give a [darn] about analytics, to be honest.”
The irony is that Roy does quote and care about analytics, and the Islanders, under first-year general manager Mathieu Darche, have made it a priority to bolster their analytics department.
None of that helped as the Islanders (26-17-5) dropped to 2-2-1 on this seven-game road trip. Rittich (15 saves) can’t beat the Flames, his first NHL team, and for the most part, neither can the Islanders.
That’s because they faded after a solid first period, struggling to protect their net, not getting enough traffic to the Flames’ crease and having trouble containing the puck at the blue line. The Flames scored three goals on seven shots in the second period.
Dustin Wolf stopped 28 shots for the Flames (21-23-4), who were returning from a 2-3-0 road trip. He just missed becoming the first Flames goalie to score a goal with a rink-length try at the empty net at 14:38.
With Rittich pulled in the third period, Anders Lee scored his first goal in 10 games and the 300th of his career to bring the Islanders within 4-2 at 17:04 as they skated six-on-five.
“We had a lot of shots,” said rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who logged a team-high 25:35 and had two assists. “I just think we’ve got to get in his eyes. We need a better net presence. At the end of the day, it just wasn’t our best game.”
“We turned the puck over a little too much,” defenseman Tony DeAngelo said. “We only gave up seven shots in the second. Just Grade-A chances we gave up. Too many turnovers in the second just feeding their transition. Besides that, we still had the puck the majority of the time.”
The Islanders had a 13-4 edge in high-danger chances while skating five-on-five in the game and 18-8 in all situations, according to NaturalStatTrick.com. In the first period, the Islanders led 7-0 in high-danger chances while skating five-on-five and 8-2 in all situations.
“To me, it didn’t seem like they had a whole lot of high-danger chances,” Casey Cizikas said. “It is what it is. They capitalized on their chances, which is the main thing. It’s frustrating, I guess, in a way. I thought we played a good game, not a great game, but we’ve got to find a better way of getting to the paint, getting shots through.”
The Islanders had a 75-52 edge in all attempts as the Flames blocked 16 shots and the Islanders missed the net 29 times.
Rittich, who played for the Flames from 2017-21, lost his sixth straight (0-4-2) against them since being traded to the Maple Leafs. He has a career goals-against average of 4.02 and a save percentage of .851 against his former team and suffered his third loss at the Saddledome. It was his second start on the road trip after a trip-opening 2-1 shootout loss in Nashville on Jan. 8.
The Flames improved to 9-0-2 over the Islanders dating to the 2018-19 season.
Yegor Sharangovich opened the scoring with a wrist shot over Rittich’s glove from the left circle at 11:51 of the first period after the Islanders killed off two power plays in the opening 5:31.
Adam Kapka’s tip of defenseman Kevin Bahl’s shot made it 2-0 at 3:04 of the second period, Justin Kirkland finished an odd-man rush for his first goal of the season at 9:50 and defenseman Yan Kuznetsov made it 4-0 with a shot from the left point over Rittich’s glove at 11:49.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored his second goal in four games after going 19 games without one when he placed a short-side shot under the crossbar from the left circle at 12:25 of the second period to cut the deficit to 4-1.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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