David Rittich Helps Prove that LA Kings Are Just Fine in Goal

Not having played in two weeks, rust may have been a concern for David Rittich on Monday. However, the LA Kings netminder had none of that.

After a lackluster game on Saturday against the Dallas Stars, the LA Kings needed a jolt of confidence on Monday night. They got just that thanks, in large part, to goaltender David Rittich. The one they call “Big Save Dave” hadn’t played in two weeks, but any concerns of rust were put to bed. Rittich made 26 saves, earning his second shutout of the season, defeating the red-hot New York Islanders.

The Islanders, who had won six-straight games, entering Monday’s contest, were stymied all night by Rittich. While he wasn’t too busy early on, Big Save Dave paced himself with his increase in work, all the while helping the silver-and-black remain the top penalty-killing team in the NHL.

Big Save Dave

The 31-year-old spoke to the media following Monday’s victory.

“I mean, we knew we didn’t have the best night the other night against Dallas. So, we knew what we had to do, we came out really strong since puck drop and I think, overall, we did a great job defensively,” Rittich said. “You know, playing against the Islanders who [are] well-known for playing really good defense, it’s good we showed up that way, too.”

If there’s one thing the Kings need to improve on, it’s their inability to stay out of the penalty box. The silver-and-black had five infractions on Monday. Thankfully, the club’s aforementioned penalty-killing unit made up for it, killing off all five penalties while, overall, creating seven takeaways. Two of those were committed by Trevor Moore, who scored an empty-netter on the latter.

Rittich spoke about the how solid his team’s penalty kill was versus the Islanders.

“It’s not just tonight, it’s all year long,” noted the Czech netminder. “I mean, our PK’s doing a great job. We all know what we have to do, we all know our roles, and which players are going to be able to do it for myself or other guys there. So, I think we got it together really well and we just got to figure out how to not take too many minors.”