Rittich stopped all nine shots that came his way upon relieving Juuse Saros in Saturday's 6-3 loss to the Canadiens.

EDGE Analysis

Rittich entered the game in the second period after Saros surrendered his fifth goal on 19 shots. Still, Predators coach John Hynes defended his starting goalie's performance. "It wasn't necessarily where [Saros] was bad," Hynes said in a report by NHL.com. "Montreal scored, and we had a couple of deflections, one hits a skate, a backdoor tap-in on the penalty kill, so it's not really the goalie's fault. It's more like he's got to get out of there and bring 'Ritter' in." Rittich had been in COVID-19 protocols before eking out a win over the Blues in his Preds debut Nov. 11; he's stopped 42 of 45 shots through two appearances of 2021-22.