The coaching staff came to the decision last night over dinner, working through a myriad of factors before opting to go with Rittich.
"We talked about it quite a bit yesterday," head coach Bill Peters explained. "There's a certain number (of games) we want Ritter to get to," "Smitty is going to be our starter and he's going to play the bulk of the games and we've got to keep him fresh throughout the year.
"There's a plan in place in order to do that and we just thought it was the right thing to do. (Smith has) a real good opportunity here to practice and get home and then we have two at home against Pittsburgh and Washington. Those are huge games also and we'll have a fresh goaltender when we get home."
Tonight's match-up will mark Rittich's second game in Montreal. Last year, he made 35 saves on 37 shots in a 3-2 overtime win there. Even with that feather in his cap, he isn't focused on past performances.
"Every game is different so I'm not looking to last season. I'm just looking forward to this game."
Rittich has been tremendous in his first two starts of the year, posting a 2-0-0 record with a 1.30 GAA and a .962 save percentage. He is coming off of a career-high 44-save game in New York on Sunday - a performance that his teammates have been raving about ever since.
"He was unbelievable," Matthew Tkachuk said. "We wouldn't have won that game without him. He was unbelievable and we didn't play very well in front of him. We gave up so many chances. He stood on his head. It's nothing new though. I see him in practice every day and he's so hard to score on."
Rittich and the Flames will face off against the Canadiens at 5:30 p.m.MT with Sportsnet Flames carrying the TV broadcast and Sportsnet 960 The FAN carrying the radio broadcast.
