The Troy watch saw that Tuukka Rask is one of the most reliable goalies in the NHL today and his win against the Jets last night was a clear sign that he is ready to compete for big things this year. He currently leads the pool with 30 points and Troy lives to see another week, because of his number one guy. It's a damn shame that he's the only one that works for him.
So, now that Troy is qualified, we have six games, starting very early once again, and all of the games will be about the points, as we finish off the week.
The early, early game today, a 10:30am MT start, will see the Columbus Blue Jackets take on the Washington Capitals. Neither team were in action on Saturday, so it could be very fair to suggest that it will be the job of the number ones to take the reins today. Sergei Bobrovsky should get the call for Mike, while Braden Holtby is likely to get the nod for Jeremy today. Mike's team is one vying for the Mover & Shaker this week, while Jeremy's is up this week, but needs more than a Holtby goose egg to get there. Nevertheless, this could shape up to be a good game.
Cam Ward will lead the charge for the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon, with those pesky Winnipeg Jets coming to town. Brian will get a key start here, as his team tries to defend their lead, which is still 2 points after Saturday night, but he has also lost his share of the Mover & Shaker for the week too. It is expected that we'll see Connor Hellebuyck for Tony at the other end, since the Jets played yesterday in Boston. Tony's team is scratching and clawing to get out of the basement and is now 5 points back of 20th place, his next big leap.
Grant's team will open up Sunday in 14th place, right in the quagmire of teams that are only a few points separated from each other. He'll have Henrik Lundqvist going for the home side, when the Rangers host the Panthers. With James Reimer getting the call for the cats yesterday, they should be going with Roberto Luongo tonight, giving Cam a key start to the day, but Cam's team is hunting for the money, up in 5th place, only 9 points out. Cam's team is also only 2 points away from the Mover & Shaker, so a shutout would be a huge result in that race too.
Brian will be getting a start to defend his spot and he'll be defending it against Benson, who also gets a start today, with Jimmy Howard getting the nod for the Red Wings with the Flames in town. Benson opens 2 points back and both he and Brian each have six projected games to play today. For the Flames, as per Roger Millions, it's Brian Elliott in the net for the visitors... no wait! It's Chad Johnson going for Calgary. Well, that's about all we know, so far, it could go either way. Both Derek B. and John S. are in need of starts, Derek maybe more so than John, but they get a very tough test in Detroit, so does it really matter?
In the late game tonight, it will be the Kings and Ducks in a Pacific Division battle and the goaltending is still up in the air, at the time of this post. Peter Budaj did start yesterday against the Devils, but the Kings' confidence in Jeff Zatkoff may not be there, so he could get back-to-back starts. Either way, no pool credit is coming from the Kings tonight. On the Ducks' side, they haven't played since Thursday, when Jonathan Bernier got the win, but one should assume that John Gibson gets the call on some great rest, as he is still the number one there. Gibson ranks 50th overall in pool scoring, which is fairly good news for Dale B., who might just be asking for a little bit more these days, sitting in 13th spot.
No comments:
Post a Comment