Goalie Announcements (Nov 23)

The Calgary Flames will dress Chad Johnson for another start, as they ride the hot hand into Columbus and that means that John S. will get a start towards the survival pool tonight.  He will get a tough test, as Mike will get a start for the overall standings from Sergei Bobrovsky, who ranks 3rd in pool scoring this season, providing ample opposition.

John gets a second start from Devan Dubnyk in a game that might be a little bit better of a bet, with the Wild hosting the Jets.  The Jets will be expected to go with their assumed number one as well tonight, Connor Hellebuyck, giving Tony a start.  Tony's team is trying to make some strides out of the basement, but continue to be hit with injury.  A win in Minnesota might move him up a spot or two or at the very least, close a gap before the Waiver Draft next week.

Kari Lehtonen was the first goalie off from warm-ups on Wednesday morning, which is a regular indication that he will be the starter tonight for the Dallas Stars, as they visit the Nashville Predators. This is projected to be Dale C.'s only survival game tonight, but this will be a tough test with the already-qualified Pekka Rinne going for Stacey M. tonight.

Stuart gets a start from Cory Schneider tonight, as the New Jersey Devils will welcome non-pool goalie Jhonas Enroth and the Toronto Maple Leafs to the swamp.  Stuart's team ranks last in wins among the surviving teams in the pool, having only a combined 9 wins through the first six weeks of the season.  He does get the benefit of his goalie seeing Toronto's back-up tonight, which has to increase the odds of a win a little bit.

Grant's only projected survival start of the night will come from the Big Apple, with Henrik Lundqvist getting the call for the Rangers with the Pittsburgh Penguins in town.  It is expected that we'll see Matt Murray in the visitors net, giving Scott another shot at moving back up into the money.  Scott opens Wednesday night in 4th, 6 points back.

With the St. Louis Blues playing on back-to-back nights, it is expected that Carter Hutton will make a rare appearance in net, giving Stuart a second shot at a Week Eight appearance in the survival pool.  It looks like it'll be a tough test at the other side, as Braden Holtby has been tapped to go for the Capitals, giving Jeremy a start from the 1st overall pick in the draft.

And after a full night off, Jaroslav Halak will be back in the Islanders' net, giving Troy a survival start tonight.  The Islanders are going back-to-back in California and they'll take on the Kings and their non-pool starter, Peter Budaj.  Budaj is the 6th-ranked player in pool scoring, so his audition for the Waiver Draft is going quite well and it will be interesting to see where he drops next week.

Benson gets a start to battle for top spot tonight, as he'll get a start from Jimmy Howard, taking on the reigning champ's goalie, Robin Lehner. Jeremy opens the night 32 points behind Benson in the standings and this will be a tough start to garner points from, as the Red Wings have been good with Howard in net.

Andrei Vasilevskiy is getting the call again for the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight, which is good news for Ryan, getting another start to add to his total.  The Bolts are hosting the Flyers tonight and it is expected, that rookie Anthony Stolarz will get his first NHL start at the other side.

The Oilers and Avalanche will meet up tonight in Denver and we're expecting to see Cam Talbot going for Marcie and Semyon Varlamov going for Kristy & Don.  The Avalanche haven't been nearly as formidable this season, as some may have thought they would be, but the Oilers have been streaky as well, so this one is anyone's guess.

In the desert, it will be Ryan Miller going for Brenda & Seward and Mike Smith with get the call for Marcie, as the Canucks and Coyotes clash again.  This will give Marcie a couple of starts on the night, then it will be a matter of winning those two starts to help get back into the money conversation.

Looks like its a pretty top end match-up in San Jose, as Marcin will get Corey Crawford going for the Blackhawks, while Martin Jones will give Wes and the Sharks another big start.  Wes is already 44 points behind Marcin in the standings.