Important day for a few teams looking for wins in Saturday night's action as this could be the last chance for some teams to make their mark and keep on moving to Week Five.
Play gets started early on Saturday, a 1pm MT start for the first game of the day, so in preparation for this post, there could have been a few unconfirmed goalies, which may or may not get some hopes up. Let's see how many confirmed names we can get before we hit the publish button.
Five teams are left without wins and we'll of course highlight those teams to start, that's what we're here for! Brenda & Seward, Cam, Marcie, Ryan and Stuart... all in need of that fateful W.
We'll actually start with the last guy on the list, as we know he has both of his goalies going tonight (confirmed!), as Stuart will see his number two goalie get thrown to the wolves, as Carter Hutton will get the start for the St. Louis Blues, playing the goal-scoring juggernaut that is the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Jackets popped 10 goals past the Habs last night and might be out for more blood. It is unconfirmed, but it wouldn't be surprising, that Sergei Bobrovsky would go on back-to-back nights again this season, as he has on a few occasions already, giving Mike yet another start this year.
Stuart's second start of the night will come from Cory Schneider, as he and the Devils will head down to Tampa Bay for a nice relaxing game against the Lightning, if you can call it that. You probably can't, but it is fun to say once and a while. We'll see Ben Bishop in net for the Bolts, giving Dale C. another start on the season. This could have been a head-to-head survivor game, if Bishop wasn't in net tonight, but Ryan appears to be shutout here in Tampa Bay.
It looks like it is crunch time for Cam, as Roberto Luongo might give him his only start of the weekend, away to Washington tonight, taking on the red-hot Capitals in their own barn. The test gets increasingly difficult, as the Capitals are likely going to send Braden Holtby to the crease tonight, to give Jeremy shot at 2 points for his overall total. Holtby has been good, but the Capitals are now scoring more goals, but we all know how much Luongo likes a lot of shots on net.
The unconfirmed, but likely starter for the struggling Vancouver Canucks should be Ryan Miller, when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre tonight. Brenda & Seward would welcome another shot to keep going, but I wouldn't think that they'd be holding their breath here. At the other end, Frederik Andersen is the starter for the Leafs, giving the current Mover & Shaker leader, Brian, another chance for 2 points and a mention in the Newsletter.
I wouldn't think that Marcie is going to get shutout here today, because the Oilers should be looking to get back on track again tonight, by sending Cam Talbot back out to start on their road trip, playing in Brooklyn tonight. Granted, if it isn't tonight, then it could be tomorrow, with the Oilers playing in Detroit, I wouldn't think he'd go back-to-back, but who's to say for sure? At the other end, Jaroslav Halak has continued to play well, under some trying circumstances, so the showcase for his talents would continue tonight, much to the delight of Troy.
We'll finally talk about the early game, where the Minnesota Wild and the Colorado Avalanche are going head-to-head this afternoon. The two expected keepers for this game appear to be Devan Dubnyk, going for John S., and Semyon Varlamov, going for Kristy & Don. John is moving on, while the duo couldn't quite keep up last week and they're now playing for points.
After getting thoroughly embarrassed last night in Columbus, the Montreal Canadiens return home for a date with the Philadelphia Flyers. Carey Price will be back in net to redeem the Habs, giving Benson a start tonight to pad his lead, while the Flyers will be sending Michal Neuvirth, as Tony steals a possible survivor pool start from Brenda & Seward in this one.
Craig Anderson's latest absence wasn't very long at all, as he is already back with the Senators and was at the morning skate on Saturday. He will get the nod for Wilton tonight, with the Sabres in town. Robin Lehner is the opposing goaltender, robbing the survivor pool of possibly a key start for Ryan tonight, stolen by Jeremy.
The Rangers have confirmed Antti Raanta will get the nod for their visit to Beantown tonight, where they will take on a Bruins team that will have their number one going, Tuukka Rask. Raanta is getting a rare start for Stacey M., while Rask is doing his best to give Troy yet another 2 points, which he has been doing quite well at lately, if not doing a bit more.
An unconfirmed pair of goalies going in Nashville, but it is expected that we'll see both Cam Ward and Pekka Rinne, when the Hurricanes play the Predators. The two number ones didn't play last night, so that is usually a good indication that they'll go tonight. Brian versus Stacey M. in this game, a pretty good one in the overall standings as well.
We know that Antti Niemi will get the call for the Dallas Stars tonight, providing yet another start for Wilton, with his team trying to make a push into the top 10 in the standings this week. The Stars will likely be getting Corey Crawford at the Blackhawks' end tonight, providing a big start for Marcin's team, which is already situated in the top 10, 5 points ahead of Wilton's in 8th.
The Flames are going to try and make this an excellent trip through California with a big win in Los Angeles tonight. The Flames will be sending out Brian Elliott to face their inhospitable hosts, who should be sending Peter Budaj back out to face them, coming off an overtime win over the Penguins this week. Derek B. gets one start here, while everyone else continues to scout Budaj.
It's a Stanley Cup Finals rematch in the shark tank tonight, with Matt Murray getting another start for the Pittsburgh Penguins, taking on Martin Jones. The two teams had already faced off against each other this season, but they didn't get the marquee goalie match-up that they wanted, so now these guys will be getting up for this game and it should be a doozy. Murray will go for Scott and Jones will get to go for Wes.
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