Goalie Announcements (Dec 11)

In a surprise move by the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night, they did decide to go with Michael Hutchinson, giving Grant a much needed start on Saturday night, trying to get out of Grant Watch and into Week Ten of the survival pool. Unfortunately, the Jets ran into a Calgary team that has been scoring and chased Hutchinson out of the net early and Winnipeg dropped this game, 6-2.

Grant Watch continues for one last day...

The New York Rangers have a 5pm MT start and surely, Henrik Lundqvist is going to get a start here, right?  He hasn't played in two games.

Wrong!  Antti Raanta will dress for a third straight game on Sunday, taking Grant's goalie out of it and inserting Stacey M.'s team back into the Mover & Shaker race on the night.  The Devils didn't play on Saturday, so it's fair to expect Stuart's keeper, Cory Schneider at the other end.

The Winnipeg Jets continue to play, this time on back-to-back nights in Edmonton.  Hutchinson was yanked last night, so we do not expect him to play tonight, rather Connor Hellebuyck will get the call for the Jets tonight, providing Tony a start to try and help the Jets bounce back from an ugly loss last night.  At the other end, we are expecting Marcie's number one, Cam Talbot, trying to help right her team's ship, which has fallen off in the standings a bit recently.

The early game of the day sees the Ottawa Senators head to Anaheim to take on the Ducks.  The Senators played yesterday afternoon in Los Angeles, taking a loss with Mike Condon, so is there a chance that Andrew Hammond gets a very rare start in Craig Anderson's absence?  Clayton sure hopes so.  John Gibson is the expected starter for the Ducks, giving Dale B. a big start against a road weary team.

The Flyers also played on Saturday afternoon, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they'll go with their current back-up, Anthony Stolarz.  They have had a few back-to-back games with Steve Mason in both, so it isn't out of the question that Brenda & Seward's goalie goes again, while Tony's Waiver Draft pick-up continues to watch.  It's not 100%, but we'll see.

For Detroit, we expect to see Jimmy Howard make his return to the Red Wings' crease, after missing a couple of weeks with a groin problem.  Can he regain his swagger for Benson's defense of 1st place?

The Canucks got beat in Florida last night and they have to turn around for an earlier Sunday start in Washington and they are down a regular goalie.  This might mean that Jacob Markstrom gets another start, the more likely situation, which would give Clayton another start today, if it all went well.  The test will be tough, as Braden Holtby should be getting the call for Jeremy and the Capitals in this one.

It's too bad this wasn't a survival game, because this would be one hell of a match-up on a Sunday.  For the pool though, it's just another game, as Mike's Jake Allen will go up against John S.'s Devan Dubnyk, when the Blues visit the Wild.  Both teams have made it through to next week, but we have lots of weeks left to play.

We know that the Chicago Blackhawks will continue to roll with Scott Darling, much to the delight of our own Scott in the pool.  Darling was confirmed on Saturday.  The Stars dropped an afternoon tilt in Philadelphia on Saturday, so the expectation, thanks to a pattern, is Antti Niemi in their net tonight.  Wilton gets a key start at the end of the week, trying to keep pace.

We have an NHL debut on our hands, as the Toronto Maple Leafs will send Antoine Bibeau to the crease tonight, with the struggling Colorado Avalanche visiting the Air Canada Centre.  The Avalanche, who got roughed up in Montreal on Friday, will go back to Semyon Varlamov tonight, a start for Kristy & Don.