Goalie Announcements (Oct 21)

Whoa, early starts today!  We better get on it, eh?

Two new qualifiers last night, as Grant got his win from the Capitals and Tony was the recipient of a thumping win in Anaheim, so both of them are safe for another week, but that still leaves us with six teams yet to qualify and now very limited games to do it in.  With only one game on Sunday, a possible survival game, if needed, today has to be the day.

12 games on the schedule, but only a few of them will be worthy of the blog post and some of these starts, might be speculation, at best.  Don't shoot the messenger!

Pekka Rinne (Dale B.) versus Henrik Lundqvist (Brian)
Brian gets his last start of the week in the matinee between the Predators and the Rangers.  The woeful Rangers have yet to find their stride in the early part of this season and Henrik Lundqvist has been front-and-centre amidst the questions raised from everyone around them.  Today's test, albeit at home, in the afternoon, is against the Western Conference champs, who have won their last two games.

Cam Talbot (Wes) versus Brian Elliott (Stacey C.)
The other matinee game, starting a half hour later in Philadelphia, also appears to be a survival game, as Stacey's proxy team gets one last kick at the can with Brian Elliott going for the Flyers against the struggling Oilers.  The Flyers found a little inconsistency in their scoring against a good defensive Nashville team, but the Oilers have been giving up more than they have been scoring, which bodes well for the home side.

Frederik Andersen (Mike) versus Craig Anderson (Tony)
Of all the games tonight, this one has the only confirmed non-starter in the survivor pool, as Brian misses out on two starts today, with the Senators opting to go with their number one, Craig Anderson.  It's Andersen versus Anderson in Ottawa, with the Maple Leafs going with their number one as well, Frederik Andersen and this game should shape up to be a very good game.


Antti Niemi (Derek B.) versus Andrei Vasilevskiy (Wilton)
The Pittsburgh Penguins played (and won) last night in Florida behind Matt Murray, so that usually will mean that the other goalie, in this case that would be Antti Niemi, would get the start on the back half of back-to-backs.  The Penguins have been known to defy convention from time-to-time and with some shaky appearances already by Niemi, there is some reasonable doubt, as to whether or not he gets the start.  Nevertheless, it's still early in the morning and we're still hours away, so we'll offer up our best guess and say that Niemi does get the start tonight and that the Penguins offense might have to be on point for the win.

Jonathan Quick (Chris) versus Sergei Bobrovsky (Derek B.)
It's assumed on both sides, that we'll see these goalies, Quick and Bobrovsky, a pretty good match-up of teams that are off to pretty good starts to the regular season.  Derek hasn't had the schedule go his way this week, but this could be the second of two starts today, depending on how the Pittsburgh game lines up for him.  Neither game will be very easy for his goalies, but at least his team is given the chance.

Alex Stalock (N/A) versus Mike Smith (Ryan)
Ryan gets his last chance at survival tonight, in theory, as the Flames will play host to the Wild tonight at the Saddledome.  It hasn't been confirmed, at the time of the post, but it is expected that the Flames will go back to Mike Smith tonight, while the Minnesota Wild, who played last night in Winnipeg, will give their backup, Alex Stalock, the crease tonight, as they try to bounce back from a road loss.  The signs are positive for Ryan to keep his place in the survivor pool, but it will be a tough test, regardless.