Saturday, February 17, 2018

Goalie Announcements (Feb 17)



It's been a little while since we've had a goalie post, so let's do a Mover & Shaker edition of the starting goalies and see how it goes today.

So, Week Twenty only has two more days left to play and the race for the Mover & Shaker is looking pretty good at this point.  Stuart is carrying the lead, both in the Mover & Shaker and the overall races, but we'll focus on the week, where he has 29 points, through Friday night's action, and 5 points separates him from four other teams and we'll focus on them, if we can.

Stuart, Clayton, Benson, Chris and Troy are all within spitting distance of top spot in the weekly rankings, but do they have any goalies playing?

Eddie Lack (N/A) versus Andrei Vasilevskiy (Wilton)
The first of two possible starts for Stuart was going to happen in Tampa Bay today, but it looks like the Devils, who are starting back-to-back nights, without their number one guy, will be going with their number three goalie, Eddie Lack, against the Lightning, saving the number two guy for tomorrow.  This is really throwing Lack to the wolves, as he gets Andrei Vasilevskiy and the league-leading Bolts, which is probably good news for Wilton's team, which could really use the good news this week.

Roberto Luongo (Stuart) versus Mike Smith (Ryan)
It does sound like Stuart will get a start though, as Roberto Luongo will finally make his return from being on the injured list since December and his first start will come against the Flames in Calgary.  This will certainly be a tough test for the veteran keeper, as he'll likely be trying to shake off the game day rust against a potent Flames team.  On the other side, the Flames were hoping that Mike Smith would be back from injury tonight, but at the time of writing this post, there was no definite indication.  Ryan's team is only 8 points back in the Mover & Shaker nod and if Smith can come back, that would be a huge help, one would think.

With Luongo going tonight, this means that Troy's team doesn't have any goalies going, which could work out to be a big swing for Stuart's team, if he can secure the points, in the Mover & Shaker race.

Tuukka Rask (Clayton) versus Jacob Markstrom (Wes)
No confirmations here, as of the time of writing this post, but it seems fairly safe to assume that we'll get the two number ones in the clash of 2011 Stanley Cup Finals teams, in the Bruins and the Canucks, giving Clayton a much-needed start from Tuukka Rask to try and catch Stuart this week.  Clayton's team is only 2 points back of the weekly leader and this will be his only possible start tonight.  Wes' team isn't doing too badly this week, 18 points through Friday night, but more importantly, his team is very comfortable in the PIM pool standings and a game against the Bruins could see Jacob Markstrom get a little agitated.

Jonathan Quick (Chris) versus Robin Lehner (Kristy & Don)
The only other game of note for the Mover & Shaker, yes, Benson was shut out as well, is Chris' game, which is one of the early games today, when the Kings head into the KeyBank Center to take on the Sabres.  Jonathan Quick hasn't exactly been confirmed as the starter, but no game last night and no game on Sunday would make the suggestion fairly safe.  This game faces off fairly soon and at the other end it will be Robin Lehner for the duo, who actually are only 3 points behind Chris' team in the Mover & Shaker race and could be considered dark horses for the honour.

This could shape up to be a good day in the league, as we have a bunch of early afternoon games, trying to snag those early points.  Stay tuned, maybe we'll have another goalie post tomorrow too!

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