Goalie Announcements (Mar 18)

It isn't quite the early start that we've seen this weekend, but we still have some early afternoon action in the NHL on Sunday, as the games will get started at 1pm MT. Eight games in total today/tonight, so we'll hop on the finish to the week in Mover & Shaker land.

Tony's team absolutely took off on Saturday and jumped into the lead, now sitting with 41 points on the week.  Troy's team, which was holding steady atop the weekly scoring, has now dropped down to 2nd, already 5 points back, while Eric's team is 7 points back, Clayton's is 8 points back and Derek B., 10 points back.  That's your top five right there, separated by a whopping 10 points.

Will there be enough help from the crease to make this race close before the Newsletter tomorrow morning?

Cory Schneider (Jeremy) versus John Gibson (Tony)
It looks like Tony gets one start tonight, out of his five projected skater games and it comes in the late game, as it is expected that we'll see John Gibson in net, taking on the traveling caravan, that is the New Jersey Devils tonight.  The Devils were in Los Angeles yesterday and they'll go to their other keeper, in all likelihood, Cory Schneider, after Keith Kinkaid got the nod yesterday.  There's no guarantee on either, but with the Ducks on the outside looking in and the Devils hanging on to a wild card spot, this seems likely.

Troy's team will have to rely on four skater games, as neither of his goalies will be going today.  Eric appears to be in the same boat, six projected skater games, none of which are in the crease.

Scott Darling (Clayton) versus Jaroslav Halak (Benson)
The starts for Scott Darling and Carolina haven't been the source of points that Clayton was hoping for this year, but he gets the call this afternoon against the Islanders, who are in a state of flux, now that they are also outside of playoff range, at the start of play today.  There is no actual indication of which goalie they will go with, the veteran Jaroslav Halak, to be competitive today, or look to give Christopher Gibson another start, hoping he can show the coaching staff that he's ready for a full-time job next season.  Your guess is as good as mine here and the result of this game is wide open for predictions.

Ville Husso (N/A) versus Anton Forsberg (Derek B.)
It was J-F Berube in net for the Blackhawks last night in Buffalo, so it should be Anton Forsberg today at home to St. Louis, giving Derek B. a start.  The Blackhawks have been pretty poor of late, but an injured Blues team on back-to-back nights might not be as one-sided as the standings may make it look.  I don't think the Blues will be too anxious to play Jake Allen on back-to-back nights, so I would imagine that Ville Husso will get another start tonight.

There's your starts for the top five, in theory... let the games begin!