Goalie Announcements (Nov 14)

When we last checked in with our goalie situation, Thursday afternoon, we still had five teams looking to punch their ticket into next week.  Stuart, Jeremy, Allan, Mike and Stacey M. were all in need, while the first three had shots on Thursday night and then we also had four games on Friday night, which I couldn't preview for scheduling reasons.  After all of that, we still have three teams still in need of wins.

Jeremy and Allan managed to punch their ticket in those two nights, leaving Stuart, Mike and Stacey M. wondering if the weekend will bring them any more luck.  Let's see what they can expect.

In short, not a great deal, but there's something.

Two teams get one start each tonight, as Stuart will see Corey Crawford go for the Blackhawks, taking on Jake Allen (Scott) and the Blues in St. Louis, while Mike gets a start from the Winnipeg Jets', as Michael Hutchinson got the nod over Stuart's Ondrej Pavelec, as they head into Nashville to take on Pekka Rinne (Ryan) and the Predators.

Stuart was awfully close to getting two starts to Mike's none, before the announcement came down this morning.  That could have been a big disaster for Mike, since his other goalie, Andrei Vasilevskiy, will be backing up for the Lightning tonight.  Both Stuart and Mike have one starter and one back-up tonight, so they have a very minimal shot of moving on, but at least they have a shot.

Jimmy Howard lost to the San Jose Sharks last night, which was a lost opportunity for Stacey M. and it also means that Petr Mrazek will get the start on Saturday night against the Bruins, meaning that Tony will get a much-needed start tonight.  Stacey's other keeper, Antti Niemi, will be on the bench for the Stars, while Kari Lehtonen (Dale C.) gets another start for the club and that will clear her out of opportunities.  Unless one of her keepers comes in for a relief win, it looks like her team will be eliminated this week.

More interesting starts for tonight... James Reimer (John S.) gets another start in goal, in front of a healthy Jonathan Bernier (Cindy), which means the rich get richer, while Cindy still dreams of her first team goalie win.  It looks like Jeff Zatkoff gets the nod tonight for the Penguins in New Jersey, which should be scheduled, since the Penguins lost to the Jackets on Friday night.  Another start for Allan tonight, not that he needs it for qualification.

Other than that, it looks like it is business as usual across the rest of the schedule.