Goalie Announcements (Nov 5)

It was a busy day after the Connor McDavid hooplah of yesterday, so I wasn't able to produce the update on the goalie survivor pool, so I will have to step up today.

What I can tell you is that after three nights of Week Five, five teams have earned their way to play in Week Six and those teams include Stuart, Stacey M., Dale B., John P. and Scott.  Those five have no worries until Monday rolls around again.

On Thursday night, it's going to be another busy one, as nine games go in the league and that means that there will be a good deal of starting goalies to work from in the pool.  Five teams still need wins, will any of them pick one up?

Let's kick off in Buffalo, as Andrei Vasilevskiy is now expected to make his second start for the Lightning, giving Mike a shot at making it through to the next week with a win.  It will be rookie goalie against rookie goalie, as Buffalo will start non-pool keeper, Linus Ullmark, for the third straight game tonight.

Next up in the needing a win column is Jeremy, who will have Braden Holtby in net for the Washington Capitals tonight, as they take on Tuukka Rask (Dale C.) and the Boston Bruins.  Holtby gave up five goals in his last start on Tuesday, so Jeremy is going to need a huge bounce back effort tonight.

Well, if Mike is not going to have much luck with Tampa Bay tonight, he will get a second shot with Winnipeg, as Mike Hutchinson is tapped to get the nod in Winnipeg's second half of back-to-back nights, heading into Ottawa and taking on Craig Anderson (John P.).  The Jets are running hot, as they beat the Maple Leafs last night, so they could be riding a really big high, if they can sweep through Ontario.

Later on in the evening, Derek W. will get another look at Devan Dubnyk in the Minnesota net tonight, as the Wild play host to the Nashville Predators.  This is going to be one of those key match-ups, as Ryan will get his shot at trying to earn his weekly win with Pekka Rinne in the opposite net.  Head-to-head, battle to the near-death!  After tonight's game, both Minnesota and Nashville each have one more game in the week, which will raise the suspense levels a little bit, right?

On the flip side of the coin, from those who are already eliminated, Brenda & Seward appear to have both their goalies in their team's respective lineups, as Karri Ramo appears to be taking on Michal Neuvirth (Neil) in the Flames/Flyers game, while Jonathan Quick will get Sergei Bobrovsky (Troy) in the Kings/Blue Jackets game.  Brenda & Seward are sitting pretty in 6th place and a couple wins could boost their chances of jumping into the money.