Goalie Announcements (Dec 23)

As we all sit down to our Festivus dinners tonight, the airing of grievances will have nothing to do with the survivor pool, from me, at the very least. All four teams have failed to pick up wins on Monday and Tuesday, making Saturday and Sunday much more fun to watch.  Sure, the teams that are still in it will have grievances with their goalies, but that's their business.  It's just good writing about a little bit of desperation.

On the bubble, we have Jeremy, John P., Stuart and Allan.  Oh yes, this will be good.

Jeremy will have to rely upon Braden Holtby of the Capitals for his win, which he'll be the likely starters for Saturday's game, home to the Canadiens.  Despite the troubles in Montreal, they won't go away easily.  Al Montoya, his second goalie, playing in Florida, likely won't get the only game for the Panthers on the weekend, Sunday's home game against the Blue Jackets.

For our current pool leader, John P., he could very well get two starts out of his goalies, one for sure though.  Sunday afternoon's game between the Senators and the Bruins should produce a start for Craig Anderson, but Boston has been rolling and will play them tough.  The Sabres will get the Bruins on Saturday evening, which means his second goalie will get first crack at them, as Chad Johnson would have to be the expected starter, but by no means will he be confirmed at this point.  The Bruins will likely split their games between their goalies, one will get Tuukka Rask (Dale C.) and the other will get Jonas Gustavsson (Stacey C.).

Stuart is just down to one goalie and Corey Crawford and the Blackhawks will get the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday evening, which may or may not be the easiest of the match-ups thus far.  Crawford is the top goalie heading into the break, with 47 points, so he won't need any confidence from Santa for Christmas.

Finally, Allan is in the same boat as John, should get one start, possibly two, depending on how the coaches feel.  His sure thing will be Ben Bishop going for the Lightning on Saturday night, home to the Blue Jackets, getting to play a beat up team on Boxing Day could be quite the blessing for his side.  If that doesn't work, his other option will be left to Connor Hellebuyck of the Jets and whether or not he gets the call against the Penguins at home on Sunday.  The Jets played poorly before Christmas, how will they fare afterwards?

No one is a lock to come out of this week, which adds to the intrigue!