Goalie Announcements (Jan 3)

One more kick at the can for John P., whose goalies are not faring so well this week.  Craig Anderson will get the start for the Senators, as they visit Corey Crawford (Stuart) and the Chicago Blackhawks, an incredibly tough test, which will decide the fate of one more team in the survivor pool.  Crawford is ranked 6th overall in pool points, while Anderson is 23rd, so it is a solid goalie match-up, but can Anderson's teammates give him any help tonight?

Three more games are on the docket for Sunday and confirmed early was the Florida Panthers, who are on back-to-back nights, will go with Al Montoya (Jeremy) against the Minnesota Wild, who are also on back-to-back nights, but are believed to still be going with Devan Dubnyk (Derek W.) in net, despite a 3-2 shootout loss to Tampa.  The Wild still have Niklas Backstrom (non-pool) as their back-up, with Darcy Kuemper (Dropped) on the shelf with a concussion, but who knows how confident the coaching staff is in the oft-injured Finn.

The Jets are also working back-to-back nights, but they are in California, going from San Jose to Anaheim tonight.  It is expected that Michael Hutchinson (Mike) will get the start for Winnipeg, while John Gibson (Clayton) has been confirmed for the Ducks already.

In the early game, it will be the Stars and the Islanders in Brooklyn, and this was the last game to have any sort of goaltender confirmed for it.  Dallas should be going with Kari Lehtonen (Dale C.), as they are on back-to-backs themselves and they took a loss the night before, dropping a game to the Devils.  There is some mild indication that Jaroslav Halak (Dale B.) could be ready to go tonight, returning from injury, so if he is given the green light, expect him to go after Thomas Greiss (Eric) was pulled last night against the Penguins.