Friday, April 20, 2018

Goalie Announcements (Apr 20)



Brian Elliott versus Matt Murray
There are some fairly low expectations of the Flyers tonight, as they head back to Pittsburgh for Game 5 against the Penguins and there just doesn't seem to be any fight left in their game.  The Penguins have run them ragged in their three wins, giving way to a passionate win for the Flyers in Game 2, but that passion was very short-lived.

The early indications from the morning skate were that Brian Elliott would again get the start for the Flyers, despite being pulled in Game 4 and replaced by the newly-healthy Michal Neuvirth.  The Flyers will have to put up a pretty good game, if they are going to want to stay alive in this series or else Matt Murray and the Penguins will be looking ahead to the winner of the Columbus/Washington match-up, sooner rather than later.

Devan Dubnyk versus Connor Hellebuyck
The Winnipeg Jets have a chance to close out their series against the Minnesota Wild tonight at the MTS Centre and there doesn't appear to be any changes on the horizon for either side, as both goalies have played pretty well to this point, it has just been the teams in front of them that have been the difference.

Devan Dubnyk will get the nod again for the Wild, as they try to force a Game 6 back in their barn, while Connor Hellebuyck will look to close this out in front of the home fans and then move on to face the winner of the Colorado/Nashville series.

The Jets took both games at home earlier in the series and the whiteout will be on yet again, making for a pretty crazy atmosphere, especially the further the Jets go into these playoffs.

Andrew Hammond versus Pekka Rinne
The Colorado Avalanche are down to their last life in these playoffs and they'll now have to lean on their number three goalie, Andrew Hammond, as now Semyon Varlamov and Jonathan Bernier are now hurt.  There's no taller task than to take on the Nashville Predators, in their barn, the Bridgestone Arena, and to take on Vezina finalist Pekka Rinne.

It hasn't like the Avalanche haven't had their chances in this series, they have been able to score goals, they've even held a handful of leads.  The struggle has been to either score enough goals or do more to keep the puck out of their net.  Hammond's job will be to do the latter and I wouldn't say it's an enviable position to be in.

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