Goalie Announcements (Dec 1)

A couple of afternoon games again have the blog scrambling around, making mildly-educated guesses for the starting goalies in many of these games tonight.  Thankfully, when you start these posts really early, you can afford a little bit of time before your self-imposed deadline to hit the publish button and wait for those last few confirmed starters to jump out at you.

So, who's playing for what today?

Stacey M. is still looking for her survival win for this week and between Saturday and Sunday, there are three slots where she could pick up starts and/or wins, but will likely only see two of them.  How many will she see today?

Six teams have already pushed the 20-point barrier this week, looking for the Mover & Shaker, Stuart leads the way with 25 points, Ryan is in at 24, Kristy & Don and Steve are at 23 and finally, Grant and Mike are at 21.  A good race.

John P. reeled in the other potential Basement Dwellers a bit last night, as his team starts at 6 points, with Chelsea and Brenda & Seward at 7 points at the start of play today.  Neil would be next in line at 11 points, which may or may not be all that safe.

That leaves 15 teams in between and I'm sure they're all doing fine.

Martin Jones (Brenda & Seward) versus Craig Anderson (Mike)
The Sens had their goalie announced nice and early for me this morning and Mike could benefit from a Craig Anderson start against the Sharks in what should be a emotionally-charged game.  Mike's team is one of the teams mentioned for the Mover & Shaker and 2 points here would be pretty helpful.  Martin Jones does indeed get the start for the Sharks this afternoon, confirmed amidst writing this post, which is a relief for Brenda & Seward, as they really need those 2 points to stay ahead of John P. today.

Ben Bishop (Clayton) versus Anders Nilsson (N/A)
We know that Ben Bishop is going to return from his lower-body injury on Saturday afternoon in Vancouver against the Canucks, as he has been out for just over a week and Clayton's team couldn't be happier that he's back, as he was running pretty hot when he left.  Clayton's team is in the middle 15, so there's not much to see here.  As for the Canucks starter, was still unconfirmed early on and I'm going to go with starting the backup in the afternoon affair, although they don't play again until Tuesday... so, it could be Jacob Markstrom again.

Frederik Andersen (Derek B.) versus Devan Dubnyk (Wes)
By the time the puck drops on the Maple Leafs and the Wild, the drama surrounding Toronto should be done, right?  Who knows?  Devan Dubnyk is the expected starter for the Wild tonight, giving Wes some more minutes to his pool-leading totals, but trying to get a win out of these Leafs will be difficult.  Frederik Andersen hasn't been confirmed, but does seem exceptionally likely to get the nod tonight.  Derek rejoices!

Jimmy Howard (Tony) versus Tuukka Rask (Jesse)
The Bruins confirmed that Tuukka Rask was going to get consecutive starts for the Bruins on Friday, suggesting that things might be going back to normal for the Bruins these days.  Jesse will be a happy camper with this news, but this is one of Stacey M.'s potential starts wiped away.  The visiting keeper wasn't confirmed at the time of writing, but the word is that the Wings are riding high on Jimmy Howard, good news for Tony's team.

Alexandar Georgiev (N/A) versus Carey Price (Stacey M.)
There were a few people trying to pronounce the Rangers' backup goalie's name through the Waiver Draft, kicking his tires from time to time, but no one jumped on him during the proceedings.  Alexandar Georgiev gets the start today for the Rangers, confirmed, likely, and unconfirmed, to take on Carey Price of the Canadiens at the Bell Centre.  Stacey M. probably has her fingers crossed for this start or else she may have to wait for the Canadiens to take on the Sharks tomorrow.

Louis Domingue (Picked) versus Michael Hutchinson (N/A)
Neither goalie has been confirmed for the Showdown in Sunrise, but the Panthers played last night, which would indicate that the next goalie in line would be up for them tonight.  There is a rumbling that Roberto Luongo could be healthy enough to play tonight, but there was no confirmation of it.  If it does happen, it wouldn't be the biggest surprise, but until otherwise specified, I would think they would go with Michael Hutchinson tonight.

Laurent Brossoit (N/A) versus Cory Schneider (Tony)
Nothing confirmed for the Jets and Devils this morning, but it does seem likely that Tony will get one more start out of Cory Schneider tonight, since the Devils went with Keith Kinkaid last night.  The Jets open back-to-back nights in the New York area, so this game could be a bit of a coin toss and if I had to guess, I would say that the backup gets the Devils and the number one gets the Rangers tomorrow.

Sergei Bobrovsky (Kristy & Don) versus Thomas Greiss (Stuart)
Who would have though that Blue Jackets and Islanders match-up could be the game of the night on the schedule, as it is a swing game in the Mover & Shaker standings tonight.  Both goalies have been confirmed for their starts tonight, Sergei Bobrovsky goes for the duo and Thomas Greiss goes for the weekly leader, so there is some intrigue in this one.  The Jackets have won back-to-back games coming into this one, it will be a tough game for the home side tonight.

Anthony Stolarz (N/A) versus Casey DeSmith (Picked)
The Battle of Pennsylvania could have featured two goalies picked up in the Waiver Draft today, it could have been a pre-Week Ten brother battle that wouldn't count for anything today.  It's not.  Casey DeSmith, picked by Benson, but not active until Monday, will take on the still available Anthony Stolarz, but Michal Neuvirth is expected to backup.

Chad Johnson (N/A) versus Adin Hill (N/A)
The injury-depleted Blues are into Arizona to take on the Coyotes on the second half of back-to-back nights.  That hasn't stopped the Blues from playing their number one on back-to-back starts, but last night's game did go into overtime and they probably don't want to wear Jake Allen down too much, despite where they are in the standings.

Corey Crawford (Benson) versus Pekka Rinne (John P.)
No indication of the starting goalies between Chicago and Nashville tonight, but it seems fairly likely that the number ones will go for each team tonight.  Both pool teams, belonging to Benson and John, could really use the start and more so the points from the win.  Different reasons for both, but those 2 points are very valuable.

Marc-Andre Fleury (Troy) versus Mikko Koskinen (Picked)
The Oilers are loving life with Mikko Koskinen and Tony is waiting for Monday, when he can start capitalizing on his success.  It won't be tonight though, as confirmed as he is for tonight's game against Vegas, picked players are not live until Monday.  Tony may get a good taste of what he's picking up though tonight.  For Vegas, on the other hand, still not confirmed, but it may be fair to assume that they go right back to Marc-Andre Fleury, offering Troy another start.