Goalie Announcements (Dec 15)

Early start out west, so an early goalie post... and you know what that means!  A solid round of guess the starters!

A few keepers have already been confirmed, a small handful were revealed on Friday night, but otherwise, we're going to make some educated guesses here and I think I did pretty well with them last night, so we'll run with that.

Tony and Dale C. are our current Mover & Shaker leaders, heading into Saturday's action, both teams sit at 31 points after a good work week of scoring.  Wes and Steve are at 27 points, within shutout distance of the other two and there are nine other teams that have hit 20+ points already this week too.

At the bottom, Eric's team posted a few points, now sits at 10 points for the week, catching up to Chelsea at 11 points, while Mike and Derek B. are at 13 points and then in shutout distance, Scott's team is at 14 points.  There's still plenty of potential shuffling here, so let's get right to it.

David Rittich (Ryan) versus Devan Dubnyk (Wes)
The Flames are in Minnesota for the early, early game today, an 11:30am MT start and we do know that David Rittich will be the starter for the Flames, while Devan Dubnyk is an educated guess against the Western Conference's top team.  Both Ryan and Wes are in the mix for the Mover & Shaker this week, so this is a key game in that race, especially if both goalies are going as expected.

Mike McKenna (N/A) versus Carey Price (Stacey M.)
The Ottawa Senators are on back-to-back nights and we know already that Mike McKenna will get the nod on the second half, but we're assuming, with no other games tomorrow, the Canadiens will go with Carey Price on Hockey Night in Canada tonight, which should offer Stacey another start this week.  Stacey's team is at 18 points this week, not quite in either race, but just keeping the pace in 3rd overall in the standings.

Frederik Andersen (Derek B.) versus Roberto Luongo (John P.)
Nothing confirmed early on, but we'll put some solid bets on the number ones going for the Maple Leafs and Panthers in Sunrise tonight.  No back-to-backs for either side, Andersen looking to bounce back from a loss in Tampa, Luongo had the night off on Thursday, so he should be well rested.  The Leafs are heavy favourites in this game, so Derek is really pushing for those 2 points to help him out of basement contention.

Jonathan Bernier (Brenda & Seward) versus Thomas Greiss (Stuart)
The Islanders return to the Nassau Coliseum tonight to host the Red Wings and Detroit was at home playing the Senators last night, so they should be going with Jonathan Bernier tonight, unconfirmed, while the Islanders should be going back to Thomas Greiss after Robin Lehner took a loss against Vegas earlier this week.  Both pool teams here are in the middle of the pack, all nonchalant like.

Jonathan Quick (Derek B.) versus Matt Murray (N/A)
Matt Murray is finally going to return to the Penguins' net on Saturday night against the Kings, but he will do so without a hockey pool banner to fly.  The oft-injured keeper was dropped in the Waiver Draft, so no minutes there, but he'll likely be going up against another often injured keeper in Jonathan Quick, so it would be a miracle, if both of these guys were to play the full 60 minutes.  Oh yeah, I'm sure the 2 points would also be good for Derek's team, assuming he gets both of these starts.

Carter Hutton (Wes) versus Pheonix Copley (N/A)
The Capitals were in Carolina last night and they return home to take on the Sabres on back-to-back nights, which leads many to believe that Copley will be their keeper for the return game on Saturday.  For the visitors, it will be in their best interest to get Carter Hutton going again, as he should make his second start after coming off a brief injury stint.  The Sabres have been strong in front of Hutton and it has certainly helped Wes' numbers out considerably this season.

John Gibson (Kristy & Don) versus Sergei Bobrovsky (Kristy & Don)
It's still unconfirmed, but it looks fairly likely, that Kristy & Don will get 2 points out of the Anaheim/Columbus game tonight, as their keepers should feature prominently in this one.  Neither team are on back-to-backs, the Ducks are running pretty hot at the moment, while the Jackets are only tepid, at best, but this could be a pretty intense game, both from the crease and in terms of physical play.  The duo sit at 17 points this week and are hoping mightily for a solid goaltending duel, right through to the shootout.

Keith Kinkaid (Neil) versus Pekka Rinne (John P.)
I'm sure the Devils were hoping that Cory Schneider could go longer than nine minutes in last night's game before getting pulled for Keith Kinkaid, but Schneider's season has been so dismal, they had to do what they needed to do to come back from a 3-goal deficit to win.  The dismal season still likely means that Kinkaid will start tonight against the daunting Predators, but it could be a tough go.  The Predators still haven't confirmed yet, but their schedule is relaxed today, so I would think they'll go back to their number one tonight.

Ben Bishop (Clayton) versus Semyon Varlamov (Stacey C.)
The Colorado Avalanche will be donning their alternate jerseys tonight and they have already confirmed that Semyon Varlamov will be wearing his in the crease tonight, giving Stacey C. a start on Saturday evening.  Stacey's team has been having a good week, up with 26 points, and a big home start from his keeper has some real potential tonight.  The opponents for this game will be the Dallas Stars and we're looking at Ben Bishop to get the start again, coming off of a couple of days rest, ready for a divisional game.

Alex Lyon (N/A) versus Jacob Markstrom (Chelsea)
The Philadelphia Flyers finish their Western Canada swing on back-to-back nights in Vancouver, taking on the Canucks in the late game tonight.  The Flyers goaltending situation remains fairly fluid these days, so it can be anyone's guess as to who starts, even on back-to-back nights, while Jacob Markstrom didn't play in the Canucks' last game, so it seems like a reasonable assumption that Chelsea will get this start tonight.