Goalie Announcements (Dec 16)

Seven games on the schedule on this lazy Sunday and four of them are morning/afternoon tilts, so we'll have a lot of numbers done before prime time today.

What are we playing for today?

Seven teams have already hit the 30-point mark this week and we have five more teams a shutout away from the feat, so there has been plenty of scoring this week, it would seem.  Tony's team maintains a 1-point lead over Dale C., 35-34, at the top of the weekly standings, Ryan is another point back, Steve and Jesse are at 31 points, while Wes and Stacey C. are at 30.  With this many games going, there will be opportunities to make this race really exciting.

Eric's team continues to struggle, only picking up 3 points yesterday and now has a 4-point gap to make up on both Mike and Scott, if it has any hope of not earning the Basement Dweller nod.  Eric's team has four possible games to be played, will one of them be a goalie start?

Marc-Andre Fleury (Troy) versus Henrik Lundqvist (Scott)
The early, early game is so early, that there isn't much in the way of news here, writing this post about an hour before puck drop.  All indications, like schedule and playing time, would suggest a battle of the number one goalies, which would suit Troy and Scott just fine, but those early afternoon games are number one goalie killers and if there was ever a slot to just slide in your backup, it would be a game like this.

Adin Hill (N/A) versus Petr Mrazek (Stacey C.)
Stacey gets a solid crack at some goalie points in the early afternoon game between the Coyotes and the Hurricanes.  Both teams haven't seen much in the way of consistency of late, so this game is a bit of a toss up, but you need players to play, if you're going to want to collect some points.  Stacey has the only pool goalie going in this one and needs to make up 5 points for a shot at the Mover & Shaker.

Jon Gillies (N/A) versus Jake Allen (Steve)
The Calgary Flames are on back-to-back afternoon games, there is a rumbling that Mike Smith might be ready to go, but that hasn't been confirmed, nor denied, but it seems like a wise decision to go with the healthy guy that they have up from the minors, just playing the odds.  The Blues are struggling these days and they need something to happen here soon, like a win.  I'm sure Steve might agree with that, assuming that his goalie is going to go for the home side again today.

Linus Ullmark (Steve) versus Tuukka Rask (Jesse)
The Buffalo Sabres are on back-to-backs and the Boston Bruins got shelled by the Penguins on Friday night, so for those reasons, I'm going with "the other guy" in today's game between the two, which means Steve could have another start and Jesse could have his only start of the day, two pool teams that are in the mix for the Mover & Shaker and a game that could have some real entertainment value.

Martin Jones (Brenda & Seward) versus Corey Crawford (Benson)
The Blackhawks confirmed that Corey Crawford is going to get the nod in the crease this evening, when they host the San Jose Sharks, which suits Benson's 20th place team just fine, since this is his only projected game of the day.  His team sits at 21 points this week, so well clear of the basement, not even close to the top, but 2 points can be 2 points.  There was nothing certain about the Sharks' goaltending this morning, but this could be a good game to keep their winning streak alive.

Andrei Vasilevskiy (Dale C.) versus Connor Hellebuyck (Jeremy)
Neither goalie for the Bolts and Jets were announced at the time of the post, but neither team played on Saturday and this has Cup Finals preview written all over it, so I expect to see the number ones here tonight.  Jeremy certainly hopes so, since this is his last kick at the can for a survival win and it isn't going to come easy against the league-leading Lightning.

Mikko Koskinen (Tony) versus Anders Nilsson (N/A)
The Vancouver Canucks are on back-to-back nights, which would suggest it would be the goalie that didn't play last night, so it could be another non-pool start there, but Tony should be getting a start with Mikko Koskinen and the Oilers, but that has yet to be confirmed today.  Tony's team is hoping for that last ditch effort to protect that Mover & Shaker lead or take it back, depending on how the rest of the day has gone.