Goalie Announcements (Dec 2)

It's Sunday fun day!  One more excruciating day with our dropped players and then we'll start fresh and new next week with a batch of some new beauties, poised to take us all to the promised land!

Stacey M. got her win yesterday, so that means that all four teams have qualified in the survival pool, so no drama there today.

Both Ryan and Kristy & Don stormed past Stuart in the Mover & Shaker ranks yesterday, Ryan's team leading with 35 points, the duo in at 32 and Stuart at 31 at the start of play today.

The pool's other duo couldn't find much for offense yesterday and Brenda & Seward have now fallen into the Basement Dweller nod, deeply in need of their pickups to become active.  They stand at 9 points, 3 points back of both John P. and Chelsea, 4 points of Scott's team, so there is some potential movement there, with each team carrying a handful of games into today.

Six games on the schedule, including a couple of afternoon affairs.

John Gibson (Kristy & Don) versus Braden Holtby (Stacey C.)
The early afternoon game will see the Ducks and Capitals go, both teams running pretty hot, but the Capitals are winners of their last seven games and Braden Holtby does get the nod today, giving Stacey C. one last start this week.  His team has had an alright week with 21 points, smack dab in the middle of weekly scoring.  It's unconfirmed, but it would seem rather fitting that the Ducks go with their number one today too, since they have won three in a row and are looking to keep that streak going.

Connor Hellebuyck (Jeremy) versus Henrik Lundqvist (Scott)
Both the Jets and the Rangers played yesterday and played their unchosen backup goalies, so today, under the bright lights of Broadway, it is expected that the number ones go, but that is still unconfirmed.  Lundqvist and the Rangers are the team to watch here for the Basement Dweller race, they are going to have a tough go of it against the red-hot Jets and not getting the win here could keep Scott's team in the conversation longer than he wants.

Mike Smith (Brian) versus Corey Crawford (Benson)
The Blackhawks flipped their starting goalies on me for back-to-back games this weekend, playing Cam Ward last night in a loss, so it will be Corey Crawford getting the start today against the Flames.  Benson's team is at 17 points this week, just chilling near the bottom of the weekly standings, but still very safe from any Newsletter spots.  Building off of a 4-1 win against the Kings on Friday night, Mike Smith will get consecutive starts for the Flames, giving some extra hope to Brian's team, which needs more goalie points, if he's going to make the climb from 11th.

Martin Jones (Brenda & Seward) versus Carey Price (Stacey M.)
It was confirmed nice and early that the duo in need of points to get out of the basement will get a bonus start out of Martin Jones, who kind of had a stinker in Ottawa yesterday, gets a chance to bounce back against Montreal later on tonight.  It has also been suggested, yet unconfirmed, that Carey Price would get back-to-back starts as well, since he wasn't tested too much last night against the Rangers.  I can't see Stacey minding that so much.

Semyon Varlamov (Wilton) versus Jonathan Bernier (Brenda & Seward)
No one confirmed, so we're going to give it a good guess for the game between the Avalanche and Red Wings.  The Wings played last night, so there's a fine chance that they will give their number two a run, but the Avalanche didn't, they dropped an overtime decision on Friday night, so I would think that they would go back to their number one.

Curtis McElhinney (Picked) versus Jonathan Quick (Derek B.)
Finally, in the late, late game tonight, an 8:30pm MT start, the Hurricanes continue a California fly-by in Los Angeles, taking on the Kings.  McElhinney has won the favour of the coaching staff for the Canes, while Quick is back in action and has had a few days off since his first start in ages, so it seems very likely that he'll get the start there too.  Both unconfirmed, but likely, in my opinion.