Goalie Announcements (Jan 15)

Well, for most teams, Monday night was a fairly successful night.  There were six games on the schedule and the pool managed to pull out 91 points, by my initial, unofficial count, which worked out to be just over 15 points per game.  Man, if we kept that rate up, we'd all be laughing.

Scott's team probably took my Basement Dweller nod to heart yesterday, so they came out firing on Monday night, leading the pool with 8 points, while Stuart and Eric each posted 7 points and we also had three teams at 6 points.  That's not a bad start to the week.

What is a bad start to the week is only having one defenseman going in those six games and that defenseman getting shutout.  Clayton's team was the only team to get shutout on Monday night, leaving his team down at the bottom of the standings, but with 10 games tonight, I'm sure that will pick up.  Six teams only registered a single point, another couple teams had 2 points, so the race at the bottom is very alive and well.

Jordan Binnington (N/A) versus Robin Lehner (Chelsea)
There were 4 points under Chelsea's name after Monday night's action, getting off to a fine start to the week.  She gets a start tonight in Brooklyn, when Robin Lehner and the Islanders host the Blues.  Chelsea's goalie situation is still rocking it in this middle segment of the season, leading the pool with 40 points since the start of Week Ten.

Curtis McElhinney (Wilton) versus Henrik Lundqvist (Scott)
Scott wants the good times to keep rolling tonight with this start for Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers, when they line up against the Carolina Hurricanes.  Maybe a hockey pool hot streak is what the Rangers need to get their heads back in the game this season.  Wilton gets a start tonight as well, as his team is hunting for the top 10, starting the night 7 points back and getting a road start from Curtis McElhinney and the Hurricanes. 

Keith Kinkaid (Neil) versus Joonas Korpisalo (Clayton)
At the other end of the weekly scoring spectrum, Clayton's team finally gets some action tonight and one start in the crease, coming from the Columbus Blue Jackets, as Joonas Korpisalo gets the nod tonight.  The Jackets are giving their number two a third start in four games tonight... a sign of things to come?  Neil also gets a start, as his team looks to improve upon its poor second segment from the crease, ranking last in the pool with only 8 points.  Keith Kinkaid gets the nod for the Devils in this divisional match-up.

Roberto Luongo (John P.) versus Antti Niemi (N/A)
The Roberto Luongo nostalgia tour continues through his hometown of Montreal tonight, which gives John P. a start for his team.  John's team is among those with only a single point out of Monday's action and will look to improve upon that and stay out of the basement for at least one more afternoon's post tomorrow.

John Gibson (Kristy & Don) versus Jimmy Howard (Tony)
What I know for sure is that Jimmy Howard has been tapped to go for the Red Wings tonight, giving Tony a start for his pool team, but the Ducks, always late to confirm, will likely go back to the well with John Gibson, but that is unconfirmed.  Tony's team has 4 points already this week and is off to a nice start, but the Red Wings are in tough with the Ducks in town, no matter who they start.

Braden Holtby (Stacey C.) versus Juuse Saros (Eric)
Both Stacey and Eric are off to good starts this week, 5 and 7 points, respectively, and both are hoping to keep the good times rolling with their goalie starts in Nashville tonight.  It's a possible Stanley Cup Final preview, when it comes to the teams, but with Juuse Saros getting the nod for the Predators tonight, it isn't exactly the goalie match-up we're likely to see.

Jonathan Quick (Derek B.) versus Alex Stalock (Ryan)
Derek's team leads Ryan's team in this week's scoring, after one night's worth of action, but their teams will go head-to-head in Minnesota, with Ryan's team carrying a bit of an edge in competition, as the Wild are a far better team at home than the Kings are at all this season.  The Wild are holding onto the last wild card spot in the west, but only by the skin of their teeth.

Marc-Andre Fleury (Troy) versus Laurent Brossoit (N/A)
Troy's goalies, the winners of the goalie survivor game, gets another start from the Vegas Golden Knights and Marc-Andre Fleury, trying to maintain a win in every week this season.  So far, they're 15-for-15 with 32 wins on the books this season, thanks is large part to Fleury.  Troy's team is off to a good start this week and is looking to see his team climb back into the money this week with a high-scoring performance.

Andrei Vasilevskiy (Dale C.) versus Anton Khudobin (Grant)
Both Dale and Grant are down among the bottom teams in the early returns from Monday night, but they both get a chance to improve upon that with goalie starts when the Lightning and the Stars play.  There's no surprise in the Vasilevskiy start for the Lightning, he's their true number one, but it is really beginning to look like the Stars are platooning again, with some inconsistency in their game of late.

Matt Murray (N/A) versus Martin Jones (Brenda & Seward)
The pool's second duo are seeing some improvements in their team's play and they get a clutch start out of Martin Jones and the Sharks, when the high-powered Penguins come to town.  This match-up has plenty of intrigue to it, especially when the duo are only 2 points from moving up to 23rd place after spending the bulk of the season in last.