Goalie Announcements (Jan 17)

Week Sixteen is just flying along!  We're already at Thursday night and we've got a bit of action going on the NHL schedule.  Seven games are on the schedule tonight and the pool is still collecting points at 13 per NHL game.

The race for the Mover & Shaker is heating up and Tony took the lead after Wednesday night, leaping over a bunch of teams to now lead at 17 points.  Eric was one of those teams Tony had to jump and he's keeping up, now at 16 points, while Steve and Brian are at 15 points and there are six more teams within a shutout of the lead.

Neil was left behind a little bit, as his team has struggled to pick up points this week, only sitting with 5 points through Wednesday's action.  Wes and Grant have also struggled, only 1 point up on Neil's team, and there's another six teams within a shutout of the bottom too.

Not too many teams left in the middle between the top and bottom, so that is making for a great races on either side.

Jake Allen (Steve) versus Tuukka Rask (Jesse)
Steve's team is looking good this week, as mentioned above, and he's getting a start from the visiting Blues in Boston.  Jake Allen gets the nod once again, currently ranking 18th among all goalies this season.  The platoon situation in Boston continues to rotate, as Jesse gets another start out of Tuukka Rask, the 24th ranked goalie in the pool this year.  The Rask-Halak combo has been very good for Boston, but hell for the poolies that have them, not getting true number one minutes out of either of them.

Mackenzie Blackwood (N/A) versus Robin Lehner (Chelsea)
I haven't seen any confirmation on the Islanders goalie tonight, the only one I'm missing at the time of publishing this post, but it does seem fair to think that Chelsea will get another start out of Robin Lehner, since he has been playing so well of late.  Again, not confirmed, but it does seem fairly likely.

Collin Delia (N/A) versus Henrik Lundqvist (Scott)
Scott's team has been doing fairly well this week, among those teams at 13 points at the start of play tonight and his goalie, Henrik Lundqvist, and the Rangers get the struggling Blackhawks at home, which has a fine chance at producing 2 more points.  The Rangers have been riding their number one as much as they possibly can, but the team hasn't exactly been rewarding that effort, as he only has 28 points in 33 appearances this season.

Frederik Andersen (Derek B.) versus Andrei Vasilevskiy (Dale C.)
The number four goalie meets the number three goalie in Tampa Bay tonight, which could mean that we could see one hell of a goalie duel between the Maple Leafs and the Lightning.  Both pool teams matched up here are sitting in the bottom half of the weekly scoring, with Derek leading 12-9, both teams fairly clear of the basement, but still close enough that a big let down can see them in the conversation by the weekend.

Connor Hellebuyck (Jeremy) versus Pekka Rinne (John P.)
Huge match-up in Nashville tonight, as the Jets and Predators are playing for Central Division supremacy.  The Jets lead the Preds by 2 points in the standings, with a couple of games in hand, but the Predators haven't been slouching of late, so this is going to be one hell of a game.  The two number ones go here tonight, Jeremy and John P. will each collect a start in this one, Jeremy is in the mix for the Mover & Shaker, while John is trying to avoid the basement, making this game even more interesting.

John Gibson (Kristy & Don) versus Alex Stalock (Ryan)
Two straight starts for Alex Stalock, which probably means that Ryan thinks it's Christmas all over again.  Ryan's team is on track to set a new season-high in goalie minutes played at this rate, all he would need is one more start from either goalie and it looks like he'll probably get that, so it is Christmas in January for Ryan!  No surprises at the other end, as John Gibson goes for the Ducks and the duo on the road.  The duo are sitting with 9 points this week, only 4 points clear of the basement.

Jack Campbell (N/A) versus Ben Bishop (Clayton)
Clayton's team is in the mix for the Mover & Shaker this week and his team is getting a start in the late game tonight, as the Dallas Stars will go back to Ben Bishop to take on the Los Angeles Kings.  Clayton's team is at 13 points this week and Bishop is currently ranked 13th among all goalies with 35 points, so things are looking favourable for a win tonight against a Kings team that is last in the west.