Goalie Announcements (Mar 5)

Day two of the week and Tony's team continues to roll, as he saw his pool team get off to another strong start on Monday, posting 7 points and it took a clear lead in the Mover & Shaker race, looking for back-to-back efforts.

With only two games last night, it should come as no surprise as more than half the pool didn't pick up a point.  It takes a special kind of person to take Oilers, Flames, Maple Leafs and/or Sabres and we all know one or two of these special kinds of people.

Another 10 games on the schedule tonight, which will make for lots of points and some cool views, by the look of what's going on tonight.  That's exciting news.

Curtis McElhinney (N/A) versus Jaroslav Halak (Stacey M.)
Well, this is somewhat disappointing.  I usually like to use graphics of goalies that are actually playing tonight, but how could you not want to see the Whalers jersey up there today, when the Carolina Hurricanes will be starting a non-pool goalie in Curtis McElhinney and Petr Mrazek was wearing those beauty green jerseys in the first half of this series with the Bruins, earlier in the season?  I'm just saying, just throwing that out there.

Jaroslav Halak is playing tonight for the Bruins, giving Stacey M. her first start of the night, her money team is looking to stay up there and even chase down Stuart's team.  Her team is 36 points out of 1st place and 2 points will certainly chip away at that.

Sergei Bobrovsky (Kristy & Don) versus Cory Schneider (N/A)
The Columbus Blue Jackets are visiting the swamp tonight and they are playing the only hockey pool goalie in this game, dressing Sergei Bobrovsky for this one and giving Keith Kinkaid the bench as his backup, just so he can enjoy the video tribute he'll get from his former club, after moving at the deadline.  More importantly, Bobrovsky is going for the duo tonight, they open play 5 points out of the money and this is a great chance for 2 or more points tonight.

Craig Anderson (Mike) versus Robin Lehner (Chelsea)
The New York Islanders can retake top spot in the Metropolitan Division with a regulation or overtime win against the Ottawa Senators tonight and that is the most exciting tidbit from this game.  The goaltending match-up sees Mike's 20th place team get a start against a goalie from Chelsea's 22nd place team, both having posted a point last night in the limited action.  A win for Chelsea could move her goalie tandem into a tie for 4th in pool scoring, so we know what part of her team didn't let her down this year.

Roberto Luongo (John P.) versus Matt Murray (Scott)
The Panthers are quickly falling to the wayside in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, while the Penguins are narrowly holding onto their wild card spot, so this game seems to mean more for the home side tonight, unless pride is what's going to keep Florida going.  Both John and Scott were not among those teams with points from last night, so they will be looking for their first contributions with a win (and some skater points), but neither have any money aspirations now.

Connor Hellebuyck (Jeremy) versus Andrei Vasilevskiy (Dale C.)
The heavyweight bout of the night will feature the Jets in Tampa to take on the Lightning and they are not pulling any punches, as the numbers ones get to roll out for this one tonight.  Connor Hellebuyck versus Andrei Vasilevskiy... this is the match-up we could be seeing in June, so it's really a great preview of that tonight.  Jeremy's team leads Dale's team after one night in the week, 1-0, both looking to stay away from that dreaded basement.

Devan Dubnyk (Wes) versus Pekka Rinne (John P.)
It's a full-on hockey pool match-up in Nashville tonight, when Wes' goalie takes on John P.'s goalie, a second start for John's team on the night.  Wes' team has since dropped down to 7th place in the last few days and needs a huge push to get back into the conversation for the race for 3rd place.  Minnesota is holding down the last wild card spot in the Western Conference and desperately need this win, but the Predators are 2nd in the Central Division and will make this very difficult on the Wild.

Alexandar Georgiev (N/A) versus Ben Bishop (Clayton)
The Dallas Stars are one of two teams currently holding a playoff spot with a negative goal differential, so it's really hard to make something out of that or even believe that they will still hold a playoff spot in five weeks time.  Nevertheless, they're only a -2 in the statistic, something that Ben Bishop will look to rectify with a win against the Rangers tonight.  He's the only pool goalie going in this one, giving Clayton a start for his reeling team in the standings.  His team fell below the equator last week and is looking for a big bounce back.

Jonathan Bernier (N/A) versus Semyon Varlamov (Wilton)
Only one pool goalie in Colorado tonight, as Semyon Varlamov gets the nod for the home team, when they play host to the Red Wings tonight.  Colorado is still sniffing around for a playoff spot, starting the night only 3 points back of the last wild card spot and they get a juicy morsel in playing the Wings, who are not quite the same team they once were in their hay day.  Wilton's team is in shutout range of top spot in the weekly scoring ranks and he has a good shot at it here in this game.

John Gibson (Kristy & Don) versus Darcy Kuemper (Neil)
We know for sure that Darcy Kuemper will be going for the Arizona Coyotes tonight, giving Neil a start tonight, his team starts the week in 15th place, 7 points back of the equator.  The Coyotes have been hot of late, now only 2 points out of a playoff spot, 8-2 in their last 10, 6-game winning streak and they get the Ducks tonight.  The Ducks are playing the first half of back-to-backs tonight, no word on their goalie, but they are back home tomorrow to face the Blues, so it's a bit of a toss up for their goalies.  Gibson for this one?  Tomorrow?  Both?  We shall see.

Carey Price (Stacey M.) versus Jonathan Quick (Brenda & Seward)
The Canadiens are on the west coast and they have a date with the Kings tonight, putting a pretty decent match-up on paper together, when Carey Price takes on Jonathan Quick.  The Kings are in last place in the Western Conference and looking to play spoilers on the Canadiens, who hold the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.  The visitors should keep this from being a close contest, but you can never really know for sure.  Stacey gets her second start of the night, while Brenda & Seward get their only start, trying to get off the mark this week after no points last night.