Goalie Announcements (Mar 24)

It's a quiet Friday night in the NHL, as there are only four games in the league and there isn't a great deal of pressing matters on the night.  By the early afternoon count, there was only one confirmed money game for the hockey pool, with the possibility of a second game on tap.

Let's not get too excited about tonight.  Go out and enjoy yourselves, have a beer and we'll talk again in the morning tomorrow.

Jaroslav Halak (Troy) versus Marc-Andre Fleury (Cam)
The return of Jaroslav Halak headlines the early game on the schedule tonight, as the Islanders struggle to even stay in the playoff picture in the Eastern Conference.  They open the night 2 points back of Boston, with a couple of games in hand, but they get Marc-Andre Fleury and the Penguins tonight, no easy task.

In the pool, this is a battle of two teams battling for the Basement Dweller, as Troy leads with 6 points, while Cam follows closely with 7 points.  Winner gets much closer to being safe.

Andrei Vasilevskiy (Ryan) versus Petr Mrazek (Stacey C.)
We are being left to assume it will be a money game in Detroit tonight, as it hasn't been confirmed that Vasilevskiy will play for the visiting Lightning, but if he does, Ryan will have a shot at trying to close down the 5-point gap to Brenda & Seward in 3rd place.

Stacey C.'s team is currently riding a good hot streak, tied for the Mover & Shaker lead this week, but his 7th place team is still 15 points behind Ryan's and needs this hot streak to ride through the last couple weeks of the season to even have a chance at the money.

Aaron Dell (N/A) versus Antti Niemi (Wilton)
We know that the Sharks will be starting their back-up, Aaron Dell, tonight, signalling no pool points from that side of the ice tonight, but neither of the Stars goalies have teams in the top 20, so this game becomes quite the wash, whoever they decide to go with.  At the time of the post being written, it was assumed that Niemi would get the call tonight.

Michael Hutchinson (Grant) versus Jonathan Bernier (Eric)
There is one money game already confirmed and that is the late game tonight, as Eric's 5th place team, 4 points out of 3rd, will get a start from Bernier and the Ducks again, while the Jets, who played on Thursday night, will likely (although not confirmed) go with Hutchinson.  Bernier should continue to get the net, as it sounds like the Ducks are going to be very cautious with John Gibson, ahead of the playoffs.