Whether you’re interested for fantasy hockey reasons or just want to know which goalie your team is playing in a given day, we thought it might be helpful to share our best guesses (based on various previews from newspapers and Web sites plus our own instincts) on who might start each day.
Today’s schedule features a medium-sized five games, but they all start pretty early for once. For that reason, you need to make you goalie decisions pretty early today. Let’s get to it.
7:00 PM ET games
NY Islanders @ Toronto
Likely NY Islanders starter: Dwayne Roloson -As Katie Strang points out, Roloson put together a 58-save performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs last year. Couple that with some effective starts so far this season and it’s easy to see why the Isles are likely to start Rolo. (Source: Katie Strang.)
Likely Toronto starter: J.S. Giguere - Giguere’s been very strong so far in his contract year. He very well might earn himself another nice deal, though teams would be wise to keep it short-term with the up-and-down netminder. (Source: Pension Plan Puppets.)
Ottawa @ Pittsburgh
Likely Ottawa starter: Brian Elliott - With Pascal Leclaire out for the near future, expect Elliott to get most of the starts in net for Ottawa. (Source: Silver Seven Sens.)
Likely Pittsburgh starter: Brent Johnson - After Johnson went 3-0 while Marc-Andre Fleury is 0-3, I openly wondered if there might a goalie controversy in Pittsburgh. Fleury should have the job in the long run, but there’s nothing wrong with riding the hot hand right now. (Source: Empty Netters.)
Colorado @ NY Rangers
Likely Colorado starter: Craig Anderson (Source: Adrian Dater of the Denver Post.)
Likely NY Rangers starter: Henrik Lundqvist - He hasn’t gotten off to the best of starts, but the Rangers live and die by their Swedish star. (Source: Andrew Gross.)
7:30 PM ET game
Dallas @ Tampa Bay
Likely Dallas starter: Kari Lehtonen - He’s undefeated so far this season. Really, barring his perennial health problems, he should get a ton of starts for the Stars. He’ll get tested as the Lightning cannot be happy about their last performance. (Source: ESPN Dallas.)
Likely Tampa Bay starter: Mike Smith - Things didn’t go well for Dan Ellis in Tampa Bay’s last game, so it makes sense that Smith is the probable starter. It’s been more about the Lightning’s offense than their goaltending in their wins so far this season, so expect this goalie duo to rotate until somehow produces exemplary work. (Source: Raw Charge.)
8:30 PM ET game
Likely St. Louis starter: Jaroslav Halak - Ty Conklin played against Dallas, so chances are Halak will be back in net for the Blues tonight. (Source: Jeremy Rutherford.)
Likely Chicago starter: Marty Turco - Turco was strong in his first win of the season, so he deserves another shot at solidifying his top spot. (Source: Adam Jahns.)