Start 2 of Thomas, Bryz, Mike Smith and Ben Bishop

[anthonybeaty]

Thoughts please?

[iamlilc]

I would go Thomas vs. the Leafs for sure.

And it's close between Smith and Bishop.

Smith is playing CLB. (enough said, even though CLB has been playing well of late).

Bishop is getting his first start with the sens, so he'll be extra motivated. Plus they played like shit against FLA on Sunday, so they'll want to win this one.

Tough to say, but my gut is Bishop.

[anthonybeaty]

Yeah I agree with the assessment so far. Bryz is out - too inconsistent and playing against Detroit. Thomas is pretty much a guaranteed started for me as long as he plays.

I am a little scared with Smith because he played last night and he is not yet projected to start. Smith seems to give up multiple goals in the early part of the game and then shut em down for the remainder. Since he played last night Tippett may yank him thinking he is tired after he gives up an early goal or two. Pulling a goalie is the death nell for his fantasy owners.

I know so little about Bishop though - his first game may be a double edged sword. It may inspire him to play better/harder but it may also do the same for the opposition. They might think that they can rattle him if they get to him early - this thought may push Tampa Bay to shell him.

[hawkeyez17]

Thomas and Smith for me. Good luck!

[anthonybeaty]

OK - things just got a lot more interesting.

Apparently, it is likely that Smith is not playing tonight. So my choice becomes Thomas with Bryz or Bishop or Thomas just by himself.

[hockeyrobot]

Welcome to the boards!

Thomas no question.

After that my order would be Smith, Bryz, Bishop. No need to take a risk on a rookie goalie playing his first game for a team when you have SMith and Bryz.

And I know Bryz has had a terrible year, but if there ever was a time that he might have some confidence, it's after Sunday's shutout against the Caps; he played awesome!

[anthonybeaty]

It is a daily pick, head to head league where we track 4 goalie stats (W, SV%, GAA, Shots) and my opponent's goalies are JSG, Niemi and Howard. I got a little lucky this week with Howard's injury - my opponent is looking at at most 6 starts.

That assumes that Howard comes back Friday and that JSG does not lose any starts to Varlamov this week (other than tonight). Since those are assumptions, he could be left with 5 or even fewer starts. There really are no goalies left on the WW since Emery, Bishop, Joey MacDonald and even Bachman have recently disappeared so he will have difficulty picking up starts from the WW.

So I have no real incentive to play 2 goalies tonight. It lets me sit Bryz since Detroit scares me and it lets me sit Bishop just to see what he can do at the NHL level. TB also scares me since they have the potential to put up goals quickly.

I have the potential to get up to 9 starts so I should have the cumulutive stats in the bag even if I sit one or two goalies this week for matchup reasons.

The worst case scenario for me is to start Bryz or Bishop and have them get shelled so I lose the GAA and SV% stats. I really think my team has the potential to win all 4 goalie stats this week.

[bradyrulez]

i'd go with thomas and bishop. bryz is too eradict(plus playing detroit) and smith is riding the pine tonight.

[BC Oiler]

I would go Thomas and Bryz.

A couple things to consider regarding the Phi vs. Det matchup.

-Detroit is playing on the road, where they aren't quite as dominant as they are at home (16-16-1 record).
-Detroit is a little banged up right now. Datsyuk, Bertuzzi, Howard among other will not be in the lineup tonight.
-Since the all-star break, Bryz has posted a 2.03 GAA and .920% sv percentage, including a shutout his last game. Seems he's bounced back a bit. Not saying it's a gaurantee that he's back to his old self, but its promising.

So yeah, I would go with Thomas and take a chance on Bryz.

[Bones]

PLEASE HELP

I'm in a pickle: I have T. Purcell on my roster who's recent streak took my team from vying for a playoff spot to competing for a 1st round playoff bye. I also just lost Tuuka Rask but he's been really inconsistent since early-to-mid season anyway, so no big loss. But I did pick up Ben Bishop. It's early in my weekly matchup still so I'm leaning toward sitting Bishop and rolling Purcell.
However, I am really pulling for Bishop to pull a Patrick Roy, and I can replace Purcell with either Taylor Hall, David Perron, or Max Pacioretty.

Thoughts?