Goaltender selection issues...

[CNFBC]

Hi there,

I have a growing conundrum:

We start only one goalie per night in my league. The issue is that I have both Bryzgalov (elite, great keeper goalie) and Neuvirth (not elite, playing great on an amazing team).

I always battle to decide and try to pick based on the matchup. My issue is that I have been selecting wrong. Pick Bryz, and he loses, but Neuvirth wins. Pick Neuvirth, and just the opposite. It's very frustrating (I guess a good problem to have).

The question is: Is Washington good enough that I should pick Neuvirth each time the two are playing on the same night?

Thanks in advance!

[Harnish]

You almost always want to go with your stud in situations like this (Bryz), but I understand where you're coming from. I think you want to look at a couple things:
1) How is the goalie trending (coming off a shutout, or strung together a couple of weak games?)
2) What's the matchup (ie: who is Washington or Phoenix playing that night?)
3) Home or Away game?
4) Coming of a back-to-back? Goalies don't typically fare as well ion the 2nd start on night two.

[CommittedToTheIndian]

You can drive yourself nuts (and it sounds like you already have) playing matchups. No one knows what any given player or team will do on any given night, so I'd roll with the better player (Bryz) every night unless, of course, it's been announced that LaBarbera will start in his place.

[maurauder]

From my experience you ignore matchups and ride the hot hand. Players have a tendency to get on a roll. I've seen the worst team blow out the better team too many times. If you're dealing with goalies that are all terrible then maybe matchups play into it, but when they are playing well, it barely matters.