Planning ahead starts 4/2

[letnry]

Stats are W, GAA, SVS, SV%, SHO.

Right now I am up against Thomas and Luongo, so my opponent has a pretty nice lead in GAA, and SV%, so I am looking primarily for wins and a shutout would always me nice too!

I can start two of the following.....not the best of matchups. Thanks for your thoughts as always!

Brodeur vsMON
Rinne vsDET
Varly/Neuvirth vsBUF

[dmfitzpatrick29]

Buffalo has given the Caps fits, but I think you take one of the Caps goalies and Broduer. Miller is hurt, so the chances for a win from the Caps pair is increased.

Montreal hasn't looked that good recently and I think the Devils are going to be hard to play against down the stretch - playing for pride now. I wouldn't want a guy playing against Detroit (with Datsyuk back), even if it was Rinne.

[norrisdivision]

I say Varly/Neuvirth and Rinne. It'll probably be Neuvirth who matches well against BUF. Enroth is not Ryan Miller, shutout the other day or not. And as I said in a previous post, Detroit's goaltending situation is perilous until Howard comes back (and even then it's not great). I see Nashville as the favourite in that game.

[andrewklassen]

For me it comes down to whether you really want to focus WINS or do you want to spread your focus to WINS and the highest possibility SO.

Emphasizing WINS only I like Brodeur at home against a struggling MON team and one of the WAS tandem at home against the Miller-less SABRES.

Balancing WINS with possible SO I'll take one of the WAS tandem [again] and Rinne at home against the Howard/Datsyuk-less WINGS. I still think it's close and could easily be a NAS loss, but Rinne is a SO king and if you think you need that category you simply have to ice him IMHO.

EDIT...a continued part of my reasoning is the SV category you have. DET and BUF are 2nd and 4th in the league in SOG per game...meaning even if you lose your G should pile up the SAVES. Also, NJ is the best in the league at limiting SOG so that's your poorest choice for that category.

Cheers.

[bondon]

Sorry if i'm making this decision even harder, but if it were my team I would likely roll Rinne and Brodeur
It's tough because all of these matchups have the potential to backfire on you. As far as I'm concerned all 3 are "good" matchups with the decent potential to go horribly wrong.
Rinne I find it hard to find any reason not to play him on any given night. He's been the mark of consistency this year. He's owned Detroit in the past, and the news of no Dats in the lineup just sweetens the deal for me.
Brodeur I'm taking because I like NJD's chances to win with Parise back in the lineup. As everyone has been alluding to this season Travis Zajac has hurt the most from losing Parise. Perhaps the return of his maker of success will light a spark? Nobody expects Parise to return and pot a hat trick or anything but maybe just having him skating alongside him will activate Zajac.

Varlamov/Neuvirth isn't a bad option, but I just have a bad feeling. I can't explain it, maybe its a combination of taking the Sabres for granted without Miller...the fact that they're still playing very important games. Just not for me this time.

So I guess to summarize here i'm rolling with the two studs if it were my team. Good luck and I hope it works out whichever way you choose!

[letnry]

Just to update, thanks to my opponent trying to add some saves by playing Boucher, save % and GAA could still be in play now too. I'm Hartford. His goalies are Thomas, Luo, Lehtonen and he could call up Enroth for tomorrow.


San Jose Sharks 3 1.79 114 .927 1
Hartford Whalers 4 2.13 161 .925 0

[Shoeless]

If Thomas doesn't get the start, is he done for the week for starts? Can you start 1 and hope to gain ground?

If you were to only start 1 then it would be Brodeur for me. I don't like the other two starts much but they might be okay. Forced to chose I think you have to go with Rinne - Sabres are going to come hard with their backup in.

[letnry]

If Thomas doesn't get the start, is he done for the week for starts? Can you start 1 and hope to gain ground?

He has potentially Lehtonen and Enroth that could go tomorrow. I think it's probably best I start 2 today and hope for the best. Thanks!

[Shoeless]

Well it's close to Marty and flip a coin for me. Neither of the other two starts are bad - just more unpredictable in my mind.

[letnry]

Yeah, that's been my thinking too, none of them really jump out as for sure starts. Been leaning toward Brodeur and Rinne, so will likely stick with that and see what happens. Thanks everyone!

[Shoeless]

Well that Rinne start sucked - about the result I kinda expected actually. Who did your opponent start today?

[bondon]

Ugh sorry big guy I f*cked this one up royally. I owe ya one.

[letnry]

Hindsight eh? No problems guys, I did what I felt was my teams best chance. As it turns out my opponent had both Thomas and Luongo in, so nothing changed for him, I just lowered my SV% to .918 and raised my GAA a bit. Had I known he wasn't going to get Lehtonen in his lineup in time, I should have sat my guys, but how do you know! It's all good. It's possible he'll chase the wins category tomorrow with Enroth and Lehtonen (if they play) and hurt his cause, you never know! Still appreciate the input, I'll be back, haha!