March 8th – Fantasy Hockey Goalie Rankings

There were two afternoon games today where we saw Ryan Miller win his third straight with the Blues and get his first career win over the Avalanche as well as Ondrej Pavelec getting yanked against the Senators. If you are into hockey fights and missed the Jets vs. Sens game, make sure you take a look at the fight between Anthony Peluso and Jared Cowen… What a tilt! There are eight more games on tap tonight, so here are your primetime goaltender rankings!

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1. Tuukka Rask (@ TB) – Rask is coming off of his league leading sixth shutout and is 3-0-0 with a ridiculous 0.33 GAA, .988 SV% and two shutouts against the Lightning this season.
2. Sergei Bobrovsky (@ NSH) – Bobrovsky enters play with a 3-1-0 record, 2.82 GAA and .900 SV% in the month March and will face a Preds team who have only score six goals in four games since the NHL resumed play.
3. Ben Bishop (vs. BOS) – Bishop ranks in the top-5 in Wins, GAA, SV% and shutouts, so even if his matchup is difficult you have to roll him out there.
4. Darcy Kuemper (@ DAL) – Kuemper has won five starts in a row with a 1.20 GAA and .953 SV%. He is one of the hottest goalies in the NHL right now, enjoy it while it lasts.
5. Pekka Rinne (vs. CBJ) – Rinne has only faced 41 shots in his first two games back and Columbus ranks 23rd in shots while Nashville is ninth in shots against; so expect another quiet night, but maybe his first win since October. (Likely)
6. Antti Niemi (vs. MTL) – Niemi needs another big-win tonight if he wants to remain ahead of Alex Stalock on the depth chart. He is a fantastic 20-3-3 at home this season, so he should be a safe start.
7. Jonathan Bernier (vs. PHI) – This could be a fast paced offensive shootout so Bernier is risky at #7, but if he should toss-up a strong SV% at the very least. He got his first win as a Leaf vs. Philly, will get get #24 tonight?
8. Kari Lehtonen (vs. MIN) – Lehtonen has won four of his last five starts while allowing just nine goals on 134 shots (.933 SV%). The Stars have been hard-pressed to find any level of consistency, be careful with this matchup.
9. Jaroslav Halak (vs. PHX) – Halak is going to find life in Washington a lot more difficult than he did with the defense-first Blues. However his first game as a Capital comes with a fairly favourable matchup.
10. Mike Smith (@ WSH) – Smith’s season has had more up-and-downs than a yo-yo… He is currently on a two game winning streak, but a meeting with Alex Ovechkin could snap that real quick.
11. Eddie Lack (vs. CGY) – Lack is  2-0-0 with a 1.95 GAA and .926 SV% in the previous two meetings with the Flames.
12. Joni Ortio (@ VAN) – Ortio is 2-1-0 with a 2.02 GAA and .926 SV% in his first three NHL starts and tonight he gets the nod against a Canucks team who have seen better days.
13. Peter Budaj (@ SJ) – . Budaj has now lost three of five while posting a 3.28 GAA and .871 SV% since Carey Price was injured. The Sharks have gone 3-1-1 while scoring 4.00 goals per game since the Olympic break, so Budaj’s matchup is an ugly one tonight.
14. Steve Mason (@ TOR) – . Mason is on a three-game winning-streak despite posting a 3.29 GAA and .888 SV%. Like I said about Bernier, this game has the makings of a high-scoring affair.
15. Martin Brodeur (vs. CAR) – This ranking has more to do with the Devils than it does with Brodeur. They are coming off of a 7-4 loss last night, it might be hard for them to get into this one for their veteran netminder.

Unconfirmed

Carolina – Anton Khudobin / Cam Ward / Justin Peters