Starting Goalies in the NHL tonight Tuesday, March 27

Below are the reported starters for Tuesday night:

(Bold is my predicted winner, Italic is an uncertain starter)

Penguins - Marc-Andre Fleury vs Capitals - Olaf Kolzig
Panthers - Ed Belfour vs Lightning - Marc Denis
Devils - Martin Brodeur vs Islanders - Rick DiPietro
Bruins - Tim Thomas vs Senators - Ray Emery
Rangers - Henrik Lundqvist vs Canadiens - Jaroslav Halak
Hurricanes - Cam Ward vs Maple Leafs - Andrew Raycroft
Flames - Miikka Kiprusoff vs Wild - Niklas Backstrom
Oilers - Dwayne Roloson vs Tomas Vokoun
Blue Jackets - Frederik Norrena vs Blues - Jason Bacashihua
Coyotes - Curtis Joseph vs Stars - Marty Turco
Canucks - Roberto Luongo vs Avalanche - Peter Budaj
Kings - Mathieu Garon vs Sharks - Evgeni Nabokov

How did I do last night?
2-2 for starters, 0-1 on winners
(Bold is the actual winner, Italic is my predicted winner)

Ducks - J.S. Giguere vs Red Wings - Domink Hasek

NHL Weekly Wrapup - Who's Hot and Who's Not

It's all about the hot line combo's. The San Jose Sharks Joe Thornton, Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek are redhot and all 3 appear in the top 5 lists for their positions. In Minnesota it is the combo of Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra have combined for 66 points in the Wild's last 24 games. These two are centered alternately by Mikko Koivu or Pierre-Marc Bouchard, if you look at the center rankings Demitra, Koivu and Bouchard are all in the top 5 for the week. If any of these players are on your waiver wire, now is the time to pick them up.

Centers: Joe Thornton led all centers with 1 goal and 7 assists in the past week and is currently on a 10 game point streak to challenge Sidney Crosby for the NHL points race.

Joe Thornton: 1 goal, 7 assists
Pavol Demitra: 2 goals, 3 assists
Mikko Koivu: 2 goals, 3 assists
Pierre-Marc Bouchard: 1 goal, 4 assists
Tyler Arnason: 5 assists

Who's Not: Rod Brind'Amour was blanked in the Hurricanes two games last week and has been on a steady decline since leading all scorers earlier in the season. He has still produced a solid 75 points on the season but there are definitely better choices out there. I know I just dropped him from my roster for the home stretch.

Wingers: Jonathan Cheechoo seems to have found his way back to prominence as he put up 6 goals and 2 assists in the past week and 13 points in his last 7 games.

Jonathan Cheechoo: 6 goals, 2 assists
Marian Gaborik: 3 goals, 3 assists, 1 GWG
Milan Michalek: 3 goals, 2 assists, 2 GWG
Daniel Sedin: 2 goals, 3 assists, 1 GWG
Pavol Demitra: 2 goals, 3 assists

Who's Not: Martin Havlat managed only 1 point in 4 games last week and has not scored a goal in 12 straight games. Coincidentally the Black Hawks have lost 8 of 12 in that span.

Defensemen: Christoph Schubert put up a goal and 3 assists last week, but before you rush out to add him to your lineup note that 3 of those points came in 1 game. In fact, 7 of his 22 points this year have come in only 3 games.

Christoph Schubert: 1 goal, 3 assists
Dion Phaneuf: 4 assists
Joe Corvo: 1 goal, 3 assists
Dan Boyle: 2 goals, 3 assists
Bryan McCabe: 1 goal, 2 assists

Who's Not: Kevin Bieksa may have 38 points on the year for the Canucks but he has none in his last 7 games.

Goaltenders: Henrik Lundqvist? Yep, the Rangers are perhaps the hottest team in the NHL right now and Lundqvist snatched 4 wins and 1 shutout last week.

Henrik Lundqvist: 4 wins, 1 shutout
Jaroslav Halak: 3 wins, 1 shutout
Frederik Norrena: 3 wins
Miikka Kiprusoff: 3 wins
Roberto Luongo: 2 wins, 1 shutout

Who's Not: Martin Biron and the Flyers are sinking fast. Biron has lost three straight and last week managed a paltry GAA of 4.04 and a save percentage of only .882

Who to watch this week: Mikko Koivu has 10 points in his last 8 games with 3 multi-point games in that stretch. The Wild play 3 times this week, twice against free falling Calgary and once against the surging Avalanche. I'm heading to the waiver wire right now to exchange him for Rod Brind'Amour.

3 Spots open in the East for 6 teams

This week in the NHL: The Eastern conference playoff race is tightening up as 6 teams are within 5 points of the final three playoff spots in the East. The Rangers, Lightning and Montreal have 6 games remaining while the Hurricanes, Islanders and Leafs each have 7 games remaining. It should be an interesting week in the NHL as these teams face each other frequently over the remainder of the season.

The Rangers play 4 of their remaining 6 games against the 6 teams in the playoff race
The Lightning play only 2 of their remaining 6 games against teams in the race
The Hurricanes play 3 of their remaining 7 games against teams in the race
The Islanders play only 2 of their remaining 7 games against teams in the race
The Canadiens play 3 of their remaining 6 games against teams in the race
The Maple Leafs play 4 of their remaining 7 games against teams in the race

Looking at the schedule we can see that the Rangers and the Maple Leafs hold their playoff destiny in their hands. Winning the remaining games against their conference rivals could propel these two teams into the playoffs. The Rangers are perhaps the hottest team in the NHL right now and have won 5 straight. The Leafs on the other hand haven't been able to decide which type of team they are, a contender or a pretender. The coming weeks will show us which.

Starting Goalies in the NHL tonight Monday, March 26

Below are the reported starters for Monday night:

(Bold is my predicted winner, Italic is an uncertain starter)

Ducks - J.S. Giguere vs Red Wings - Domink Hasek

How did I do last night?
10-10 for starters, 4-5 on winners
(Bold is the actual winner, Italic is my predicted winner)

Rangers - Henrik Lundqvist vs Islanders - Rick DiPietro
Bruins - Tim Thomas vs Penguins - Marc-Andre Fleury
Flames - Miikka Kiprusoff vs Black Hawks - Nikolai Khabibulin
Blues - Jason Bacashihua vs Blue Jackets - Frederik Norrena
Avalanche - Peter Budaj vs Canucks - Roberto Luongo

NOTE: Tim Thomas was pulled at the beginning of the 2nd period in favor of Joey MacDonald and Peter Budaj was pulled in the first period in favor of Jose Theodore

Starting Goalies in the NHL tonight Sunday, March 25

Below are the reported starters for Sunday night:

(Bold is my predicted winner, Italic is an uncertain starter)

Rangers - Henrik Lundqvist vs Islanders - Rick DiPietro
Bruins - Tim Thomas vs Penguins - Marc-Andre Fleury
Flames - Miikka Kiprusoff vs Black Hawks - Nikolai Khabibulin
Blues - Jason Bacashihua vs Blue Jackets - Frederik Norrena
Avalanche - Peter Budaj vs Canucks - Roberto Luongo

How did I do last night?
20-24 for starters, 6-12 on winners (maybe I should have warned you I was hung over when I wrote this yesterday? Take note, I am hung over again today)
(Bold is the actual winner, Italic is my predicted winner)

Rangers - Henrik Lundqvist vs Bruins - Joey MacDonald
Islanders - Rick DiPietro vs Flyers - Martin Biron
Thrashers - Kari Lehtonen vs Penguins - Jocelyn Thibault
Blues - Jason Bacashihua vs Red Wings - Domink Hasek
Sharks - Evgeni Nabokov vs Hurricanes - Cam Ward
Capitals - Olaf Kolzig vs Canadiens - Jaroslav Halak
Sabres - Ty Conklin Ryan Miller vs Maple Leafs - Andrew Raycroft
Devils - Martin Brodeur vs Panthers - Ed Belfour
Senators - Ray Emery vs Lightning - Marc Denis
Kings - Sean Burke Mathieu Garon vs Wild - Josh Harding
Predators - Tomas Vokoun vs Oilers - Jussi Markkanen
Stars - Mike Smith Marty Turco vs Coyotes - Mikael Tellqvist Curtis Joseph