ALL GOALIES CONFIRMED UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED AT TIME OF PRINT An early bird special this day after Thanksgiving as the Philadelphia Flyers are hosting the Winnipeg Jets. Steve Mason gets the nod against Ondrej Pavelec. Mason is having the better year out of the two statistically speaking and being on home ice should be enough advantage as the Flyers try to get back on the winning track....Then we have a matinee special as well with the New York Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist visit the Boston Bruins. Both goalies have something to prove in this one with the "King" trying to add to last game's win against Florida and Tuukka Rask trying to shake his lackluster effort against the Detroit Red Wings.  This one just may last long into a shootout..."Hockey all day" continues as the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ben Bishop (LIKELY) will face the surging Pittsburgh Penguins at 4:00 pm (ET). Marc-Andre Fleury (LIKELY) will be in net for the Pens as he has been getting plenty of support lately with the return of James Neal to the lineup. Bishop has a nicked-up hand, so the Penguins may try to take advantage of that.  It was a wild one last time these two teams met, ending in a 5-4 Pens' victory. This will be a good test for the Bolt....The second of four 4:00 pm games pits the New York Islanders and Kevin Poulin against the visiting Detroit Red Wings who are coming off a thrashing of the Boston Bruins. I sense a letdown for the Wings in this one as Jimmy Howard has lost 7 in a row. Howard is struggling a bit this year and while Poulin hasn't stepped it up ever since Nabokov went down with an injury, the Isles are in desperate need of a win after losing 4 straight and 9 of their last 11....Reto Berra and the Calgary Flames travel to Anaheim to take on Jonas Hiller (LIKELY) and the Ducks. Hiller tries to get back on the winning track against a Flames team the Ducks should easily handle....In a game pitting two Western Conference powerhouses against one another, Jaroslav Halak (LIKELY)and the St. Louis Blues take their gear to San Jose to take on the Sharks and Antti Niemi. The Sharks have won 3 in a row while and 6 of last 7 while the Blues have won 5 in a row as Halak has been improving his game in that streak, allowing only 4 regulation goals in 4 games during that streak.  This should be a great game to watch and I'm not crazy enough to select who may win this one....On to 5:00 pm (ET) where we will see a battle of the backups.  The Montreal Canadiens go with Peter Budaj,...

Mason was solid again on Saturday, stopping 36 of 38 shots in a win over the Islanders. He has not allowed more than three goals in any of his 16 starts this season. After a strong October (2.25 GAA / .928 SV%) he has only improved in November, going 4-1-2 with a 1.93 GAA and .940 SV%. Mason has become a legitimate number-1 fantasy option and with the Flyers finding their offensive groove of late, he is a must-start against the Panthers tonight.

Mason allowed two goals on 34 shots in a win over the Senators on Tuesday. He was given Thursday off in favour of Ray Emery, but will start tonight against the Islanders. In his first start against New York he stopped 28 of 30 in a 5-2 win. He should make for a strong start tonight.

ALL GOALIES CONFIRMED UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED AT TIME OF PRINT Eleven games on the NHL schedule today, so we have a lot of goaltenders to go through. The matinee today is the Bruins versus the Hurricanes, and while Cam Ward is back healthy for Carolina one has to favor Bruins backup Chad Johnson and Boston in this one.  In the other matinee today the Wild are going up against the Jets, and Josh Harding has been playing extremely well for Minnesota while Ondrej Pavelec has been struggling for Winnipeg.  Like the Wild in this one.  Washington faces off against Toronto tonight.  The two headed goaltender situation for the Maple Leafs that is Jonathan Bernier and James Reimer will have Reimer in goal today.  This one is a tough call, but we are fans of Holtby.  Marc-Andre Fleury is confirmed for the Penguins against Montreal.  Carey Price has yet to be confirmed, but we expect him to start.  Again a tough call for this game.  Robin Lehner is confirmed for Ottawa against Detroit and Jimmy Howard.  The Red Wings have really been struggling recently, and they seem to be showing their age.  Sort of like Lehner tonight.  The Islanders face Philadelphia tonight and Steve Mason is confirmed for the Flyers, while Kevin Poulin is not confirmed yet, but he will almost certainly play tonight with Nabokov hurt.  Like the Flyers in this one. Although he is not yet confirmed Jonas Hiller did have a shutout last night and coaches tend to let goalies play the next game after a shutout.  Mike Smith is the likely starter for Phoenix.  Pretty much a pickum match.  The king Henrik Lundqvist has been playing well for the Rangers recently, but we are sort of intrigued by young Predator goalie Marek Mazanec.  Nashville has been playing better lately, and he is a could sleeper pick tonight.  The Blues will start Brian Elliott in place of Jaroslav Halak tonight against the Stars and likely Kari Lehtonen. Elliott has played well this season, and we see no reason for that to change today.  In a match between two struggling goalies we have Corey Crawford likely against Roberto Luongo, although neither has yet to be confirmed.  Hard to pick between them.  Semyon Varlamov will likely face Ben Scrivens tonight with Colorado facing Los Angeles.  Scrivens has been lights out while replacing Jonathan Quick, and we would give the edge to him at home.  The final match of the day features the Devils against San Jose.  Martin Brodeur should play for New Jersey as Cory Schneider started the last ...

When the Philadelphia Flyers bought out Ilya Bryzgalov's contract this past summer and signed Ray Emery to a one year deal, a lot of people might have thought that Emery would be the starting goaltender for the Flyers this year. After all he was 17-1 last year with Chicago with a 1.94 goals against and a .922 save percentage.  But Philadelphia had also traded Michael Leighton to Columbus last spring for Steve Mason.  Mason had been the starter in Columbus for four years, although he really only had one successful season in 2008-2009 with a 33-20-7 year with a 2.29 goals against and a .916 save percentage and a whopping 10 shutouts.  Mason then had 3 difficult years with a very mediocre Columbus team, and with the advent of Sergei Bobrovsky he was deemed expendable.  Now the Flyers started this year miserably losing 6 of their first 7 games.  This resulted in the firing of Peter Laviolette as Coach and his replacement by Craig Berube.  Since the coaching change the Flyers have been playing much better, and they have won 4 of their last 5 games, losing only in a shootout to Winnipeg.  The main beneficiary of this resurgence by Philadelphia is their clear starting goalie Steve Mason.  Mason is only 25 years old, but he has 5 years experience in the NHL.  He has good size as well at 6'4" and 223 lbs, but he moves quickly and is very athletic.  Mason is 6-7-2 so far on the season, but his metrics are very good with a 2.12 goals against average and a .932 save percentage.  He has allowed 3 or less goals in 21 consecutive games, leading the NHL.  He has won 3 of his last 4 games, and we think he will be a bit of a fantasy surprise the rest of the year.  At 25 years old he has a great combination of experience and youth.  His glove hand is considered his main weakness, but he has been working hard on this issue and he has gotten better.  We expect him to have a good rest of the year. Get him if you can.  Stick saves: We think that poolies tend to underestimate Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen.  That's because he has had a history of getting injured, and he had sort of 4 mediocre years with the Atlanta Thrashers.  But he has stayed healthy with the Dallas Stars, and he is stepping up to be a top notch NHL goaltender.  The 30 years old Finn is 10-3-2 this season with a 2.01 goals against and a .934 save percentage.  At 6'4" and 217 lbs he has good size like Mason.  Lehtonen went 15-14-3 last year with a 2.66 goals against and a .916 save percentage.  Dallas is playing...

Mason stopped 36 of 38 shots in a shootout loss on Friday. Mason has been great as of late going 2-0-2 with a 1.45 GAA and .952 SV% in his last four starts. He has a solid matchup vs. a streaky Ottawa team that he posted a 24-save shutout against last Tuesday.

Mason stopped all 24 shots he faced vs. Ottawa on Tuesday to record his first shutout of the season. Mason continues to play strong - 2.15 GAA and .930 SV% in 13 outings. Ray Emery played very well vs. Pittsburgh on Wednesday but it will be Mason who gets the nod tonight vs. a Jets team who is suddenly heating up.

Mason stopped all 24 shots he faced vs. Ottawa on Tuesday to record his first shutout of the season. Mason continues to play strong - 2.15 GAA and .930 SV% in 13 outings. Ray Emery played very well vs. Pittsburgh on Wednesday but Mason is expected to get the nod tonight vs. a Jets team who is suddenly heating up.

The New Jersey Devils turn to Cory Schneider in net as they face a Kings team coming off a tough-earned 3-2 comeback victory the night before against the Isles on the road. This is a tough spot for Los Angeles, who will start feeling the loss of franchise goalie Jonathan Quick sooner than later. Ben Scrivens (LIKELY) gets the start again. The Devils have been red-hot, winning 3 of the last four games.   Martin Brodeur has been the main beneficiary of the sudden winning streak, so look for Schneider to be plenty motivated in this one. We are hot for the Devs....  Will the Pittsburgh Penguins extend their losing streak to four tonight? Heck, no. The perfect remedy to such a losing streak is a date with a far more inept Nashville team and their over-matched backup to the backup goalie, Marek Mazanec. Marc-Andre Fleury wins easy for the Pens....Tim Thomas starts for the Florida Panthers but this is a revenge match for Josh Harding and company as the Wild lost to the Panthers their last time out. It won't happen again, as Harding will continue his masterful goaltending and further entrench himself as the Wild's No. 1 guy, ahead of the injured Niklas Backstrom....If you feel like "swinging for the fences", take the streaking Steve Mason and the suddenly dangerous Flyers on the road against Winnipeg. There could be a small letdown following their grueling victory at Pittsburgh, but Claude Giroux has been playing himself back into the conversation of elite NHL forwards. Take a chance on Mason.... Columbus, in the second of back-to-back games, will be facing a desperate Montreal club, who will be pumped for a win. Peter Budaj will be in goal for the Canadiens, but he has been razor sharp in spot duty. Bobrovsky played in last night's tilt against Boston so expect Curtis McElhinney (LIKELY) to get his 4th start of the season. Go Habs, go!....The Anaheim Ducks sent Frederik Andersen back to the AHL as Viktor Fasth (LIKELY) returns from the IR.  Fasth will be thrown into action immediately against the Carolina Hurricanes especially after last night's embarrassing 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.  With Justin Peters is in net for the Canes. Peters has won 3 of his last 4 all on home ice, so this could be another upset in the making.   Actually, this one can go either way depending on which of the two teams decides to show up....Braden Holtby and the Washington Capitals look to gain some momentum from their win over Columbus but playing Detroit on the road is no ...

The Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick is out with a hamstring/groin issue. The Kings backup goaltender Ben Scrivens will get most of the starts until Quick returns. Scrivens has played in 5 games this year with a 1-1-1 record with a 1.89 goals against and a .924 save percentage.  His career numbers are mediocre at 12-15-3 with a 2.78 and .911, but he will be the starter now. Hardy Harding: Minnesota goaltender Niklas Backstrom was run over early by Toronto forward Nazem Kadri, and he was forced to leave the game. It looked serious and Backstrom may have a concussion.  His backup Josh Harding replaced him and he got the 2-1 shootout win with 19 saves. Harding will likely get a number of starts now until Backstrom can come back, although it looked like Harding already had a hold on the No. 1 job before last night.  He has been really solid this year with a 10-2-2 record a 1.21 goals agains and a .947 save percentage.  Play him if you can.  Wild forward Zack Parise had the regulation goal and the game winner in the shootout. Parise has 16 points in 19 games this year, and while those are ok numbers, he has not really lived up to his big contract.  Jonathan Bernier was the tough loser in goal for Torotnto as he played great with 33 saves. Flyers flying: The Flyers have now won 3 straight games after a terrible start to the season. Last night they beat the suddenly struggling Penguins 2-1 as Philadelphia's young foward Brayden Schenn scored both of the Flyers goals. Schenn has 12 points on the season in 18 games, so he is not yet fantasy worthy, but he will get there in time.... Ray Emery had a great game in net for Philadelphia with 31 saves, but his numbers this year are not that special and Steve Mason should maintain his hold as the starter. Emery's goals against is 2.82 and his save percentage is only .898....Sidney Crosby had a power play goal for Pittsburgh, and with Lightning forward Steve Stamkos out for possibly the rest of the season, the scoring title should be Crosby's to win. Stars are shining: Nice win yesterday for Dallas, 3-0 over Winnipeg. We are big fans of Stars' goaltender Kari Lehtonen, and he did not disappoint last night with 22 saves and a shutout. Lehtonen's numbers this year are strong with a 8-3-2 record, a 2.01 goals against, and a .932 save percentage.  Good numbers!  He is a first tier fantasy goalie....Dallas forward Tyler Seguin had a goal and 6 shots on goal. He also played 7:04 minutes on the power play, so he is being given ...