Dose: Shutting the Door

Was it just me, or were there a lot of shutouts this weekend?

Taking a look at Friday through Sunday on a night-by-night basis, there were seven goose eggs in 21 games. That’s one for every three contests. Friday and Sunday were especially blank-happy, with five shutouts taking place in 10 games on what clearly weren’t “off” nights for said goalies. This represents a healthy portion of the 15 shutouts that have happened so far in 78 games (close to 20 percent).

Shutouts sometimes seem like artificial milestones, or at least accomplishments that can be blown out of proportion.

After all, is it more impressive to do what Jonas Hiller recently did - stopping 49 out of 50 shots to beat the Chicago Blackhawks - or coast to a shutout by comparison like Darcy Kuemper did the first time around against the Colorado Avalanche (just 16 saves)? Jonathan Quick's been amazing this last week, stopping 40 out of 41 shots against Minnesota on Sunday and 31 out of 32 against the Oilers on Oct. 14, yet his 43-save shutout of St. Louis still made a disproportionately large difference in fantasy on Oct. 16.

Even with that note in mind, the bottom line is that a goalie who pulls one off still did his job perfectly that night. I thought I’d take a look at this weekend’s seven shutouts to see what might be ahead for each goalie.

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Frederik Andersen: 28-save shutout against St. Louis - One thing to note here: the Blues were on the end of a back-to-back and were in day one of dealing with Paul Stastny being out "week-to-week."

You can nitpick the shutout to that degree, but the bottom line is that the Denmark native is now 5-0-0 with a .950 save percentage, including wins against seemingly solid-to-good teams like the Wild and Blues. Jonathan Gibson cannot be totally dismissed - he's back from a short stint in the AHL - but Andersen clearly has the early edge.

(Emphasis on early, as the Ducks are pretty fickle with their goalies, especially when both are cheap and inexperienced.)

Andersen is still available in about one-quarter of Yahoo leagues, so I'd recommend grabbing him if you need some goalie help, even with the Gibson threat.

Ryan Miller: 28-save shutout against Edmonton - There were some people who were surprisingly negative about the Vancouver Canucks signing Miller, but I didn’t mind the move. Miller might not be the spectacular guy who willed the U.S. to a silver medal in 2010 frequently enough to carry a team on his own, yet he represents a chance for the Canucks to finally enjoy some low-drama goaltending.

(Granted, that previous drama wasn’t Luongo or Cory Schneider’s fault as much as it was a combination of Mike Gillis’ indecision and people overreacting to tough moments that just about every netminder goes through.)

So far, Miller is 3-0-0, which might just set expectations too high, as Miller faced Edmonton twice and Calgary (scrappy or not) once. Eddie Lack was the guy who had to deal with the nightmare that is Steve Stamkos on Saturday.

We'll get a better taste of Miller as a Canuck this week, as Vancouver visits Dallas (Tuesday), St. Louis (Thursday) and Colorado (Friday) before hosting The Capitals on Sunday. One figures Lack will get in against either the Blues or Avalanche, but away contests versus quality opponents (and Colorado?) could be telling regardless.

Odd side-note for Miller: He allowed 108 goals in 40 games played with Buffalo in both 2013-14 and 2012-13. Getting traded to St. Louis meant he allowed more overall last season, but that’s an interesting coincidence, isn’t it?

Henrik Lundqvist: 33-save shutout against San Jose - The Sharks came off a Saturday night win against the Devils, and Hank's previous win came against the Carolina Hurricanes, but Lundqvist owners probably won't let those details spoil the sense of relief.

It could be an awfully interesting (and lucrative) schedule going forward. The Rangers face the Devils in New Jersey on Tuesday and then the Canadiens in Montreal on Saturday. After that, it's imperative that they stay sharp, as they play four straight home games, seven of eight at MSG and nine of 11 in the Big Apple.

Once they finish their Nov. 19 game against the Flyers, the Rangers will have played six games on the road and 15 contests at home this season. If Lundqvist is still just so-so about a month from now, the Rangers will probably have to scrape and claw to make the playoffs (and the same might be true for your fantasy team) considering the home-road disparity that will remain.

Pekka Rinne: 31-save shutout against Winnipeg - The Nashville Predators enjoyed some great goaltending from Rinne and Carter Hutton (35 out of 37 saves against the Chicago Blackhawks) this weekend, overall.

Rinne looks like he could be a strong workhorse again so far, going 3-0-1 with a .948 save percentage and 1.22 GAA so far this season. Granted, Friday's game was the first time he faced shots in the 30's, so like Miller, bigger tests are likely to come in what could be a tough Central Division.

They host the Blackhawks on Thursday and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday before going on the road for six straight games and seven of eight from Oct. 29 - Nov. 13. If you extend that run to be from Oct. 29 to Nov. 20, Nashville only has two home games in an 11-game span. Yikes.

A fairly friendly opening schedule might make Peter Laviolette's tweaks look better than they've really been.

Roberto Luongo: 26-save shutout against Buffalo - Luongo might not have had the better night of the two goalies (it’s open to debate with Enroth only allowing one goal on 35 shots), but he got the W and the shutout. After allowing eight goals in a little more than four periods to begin the season, Luongo's only given up one tally in his last two games.

Al Montoya grabbed the Panthers a point against Washington on Saturday, but Luongo might get the call quite a bit in the next week and a half. The Panthers only play three more times in October.

The advice remains the same with Luongo: he could fall victim to tough nights against superior opponents, but he at least has solid workhorse potential.

Jonas Gustavsson: 30-save shutout against Toronto - “The Monster” managed to go 16-5-4 last season despite a below-average .907 save percentage, so perhaps he'll be a sneaky valuable guy again? The biggest factor is Jimmy Howard's health. The Red Wings placed Howard on IR, but only "48-hour goalie IR." We might get a better idea of how injured Howard is in the near future, as he’s eligible - but not guaranteed - to return on Tuesday.

The Red Wings face a challenging end to October:

Tuesday: at Montreal; Thursday: vs. Pittsburgh; Saturday: at Philadelphia; Oct. 29: at Washington; Oct. 31: vs. Los Angeles

Even the flawed Flyers can pile on goals, so that’s a tough rest-of-the-month. Howard’s most likely to be in if healthy, anyway.

Niklas Svedberg: 32-save shutout against Buffalo - Games against the Sabres are the fantasy hockey nectar of the gods. Svedberg relished that sweet nectar for his second-career NHL win on Saturday, but Tuukka Rask is such a workhorse that Svedberg isn’t a full-time roster option.

The Bruins have 14 back-to-back sets left, so Svedberg could ape Chad Johnson from 2013-14 as the Bruins backup you might want to add and drop a few times this season. (By the way, if you want a good gauge for how much time a backup might see, judging things by Dirk Hoag’s “super schedule” back-to-back listings is a nice way to start.)

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