Roughly a third of the way through the season, it's looking like the Vezina Trophy will be handed out to one of either Dubnyk or Price; and why not?
The Minnesota Wild and Montreal Canadiens netminders have been marvelous to date, pushing both of their clubs into the upper echelon of the NHL standings.
However, as Christmas draws nearer, a third contender is starting to emerge in the form of Sergei Bobrovsky.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have been arguably the hottest team in the NHL over the last month-and-a-half, and Bobrovsky has been as responsible for their streak as anybody.
The club is riding an eight-game winning streak at the moment - its longest of the season - with Bobrovsky having dressed in seven of those games. In each contest, the former Vezina Trophy winner has allowed two goals or fewer, allowing just one goal in five of those appearances.
Bobrovsky has been everything the Blue Jackets could want and more as he sits among the best in the league in nearly every statistical category.
Goalie
Wins
Save Percentage
Goals-Against Average
Shutouts
Devan Dubnyk
15 (T-4)
.947 (1)
1.62 (1)
4 (1)
Carey Price
16 (T-2)
.935 (T-4)
1.95 (6)
2 (T-8)
Matt Murray
12 (13)
.937 (3)
1.86 (3)
2 (T-8)
Tuukka Rask
15 (4)
.930 (8)
1.90 (T-4)
3 (T-2)
Sergei Bobrovsky
18 (1)
.935 (T-4)
1.90 (T-4)
3 (T-2)
(X) = League Rank
A model of consistency all season long, the 28-year-old has allowed three or more goals in a game in just three of his 25 games played.
Bobrovsky has helped propel Columbus to within a mere two points of the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins - who share the best record in the league. What's more, the Blue Jackets have four and three games in-hand on the two, respectively.
Columbus is quickly becoming the team to beat league-wide, and in order for the opposition to overcome the soaring Blue Jackets, teams will have to find a way to put pucks past a goaltender who just might be bringing home some hardware at season's end.
The Department of Player Safety slapped the 25-year-old with a four-game ban for his charge on New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqivst in Thursday's contest and as Ruff sees it, Eakin was in the wrong.
"I expected (the suspension) to be within that range," Ruff said, according to NHL.com's Sean Shapiro. "It's something that I obviously don't condone. it wasn't a good play on his part, and he hurts the team by taking himself out of the lineup now."
The Stars could use all hands on deck as the team has struggled in December going 3-5-0 in eight games this month. The team currently sits four points out of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference and things aren't getting any easier.
The Boston Bruins will likely have to endure the next two games without their deadliest weapon.
Forward David Pastrnak is likely to miss the club's contests against the Los Angeles Kings and New York Islanders on Sunday and Tuesday after undergoing a successful removal of the olecranon bursa from his right elbow, general manager Don Sweeney announced in a statement.
In the meantime, Pastrnak will be re-assessed daily, though Comcast Sportsnet's Joe Haggerty notes that the procedure is the same one that fellow Bruin David Backes underwent earlier in the season and it sidelined the veteran for nearly two weeks.
Pastrnak is off to a scorching start this season, having already eclipsed his career-high in goals through 27 games, while his 26 points is just one shy of his career-best. The 20-year-old's 19 goals are the second most league-wide, next to Sidney Crosby's 21.
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Here is a look at the Squad Up daily NHL fantasy picture for Saturday, December 17:
Triple Threat
C Ryan Johansn (62K), LW Filip Forsberg (54K), RW James Neal (58K), Predators (vs. Rangers): Both Johansen and Forsberg have been mired in bad luck, converting on only 9.0 and 4.0 percent of their shots taken, respectively. The Predators top line sees plenty of minutes on the power play and even if their bad scoring luck continues, they can easily tally helpers on Neal's likely production.
C Connor McDavid (80K), LW Milan Lucic (54K), RW Jordan Eberle (56K), Oilers (vs. Lightning): Fortunately, McDavid's linemates are inexpensive enough to string them all together. Go cheap on defense in order to afford a decent goaltender and reap the benefits even though McDavid, and his counterparts, have slightly cooled.
C Sidney Crosby (62K), RW Phil Kessel (48K), D Justin Schultz (25K), Penguins (at Maple Leafs): It's amazing this trio is as inexpensive as they are. The three are heavily featured on the Penguins' power play and are big contributors to the league's top offense. Schultz should continue to benefit from D Kris Letang's injury as he saw 27 minutes of ice time on Friday.
Goalie Breakdown
TARGET - Jake Allen (90K), Blues (vs. Blackhawks):Allen's numbers are mostly pedestrian, but Chicago doesn't feature the same level of firepower they once did. Beyond the Patrick Kane-Artemi Panarin line, there isn't much to fear. Take Allen in a home matchup where he figures to make a lot of saves while not allowing more than a couple to hit twine.
BARGAIN - John Gibson (75K), Ducks (at Red Wings): The Red Wings average the second fewest shots on goal per game, which could limit Gibson's upside, but he's the only goaltender listed at the minimum price for the position on Saturday's slate. Gibson's game has been uneven, with only a .908 save percentage, but should the favorite win out, he's an inexpensive source of points.
FADE - Frederik Andersen (120K), Maple Leafs (vs. Penguins): No team has scored more goals this season than the Penguins. Andersen has played well, and should face a ton of shots, but the odds of him coming out with the victory are too low to invest in him as the most expensive goalie option.
CONTRARIAN - Carey Price (83K), Canadiens (at Capitals): Price was yanked after allowing four goals on 18 shots on Friday. He was almost immediately announced as Saturday's starter. While some concern is understandable, especially against the Capitals, Price will rarely see his salary dip this low. As arguably the best goalie in the world, he's worth the gamble.
Bargain Plays
D Justin Schultz (25K), Penguins (at Maple Leafs): As mentioned, Schultz is a top option on the Penguins power play with teammate Letang sidelined. With 12 points in his last 10 games, he's been demonstrating his value even before Letang's injury. At the basement price against a suspect Maple Leafs defense, Schultz is in prime position.
RW Nail Yakupov (28K), Blues (vs. Blackhawks): Joining a line with Jaden Schwartz and Paul Stastny paid immediate dividends as Yakupov finally scored his third goal of the season Thursday night. Should he stay on this line, and maybe see some ice time with the man advantage, his returns could be massive relative to his salary.
C Valtteri Filppula (27K), Lightning (at Oilers): Filppula has four assists in the first two games of the Lightning's brief road trip through Western Canada. The Lightning are without a large section of their star players, so goals may come at a premium. Filppula is third on the team with 22 points and should add to that total once again.
Top Fades
C William Nylander (63K), Maple Leafs (vs. Penguins): Nylander's inclusion has more to do with price context than his actual ability. That he costs more than either Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, among others, is enough to avoid him. If Marc-Andre Fleury starts for Pittsburgh, it's a little more acceptable because of his struggles, but the asking price is still high.
LW Jonathan Drouin (55K), Lightning (at Oilers): Though he's had moments, and should see an expanded role due to the Lightning's litany of injuries, Drouin remains too inconsistent to trust at this price tag. He has been shooting more often, with eight SOG in his last two, but he needs a more consistent output to be trusted.
D Duncan Keith (46K), Blackhawks (at Blues):Keith has a whopping 20 assists on the season, but no goals to go with it. If you're investing this much in a blueliner, some extra scoring has to be anticipated. With Keith, it is not.
Contrarian Options
LW Max Pacioretty (66K), Canadiens (at Capitals): Washington G Braden Holtby has been predictably stellar winning four of his last five starts, allowing only eight goals on 140 shots (.943 save percentage). Pacioretty may have his work cut out for him, but there's no better option in Montreal's offense on a nightly basis. Though scoreless in two games, he had seven goals over the four games before that.
RW Sebastian Aho (57K), Hurricanes (vs. Sabres): Aho has been unspectacular, posting 16 points in 30 games. His relatively high price tag and low totals may force owners to shy away. Aho, however, has been a point-per-game player over his last five games. He's a bit of a lottery ticket, but with increased ice time comes increased opportunity.
C Derick Brassard (55K), Senators (vs. Devils): Brassard has largely been a dud in his first season in Ottawa. It's worth remembering that he scored a career high 27 goals a season ago and has been plagued by a career low 6.1 shooting percentage this year.
The club picked up their eighth straight victory on Friday against the Calgary Flames, but much of the talk post game was of Alexander Wennberg's successful first fight in the league against Flames' rookie Matthew Tkachuk.
"Great left," Tortorella said, according to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch. "Great left, and then he switched to a right. I loved what I saw out of Wenny there. Hit him on the button, too. I thought Wenny was probably one of our best players."
As for Wennberg, the fight wasn't something he thought too much of, he was just simply sticking up for teammate Brandon Saad.
"It’s not really my role to be fighting, but Saader took a big hit," Wennberg said. "I felt like I needed to step up. It didn’t make me uncomfortable. It felt like the right thing for me to do. It was a great experience for me to get involved a little bit.
"It was right in front of our bench. The guys enjoyed it and I think it fired them up a little bit. It was perfect. Couldn’t get any better than that, right?"
The Vancouver Canucks forward's ninth goal of the season stood up as the game-winning marker Friday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and it was about us unorthodox as a power-play goal gets.
Andrei Vasilevskiy is giving out rebounds for Christmas, apparently - and Horvat's grateful.
"We got some bounces, which was nice," Horvat said after the game. "My goal was just how we drew it up ... No, Christmas came early with that bounce."
The loss was Tampa Bay's fifth in seven games in December - and second to the Canucks in slightly over a week.
Vancouver ended a three-game skid with the win.
"This was a statement game," said defenseman Luca Sbisa, who scored his first of the season Friday. "We weren't happy with what went down in Carolina and we needed to shift things."
