Welcome back to another edition of Thursday’s Best and Worst Fantasy Goalies. With only seven games this week, it's slim picking on the goalie front, but I'm back in the lab anyway. So please sit back, relax, and let's get started.

Top Two Goalies to Start

Sergei Bobrovsky – Florida Panthers

Coming in at number one we have the mercurial Sergei Bobrovsky of the Florida Panthers. Bob’s a bit of an enigma, but in my expert opinion, he has the most upside today. So, if you have him on your roster, he’s a must start. His opponent, my favorite team, the lowly Washington Capitals. Now the Caps have many problems this season, but the biggest tends to be scoring. They can’t do it. They forgot. Of the 32 teams in the league, only two poor franchises score less goals. The once vaunted Caps power play, yeah that no longer exists. Disappeared, gone. Ovie’s office, shutdown and been evicted. Honestly, if hockey teams had the option to turn down penalties the Caps would probably be better off, but I digress. Now don’t expect huge shot volume from the Caps, so the save points won’t be there, but feel good about that win bonus and limited goals against. Bob is a safe play you can feel good about.

Adin Hill – Vegas Golden Knights

At the number two slot, we have Adin Hill of the Vegas Golden Knights. After that performance on Tuesday, Hill probably deserved the number one spot, but I had money on the Edmonton Oilers so I’m a little bitter. Gamble responsibly kids. Hill, despite his many injuries, has put together quite the year. You could even say he’s surpassed expectations this year with a sub two goals against and .938 save percentage. Those numbers are elite. Now, disregarding the joke I made earlier, the real reason Mr. Hill is at number two, is because his opponent is better. The Arizona Coyotes can score, and they have a slightly above average power play. Still, Hill is a good play, so if you’re one of the lucky ones to roster him, put that man in action tonight.

Goalies to Avoid

Ilya Sorokin – New York Islanders

Tonight’s goalie to avoid is Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably noticed I like to avoid strong power plays against weak penalty kills. It’s a tried-and-true method for avoiding disastrous fantasy goalie nights and it’s never led me astray. That’s exactly what we have here in the Tampa Bay Lighting versus the New York Islanders. Yes, it’s true the Islanders don’t take very many penalties, but when they do, they ice the leagues worst penalty kill, ouch. Going up against Nikita Kucherov and that deadly power play, it’s not a position you want to put your fantasy team in. I expect Sorokin to allow three goals and struggle for the win. As they say in my favorite Canadian comedy, hard pass.

As always, if you have any fantasy questions, feel free to reach out on X @Bobbybets1122.