Red Wings and Flyers forced to turn to backups

The Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers both lost their starting goaltenders this weekend and will have to turn to their backup goalies for at least the next few weeks.

Jimmy Howard suffered a slight groin tear in the first period of the Red Wings’ 3-1 loss to the Capitals on Saturday night. Howard was trying to rush back to the crease after turning the puck over behind the net. He got his leg caught on the post and an MRI on Sunday revealed a slight groin tear. Howie will mis 2-4 weeks and possible longer. He will undergo an ultrasound on Monday to determine the severity of the groin tear.

With Howard out, the Red Wings will turn to 22-year-old Petr Mrazek as their number-1 and 25-year-old Tom McCollum as their number-2. Jonas Gustavsson is still sidelined with a dislocated shoulder, but he will battle with Mrazek for starting time when he returns.

Mrazek is immediately elevated to a number-2 fantasy option for the foreseeable future. He is 5-3-1 with a 2.29 GAA and .916 SV% this season and is only owned in 32% of Yahoo! leagues.

Prior to the Red Wings’ game on Saturday, the Flyers lost to the Bruins and lost their starting goalie in the process. Steve Mason suffered a knee injury while trying to push off to make a save, he will miss up to two weeks. With Mason out, Ray Emery and Rob Zepp are the next two in-line for starts.

Emery looked shaky after replacing Mason on Saturday, so they will give Zepp his second start of the season on Monday vs. Tampa Bay.

Mason will likely miss six games, which makes both Emery and Zepp decent spot-start options when they pull good match ups.