Darcy Kuemper is a good fantasy start vs Flames

The Washington Capitals take on the Calgary Flames tonight and if you play fantasy hockey you should start Darcy Kuemper in goal. Although the Caps have been on and off lately, Kuemper hasn’t been the problem.

If the defense can start stepping their game up, Kuemper would easily be a solution for the Caps. In his last start against the Flames, he had a shutout and it was his fourth career shutout in 10 starts against Calgary.

Here’s what Victoria Matiash of ESPN.com had to say about Kuemper:

Darcy Kuemper (projected), Washington Capitals (91.0%): Before falling to the Kraken 3-2 in overtime on Thursday, Washington’s No. 1 had won three-straight, including last week’s 32-save shutout of Darryl Sutter’s bunch. If he’s given the opportunity to get back on victorious track, I like Kuemper’s chances at trying to repeat that stellar performance against those same Flames in Calgary. Having Capitals teammate Alex Ovechkin firing in top form doesn’t hurt either.

Over his last four games, Kuemper has posted a record of 3-0-1 with a 1.50 goals against average, a .946 save percentage and that one shutout. He has two shutouts in total this season which rank tied for third in the NHL.

Kuemper ranks first among all goaltenders in starts with 19 and in minutes played with 1,089:59. Among goaltenders with at least 15 games played, Kuemper ranks sixth in goals against average with 2.53 and tied for eighth in save percentage with .915.

Kuemper stopped all 32 shots faced on Nov. 25 vs. Calgary, earning his 27th career shutout. In 11 career games against the Flames, Kuemper has posted a record of 7-2-1 with a 1.61 goals against average, a .963 save percentage and four shutouts.

With a win the Caps can get to .500. They are currently 10-11-4 in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division with 24 points. The good news in that is that they’re just three points back from he second and final playoff spot in the wild card.