Krug has missed the last five games with an upper-body injury but the Bruins are hopeful that he will play on Saturday. Krug will likely take his spot on the top power-play unit and returns with 13 points (2G / 11A) in 17 games this season.
Backstrom remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury, so Lars Eller will remain the second-line centre for at least one more game. After Saturday the Capitals are off until Wednesday, so Backstrom has a few days to get back to 100 percent before they face the Panthers.
Goloubef was hurt in the morning skate, so Christian Jaros was recalled from Belleville to replace him on Friday. Goloubef is day-to-day.
Zaitsev has returned to Russia to attend to a personal matter, so Maxime Lajoie was recalled from Belleville (AHL) to replace him. There is no indication when Zaitsev will return to the team.
Cody Goloubef was hurt in the morning skate, so Jaros comes up and will make his season debut on Friday. Jaros, who has six points (1G / 5A) in 14 AHL games this season, has registered 10 points (1G / 9A) in 63 career NHL games with Ottawa.
Blackwood surrendered five goals on 28 shots in the Devils loss to the Bruins on Tuesday. Blackwood has gone 5-3-1 with a 2.73 GAA and .012 SV% in nine starts this month. Tonight he faces the Penguins for the second time this season--he stopped 38 of 39 shots in a 2-1 win in their first meeting.
Nilsson stopped 35 of 38 shots in the Senators' win in Detroit on Tuesday. It was an outstanding effort for Nilsson, who has won five of his last six starts (5-1-0) while stopping 172 of the 185 shots (.930 SV%) that he has faced. In his first start against the Rangers, Nilsson stopped 32 of 34 shots in a 6-2 win in early-November.
Lajoie has five assists in 17 AHL games this season and gets called-up with Erik Brannstrom battling injury. The 22-year-old had 15 points (7G / 8A) in 56 games with the Senators last season.
Beaudin has split his 2019-20 campaign between the AHL and NHL and received another call-up because Vladislav Namestnikov is on IR with a lower-body injury. Beaudin has just one assist in 10 games with the Senators this season.
Namestnikov suffered a lower-body injury early in Wednesday's game in Montreal and will miss at least two games and J.C. Beaudin was called up from Belleville (AHL) to replace him.
Nilsson stopped 35 of 38 shots in the Senators' win in Detroit on Tuesday. It was an outstanding effort for Nilsson, who has won five of his last six starts (5-1-0) while stopping 172 of the 185 shots (.930 SV%) that he has faced. In his first start against the Rangers, Nilsson stopped 32 of 34 shots in a 6-2 win in early-November.
Lundqvist stopped 30 of 31 shots in the Rangers' 4-1 win over the Capitals on Wednesday. The win snapped a rough three-game losing streak for Lundqvist, who will make his fourth road start on Friday night. He is 1-2-0 with a 4.02 GAA and .891 SV% in his first three starts outside of New York and gets ready to face an Ottawa team that has won six of their last eight while scoring 2.88 goals per game.
