NHL Hockey Player News

Forsling was in the lineup on Tuesday but will be a healthy scratch for the third time in five games. Slater Koekkoek will replace him on Thursday.

Koekkoek was a healthy scratch on Tuesday but will play four the fourth time in five games on Thursday. Koekkoek has no points and nine shots on goal while averaging 16:16 TOI/gm in six games since joining the Blackhawks.

Perlini was in the lineup for the last three games but will be replaced by Chris Kunitz, who will play in his 1,000th career game tonight.

Kunitz was a healthy scratch on Tuesday so that he could play his 1,000th career game on home-ice tonight. Kunitz will replace Brendan Perlini on the fourth line and has just one goal and three assists in 33 games this season.

Frk has been a healthy scratch for the last four games and was placed on waivers to open up a roster spot for the pending return of Tyler Bertuzzi. Frk has just one goal and four assists (five points) in 25 games this season.

Greiss allowed one goal on 27 shots in the Islanders win over the Wild on Sunday. Greiss has been the best goalie in the NHL over the last month, going 4-0-1 with a 0.58 GAA, .981 SV% and two shutouts in his last five starts. In his first start against the Blue Jackets, Greiss stopped 28 of 30 shots in a 3-2 win (Dec.1).

Nilsson gave up four goals on 37 shots in the Senators 4-1 loss to the Hurricanes on Tuesday. The loss snapped a brief two-game winning streak for Nilsson, who is 6-3-0 with a 2.12 GAA, .943 SV% and one shutout in his last nine outings. Tonight he draws a good road matchup in Detroit—the Red Wings are 11-13-4 at Little Caesars Arena this season.

Smith gave up three goals on 24 shots after replacing David Rittich in the Flames 5-2 loss to the Sharks last Thursday. It has been a rough season for Smith, who has gone 3-3-0 with a 3.48 GAA and .889 SV% in his last six outings. Tonight’s matchup pins him up against a Panthers team averaging 3.02 GF/pg but with James Reimer in the other net, he has a chance to record a ‘W’.

Rinne allowed three goals on 27 shots in the Predators loss to the Red Wings on Tuesday. Detroit seems to have the Predators number as of late and it led to Rinne’s third loss in four games—he allowed 11 goals on 112 shots (.902 SV%) over that stretch. Tonight he faces the Habs on home-ice, where he is 12-8-3 with a 2.27 GAA, .914 SV% and two shutouts this season.

Borowiecki stayed in Ottawa to undergo an MRI on his foot. The Senators have been playing withs seven defensemen as of late so they can elect to dress Cody Golubef as the seventh or Darren Archibald up-front and got back to 12 forwards, six defensemen.

Hellebuyck allowed three goals on 37 shots in the Jets win over the Rangers on Tuesday. Hellebuyck has gone 5-1-1 with a 2.95 GAA and .920 SV% in his last seven starts. Tonight he will face the Jets for the third time this season—he is 2-0-0 with a 3.00 GAA and .915 SV% in the first two meetings.

Ward allowed two goals on 45 shots in the Blackhawks win over the Red Wings on Sunday. Ward has had a mostly difficult season but has been excellent in his last four starts—going 4-0-0 while stopping 142 of the 151 shots (.940 SV%) that he has faced. In his first start against the Devils, Ward was pulled after allowing six goals on 25 shots in an 8-5 loss.

Hellebuyck allowed three goals on 37 shots in the Jets win over the Rangers on Tuesday. Hellebuyck has gone 5-1-1 with a 2.95 GAA and .920 SV% in his last seven starts. Tonight he is expected to face the Jets for the third time this season—he is 2-0-0 with a 3.00 GAA and .915 SV% in the first two meetings.

Smith gave up three goals on 24 shots after replacing David Rittich in the Flames 5-2 loss to the Sharks last Thursday. It has been a rough season for Smith, who has gone 3-3-0 with a 3.48 GAA and .889 SV% in his last six outings. Tonight’s matchup pins him up against a Panthers team averaging 3.02 GF/pg but with James Reimer in the other net, he has a chance to record a ‘W’.

Cernak will sit out for a second straight game and remains listed as day-to-day. The rookie defenseman is having a nice campaign, scoring two goals with seven assists, a plus-14 rating and 56 shots in 34 games. The Lightning obviously trust his game a lot, as he’s played over 20 minutes in each of the last five games and averages 18:33 TOI/gm for the season.

As expected, Joseph’s stint with the Crunch was very short-lived, he likely never actually left the team. The move was made to give the Lightning an extra defenseman for Tuesday’s game and Joseph is waiver-exempt.

Morin has been sidelined by a knee injury since November 24th but heads to Lehigh Valley to get back up to game speed. The 2013 No.11 overall pick will likely return to the Flyers in a week or so and could replace a veteran like Andrew MacDonald in the lineup.

Kiselevich drew back into the lineup on Tuesday but will come right back out of it tonight vs. the Flames. Ian McCoshen will replace him on the third pairing.

McCoshen was a healthy scratch vs. Dallas on Tuesday but will replacing Bogdan Kiselevich in the lineup on Thursday. McCoshen is still looking for his first point of the season—he was held off of the scoresheet while averaging 11:33 TOI/gm in his first eight games.

Bobrovsky stopped all 20 shots that he faced in the Blue Jackets shutout win over the Capitals on Tuesday. Bobrovsky extended his winning streak to four games, posting a 2.00 GAA, .923 SV% and one shutout in the process. Tonight he faces one of the best defensive teams in hockey, but the Islanders 4-2-2 while averaging just 1.88 goals for per game in their last eight games.