Hamhuis missed Tuesday's game in Minnesota but will draw back onto the blueline on Thursday. The 37-year-old veteran defenseman has picked up just three assists in his last 30 games.
Johansen missed Tuesday’s game in Minnesota with an illness but will be available tonight vs. the Stars. Johansen enters Thursday with just five points (2G / 3A) in his last 15 games.
Pesce will obviously miss the rest of the 2020 season, including playoffs, and turn his focus to getting ready for training camp 2021. The Hurricanes will have to try and navigate through the playoffs without two of their top-3 defensemen but they added Brady Skjei at the deadline to help ease the loss of Pesce.
Driedger has been out since January 16th but will return to the net tonight vs. the Bruins. Driedger played extremely well for the Panthers from late-November up until he got hurt, going 5-2-0 with a 2.35 GAA and .932 SV%. Still, he has a terrible matchup tonight with the Bruins in town and so far they've scored four goals in each game against Florida in 2020.
Stalock allowed one goal on 38 shots on the Wild's win over the Predators on Tuesday. Stalock has been impressive in his last six starts, going 5-1-0 with a 2.18 GAA, .924 SV% and one shutout. Tonight he faces his former team for the third time this season--he was pulled in the first meeting and lost the second as well, giving up a combined five goals on 37 shots (.844 SV%).
Staal did not travel to San Jose because of a death in his family, so look for Gerald Mayhew or Victor Rask to draw back into the lineup on Thursday.
Gallagher missed the morning skate with an illness and is a game-time decision tonight in Tampa Bay. The Canadiens are already without Tomas Tatar (upper-body) so they will dress seven defensemen if Gallagher can't play.
Vatanen was nearing his Hurricanes debut but head coach Rod Brind'Amour doesn't expect him to play "any time soon" after suffering a setback on Thursday.
Tanev missed Tuesday's game vs. the Senators and Wednesday's practice but remains a game-time decision tonight in Buffalo. Tanev would likely replace Sam Lafferty on the fourth line with Teddy Blueger and Evan Rodrigues.
Bjugstad underwent core-muscle surgery in mid-November and missed the last 46 games. Bjugstad, who has one goal in 10 games this season, is expected to skate on the third line with Jared McCann and Patric Hornqvist.
Dries leads the Eagles with 21 goals while adding 14 assists (35 points) in 49 AHL games this season. He has six points (3G / 3A) in 43 career NHL games.
Khudobin surrendered two goals on 27 shots in the Stars loss to the Oilers on Tuesday. Khudobin has lost two straight but will start his third consecutive game tonight in Nashville. Khudobin is 10-6-3 with a 2.57 GAA and .925 SV% on the road this year. One of those wins came in Nashville in mid-December, when he stopped 37 of 38 shots in a 4-1 win.
Smith stopped 27 of 30 shots in the Oilers win in Nashville on Monday. Smith has won two in a row and is on a six-game point streak (4-0-2) while posting a 2.62 GAA and .911 SV%. He gets set to face a Chicago team that is 4-2-0 while scoring 3.67 goals per game in their last six games.
Crawford stopped 37 of 39 shots in the Blackhawks win over the Ducks on Tuesday. Crawford is on an impressive three-game winning streak, stopping 111 of the 117 shots (.949 SV%) that he's faced. Tonight he faces the Oilers for the second time this season--he stopped 27 of 28 shots in a 3-1 win in the first meeting.
Varlamov allowed two goals on 14 shots after replacing Thomas Greiss in the Islanders' loss to the Canadiens on Tuesday. Since mid-January, Varlamov has gone 2-4-1 with a 2.41 GAA and .919 SV% in nine games (seven starts). Tonight he faces a Senators team that is 4-2-0 while averaging 3.50 goals per game in their last six games in Ottawa.
Connauton has appeared in just one NHL game this season but has played terrific in the AHL, ranking second among Eagles defensemen with 27 points (5G / 22A) in 38 games.
Kaut played in eight straight NHL games, scoring two goals on 11 shots (18.2 SH%) and one assist in 10:03 ATOI. He returns to the AHL, where he had 16 points (5G / 11A) in 31 games before being called up.
Murray allowed three goals on 26 shots in the Penguins win over the Senators on Tuesday. Murray has given up at least three goals in four straight games, going 1-3-0 with a 3.56 GAA and .859 SV%. Tonight he'll face the Sabres for the first time since the season opener, a night where he allowed three goals on 41 shots in a 3-1 loss.
Georgiev allowed two goals on 21 shots in the Rangers loss to the Blues on Tuesday. Since Igor Shesterkin got hurt, Georgiev has gone 2-2-0 with a 3.01 GAA and .914 SV%. He comes into Thursday's game at 3-9-1 with a 3.13 GAA and .895 SV% in 12 starts at Madison Square Garden. He'll face a Capitals team that is 1-4-0 while scoring just 1.80 goals per game in their last five road games.
