Ott played just 9:28 in the Red Wings’ season opener, but served as a healthy scratch in the last three games. Tonight, the rugged winger will replace Andreas Athanasiou on the fourth line, but doesn’t have any fantasy value.
Athanasiou had no points, three shots and a plus-1 rating in three games while averaging 11:25 TOI in his three games in the lineup. Tonight he will be scratched for the second time in five games as he gets replaced by Steve Ott on the fourth line.
Murray missed last Saturday’s game vs. San Jose, but will return to the lineup tonight vs. Chicago. Murray will replace Dalton Prout in the lineup and skate on the top pair with Seth Jones. Murray was a minus-2 with two shots on goal in 19:52 in the Blue Jackets’ season opener.
Gagner had no points and just one shot on goal while averaging 11:03 TOI in his first two games in a Blue Jackets jersey, but tonight he will come out of the lineup as Lukas Sedlak will make his NHL debut.
Sedlak, 23, was a healthy scratch in the first two games of the year, but the sixth round pick will draw into the lineup for his NHL debut tonight. Sedlak had 18 points (14G / 4A) in 54 games with Lake Erie (AHL) a season ago. He will replace Sam Gagner in the lineup.
Mrazek stopped 31 of 32 shots in the Red Wings’ win over the Senators on Monday. Jimmy Howard got the nod on Wednesday, but they’ll go back to Mrazek tonight vs. the Predators. Mrazek has played well to start the year, but the Red Wings’ haven’t played all that great in front of him—he’s faced an average of 32 shots against per game.
Bobrovsky allowed two goals on 37 shots in the Blue Jackets’ loss to the Sharks last Saturday. Columbus has been off for nearly one week, so Bobrovsky will be well rested for tonight’s game vs. Chicago. In Bobrovsky’s only start against the Blackhawks last year, he allowed four goals on 26 shots (.846 SV%), but it came in a winning effort.
There is no word on when Leddy suffered the injury, but he will not be in the lineup on Friday due to an upper-body injury. With Leddy day-to-day, Ryan Pulock will be in the lineup and take Leddy’s spot on the Islanders’ top power-play unit.
Halak allowed three goals on 27 shots in the Islanders loss to the Sharks on Tuesday. Halak is 1-2-0 with a 3.03 GAA and .901 SV% in his first three starts and tonight he draws a strong matchup vs. the Coyotes. Arizona is 1-2-0 and they have been outscored 12-6 in their last two contests.
Domingue was pulled after allowing four goals on 19 shots in the Coyotes’ 5-2 loss to the Canadiens last night. Head coach Dave Tippett said that he pulled Domingue to keep him fresh enough to start again tonight vs. the Islanders. Domingue has had a rough start to the season, having allowed a combined seven goals on just 30 shots (.767 SV%)—that’s also a 11.21 GAA.
Allen stopped 24 of 26 shots in the Blues’ overtime loss in Vancouver on Tuesday. Allen has had a good start to the season, winning two of three starts while posting a 1.98 GAA and .909 SV%. The Blues are one of the better teams in the NHL, making Allen a strong start whenever he gets the call. Tonight he faces an Oilers team that is sitting at 3-1-0 while averaging 4.25 goals per game.
Fleury surrendered four goals on 32 shots in the Penguins’ 4-0 shutout loss in Montreal on Tuesday. After winning his first two starts of the year, Fleury has now dropped two in a row while allowing a combined eight goals on 63 shots (.873 SV%). Tonight he makes his fifth consecutive start and he draws a rough matchup with the Sharks in town—San Jose has averaged 3.00 goals per game so far.
Rask stopped 34 of 35 shots in the Bruins’ win in Winnipeg on Monday. It was an excellent outing for the Finnish netminder, who is now 2-0-0 with a 2.01 GAA and .939 SV% to start the young season. This is exactly the start Rask needed coming off of a disappointing 2015-16 season by his lofty standards. He draws a great matchup tonight vs. the low-scoring Devils.
Lehner allowed four goals on 34 shots in the Sabres’ loss in Calgary on Tuesday. Lehner has lost two of his first three starts while posting a 3.33 GAA and .890 SV%. Tonight he makes his fourth consecutive start and it comes against a surprising undefeated team in Vancouver. Lehner makes for a solid No.2 option tonight.
Budaj stopped all nine shots that he faced after replacing Jeff Zatkoff in the Kings’ loss in Minnesota on Tuesday. Budaj has posted a below-average .903 SV% in his NHL career that spans over 298 games with the Avalanche, Canadiens and Kings. He spent most of last year in the AHL, where he was 42-14-4 with a 1.75 GAA and .932 SV% with Ontario (AHL).
Lack allowed four goals on 31 shots in the Hurricanes’ loss in Vancouver on Sunday. The Hurricanes were unable to hold onto a big lead for the second straight game and have yet to win this season. Tonight he will take on a Calgary team that has started 1-2-1 while scoring 3.00 goals per game.
Allen stopped 24 of 26 shots in the Blues’ overtime loss in Vancouver on Tuesday. Allen has had a good start to the season, winning two of three starts while posting a 1.98 GAA and .909 SV%. The Blues are one of the better teams in the NHL, making Allen a strong start whenever he gets the call. Tonight he faces an Oilers team that is sitting at 3-1-0 while averaging 4.25 goals per game.
Crawford allowed four goals on 27 shots in the Blackhawks’ win over the Flyers on Tuesday. It was Crawford’s first win of the season—he comes into Friday at 1-2-0 with a 3.41 GAA and .884 SV%. He draws a strong matchup vs. the 0-2-0 Blue Jackets, but he didn’t have a lot of success vs. Columbus last year. Crawford was 1-0-1 with a 2.94 GAA and .875 SV% vs. the Blue Jackets a season ago.
Hossa left Tuesday’s win over the Flyers with an undisclosed injury that will keep him out of the lineup on Friday. The good news for the Blackhawks is that it looks like Ryan Hartman will return to the lineup and take Hossa’s spot. Consider him day-to-day.
