Lundqvist made 31 saves on 32 shots in the Rangers win over the Hurricanes on Saturday. King Henrik wrapped up January with a 7-3-0 record, 1.76 GAA and .946 SV%. He draws a great matchup tonight vs. a Panthers team who have lost six of seven.
Ritchie has missed the last six games with an undisclosed injury. He must be healthy enough to return to action with Texas. The 21-year-old has 11 goals and seven assists (18 points) in 22 games.
Oleksiak served as a healthy scratch in two of the last three games. He heads back to Texas where he has four assists in six games this season. Jyrki Jokipakka has been recalled.
Eller reportedly seemed OK after the game, but did not want to risk returning not at 100%. Monitor his status prior to Tuesday’s game vs. the Sabres.
Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock said after the game that he didn’t have a report on Shattenkirk after the game, but there should be an update on Monday afternoon.
Vasilevskiy, 20, has gone 14-5-5 with a 2.38 GAA and .919 SV% with Syracuse this season. He was excellent in his brief stint with the Lightning earlier in the year, going 3-1-0 with a 1.76 GAA and .937 SV%. The Lightning placed Evgeni Nabokov on waivers to make room for the young net minder.
Nabokov signed with the Lightning in the offseason, but has not played well, going 3-6-2 with a 3.14 GAA and .882 SV%. Andrei Vasilsevskiy has performed well at both levels, so the Lightning will move Nabby and Vasilevskiy will serve as the backup to Ben Bishop.
Bishop stopped 27 of 28 shots in the Lightning’s 5-1 win over the Red Wings on Thursday. He has been victorious in seven of his last 10 games, while registering a 2.53 GAA and .908 SV% in the process. He has been really strong all year long and should be a great option tonight with the Blue Jackets in town.
Lehtonen allowed three goals on 28 shots in the Stars win in Ottawa on Thursday. Despite allowing 16 goals on 154 shots (.896 SV%) in his last five games, he has won three of those match ups. He gets the nod in Winnipeg—Lehtonen is 10-5-2 with a 3.03 GAA and .905 SV% on the road.
Quick gave up three goals on 29 shots in the Kings win over Chicago on Wednesday. It was Quick’s first win since January 1st and pushed him to 2-3-3 with a 3.34 GAA And .868 SV% this month. Tonight he will meet the Bruins for the second time this season. In their first contest, he posted a 31-save shutout.
Lundqvist allowed one goal on 26 shots in the Rangers 1-0 loss to the Canadiens on Thursday. He is 6-3-0 with a 1.84 GAA and .943 SV% in January. Tonight will be his third start of the season vs. the Hurricanes—he has gone 2-0-0 with a 1.39 GAA and .940 SV% in the first two meetings.
Ward set a record for the longest relief effort without allowing a goal by stopping all 29 shots that he faced in 61:35 in the Hurricanes 3-2 shootout loss to the Blues last night. Tonight he will make his second start of the year vs. the Rangers—he allowed two goals on 34 shots in a 3-2 shootout loss in the first meeting.
Gustavsson has been sidelined since November 5th with a separated shoulder. He will likely play a few games with Grand Rapids before swapping places with Thomas McCollum.
