NHL Hockey Player News

Harrold has been a healthy scratch in the last two games, but he will be back in the lineup tonight vs. the Penguins. He has one assist and a minus-11 rating in 19 games this season.

Bennett was taking line rushes on the fourth line in the Penguins morning skate, which suggests that he will be a healthy scratch tonight in New Jersey. Bennett has just one goal in his last eight games.

Elliott, 24, has recorded 12 goals and 14 assists (26 points) in 40 games with Lake Erie. Today he turns 24 today, but likely won’t be in the lineup tonight vs. the Predators. He has 18 points (6G / 12A) in 58 career NHL games.

With Patrik Berglund and Jori Lehtera going down last night, the Blues had just 11 healthy forwards, so they have recalled Rattie and he will be in the lineup tonight vs. Carolina. Rattie has 17 goals and 11 assists (28 points) in 43 games with Chicago.

Varlamov gave up four goals on 39 shots in Colorado’s loss in Nashville on Tuesday. He will get another crack at the Predators, this time in Colorado. Varlamov has gone 8-4-1 with a 2.27 GAA and .931 SV% at the Pepsi Center this season. Varly has gone 7-4-2 in his previous 13 starts.

Miller allowed three goals on 23 shots in the Canucks loss to the Ducks on Tuesday. Miller has gone 3-2-0 with a 1.42 GAA, .946 SV% and two shutouts in his last five starts. Tonight he will make his sixth consecutive start and it will come vs. the team he spent 11 seasons with. It will be a special night for Miller and it is a great matchup.

Rask allowed two goals on 45 shots in the Bruins 5-2 win over the Islanders on Thursday. Rask has been sensational lately. Dating back to early January, he has gone 6-2-0 with a 1.60 GAA and .950 SV%. Tonight it looks like he will make his eighth straight start—Rask is 14-5-4 with a 2.15 GAA and .922 SV% at home.

Anderson, 20, recorded one assist in six games with the Blue Jackets. He heads back to the AHL to make room for Ryan Murray to be activated from IR. He has 11 points (4G / 7A) in 39 games with Springfield (AHL).

Murray has missed the last 36 games with a knee injury. Murray, who also missed the first seven games of the season due to off-season knee surgery, has recorded two penalty minutes in four games this season. He collected 21 points (4G / 17A) in 66 games in his first NHL season in 2013-14. Expect him to return to the lineup on Saturday vs. Tampa Bay.

Niklas Svedberg has not started a game since January 8th, so he will go to Providence to play a few games this weekend, while Subban will likely serve as Tuukka Rask’s backup on Saturday before returning to the AHL next week. Subban is 9-10-2 with a 2.47 GAA and .921 SV% with Providence.

Svedberg has not played in an NHL game since January 8th, so he has been sent to Providence to get in a few games this weekend and will likely return to the Bruins next week.

McDonald’s recall suggests that one of the Islanders forwards was injured last night and their status for Saturday’s game is uncertain. McDonald, who has just 36 points (16G / 20A) in 124 career NHL games, leads Bridgeport in points with 34 (14G / 20A) in 38 games.

Andersen stopped all eight shots that he faced after replacing Ilya Bryzgalov in last night’s loss to the Sharks. Starting Bryz yesterday leaves Andersen to take on the Hawks tonight. He is riding a seven-game winning streak, having posted a 1.97 GAA and .931 SV% over that span.

Lehtera left Thursday’s game with an upper-body injury and did not return. He will not play on Friday, but coach Hitchcock was not sure how long Lehtera will be out past Friday. Expect Paul Stastny to move up into the top-6 with Lehtera out.

Berglund left Thursday’s game with an upper-body injury and did not return. He had one assist in 7:20 TOI before retiring to the dressing room for the evening. Coach Hitchcock said he did not know how long Berglund will be out past Friday.

Raanta allowed one goal on 36 shots in the Blackhawks win over the Coyotes on January 20th. He has been one of the strongest backups this season having won seven of his 10 starts and registering a 1.87 GAA and .938 SV%. However, he has faltered on the road, going 0-3-0 with a 3.39 GAA and .873 SV%, so be wary of his matchup in San Jose.

Crawford surrendered four goals on 27 shots in the Blackhawks 4-3 loss to the Kings on Wednesday. He has now dropped three of his last four while posting a 3.49 GAA and .891 SV%. It has been a rough stretch for Crawford and it won’t get any easier when he takes on a Ducks team who are 8-2-0 in January.

Forsling, 18, was the Canucks fifth round pick (126th overall) in 2014. The Blackhawks did not have room for Clendening, who deserved to be in the NHL, so they moved him for a younger prospect, who they will let develop for the next few years. Forsling has three goals and two assists in 35 games with Linkopings HC in Sweden.

Clendening, 22, is a solid puck-moving defenseman who has had a hard time cracking the roster in Chicago. He has registered 13 points (1G / 12A) in 38 games with Rockford (AHL) this season and his move to Vancouver immediately makes him their top D prospect. You could see him swap places with Frank Corrado and be playing with the Canucks right away.

Niemi made 26 saves on 28 shots in the Sharks win vs. Los Angeles before the All Star break. He has gone 4-3-1 with a 3.29 GAA and .882 SV% in January. Tonight marks his ninth start this month and it will be his fifth start vs. Anaheim. He has gone 3-0-1 with a 1.99 GAA and .938 SV% in the first four meetings.