Johnson suffered an injury on Tuesday and will likely miss both games this weekend. Luckily for the Lightning they are expected to get Ondrej Palat and Alex Killorn back in the lineup to replace Johnson. Monitor his status heading into next week.
Vasilevskiy allowed four goals on 29 shots in the Lightning’s loss to the Senators on February 2nd. Ben Bishop has played very well in the last two games, but they’ll go with Vasilevskiy tonight in Minnesota. Vasilevskiy has just one win in his last nine road starts and has posted an ugly 3.95 GAA and .887 SV% in those games.
Burakovsky suffered a hand injury while blocking a Brendan Smith shot last night and will miss at least one month as a result. Chandler Stephenson will replace Burakovsky on Saturday, but Jakub Vrana will likely be the long-term option because he is a nearly identical player to Burakovsky.
Stastny suffered a lower-body injury in Toronto last night and likely won’t play on Saturday. However, the Blues said he shouldn’t be out long-term so monitor the centre’s status heading into next week.
Barrie missed his third consecutive game last night, but will travel on the upcoming road trip and could return either Saturday in New York or Sunday in Brooklyn.
Brodin has been out since January 17th because of a fractured finger, but he’s only expected to be sidelined for another week. Monitor his status leading into next Tuesday’s game vs. the Ducks.
Baertschi missed last night’s game in Columbus with a concussion that he suffered on Tuesday. Baertschi returned to Vancouver, which suggests that he could miss the final four games of the Canucks’ road trip. Reid Boucher is expected to remain in the lineup while Baertschi is out.
Stastny played just 7:57 TOI before leaving last night’s game with a lower-body injury. His injury clouds his status for Saturday’s game, which would be a huge loss for the Blues. Stastny has been great of the last month, collecting eight goals and nine assists (17 points) in his last 17 games.
Neuvirth allowed two goals on 16 shots in the Flyers’ 2-0 loss to the Blues on Monday. Steve Mason started on Thursday, but it looks like Neuvirth will be between the pipes this afternoon. The Czech netminder has stopped 83 of 88 shots (.943 SV%) in his last four starts and he’ll face a Sharks team that has lost three in a row.
Stuart has just one goal in 22 games as a bottom-pairing defenseman in Winnipeg. With Ben Chiarot set to return to the lineup tonight, Stuart will be the healthy scratch.
Chiarot has missed the last 12 games with an illness, but will return to the lineup tonight vs.the Blackhawks. Chiarot will replace Mark Stuart in the lineup and comes into play with just six assists in 43 games this season.
Gelinas cleared waivers last week but wasn’t sent down right away. Gelinas was a healthy scratch for the last two games and heads to San Antonio for the first time. During his last AHL stint, Gelinas had five points (1G / 4A) in 13 games with Albany in 2013-14.
Burakovsky suffered a hand injury while blocking a Brendan Smith shot during the Capitals’ win over the Red Wings on Thursday. With Burakovsky out, Chandler Stephenson will draw into the lineup on Saturday.
Hellebuyck stopped all 10 shots that he faced after replacing an injured Ondrej Pavelec in Tuesday’s loss to the Wild. Hellebuyck has had some rough patches this season, but he comes into tonight well rested and has stopped 48 of the last 51 shots (.941 SV%) that he has faced. He is also 4-0-0 with a 1.25 GAA and .961 SV% in four starts against the Blackhawks this season.
Rodrigues was recalled yesterday in case Evander Kane couldn’t play and since Kane was good-to-go, Rodrigues has been returned to Rochester (AHL).
Konecny was already slated to miss 4-6 weeks, so his movement to IR was simply a formality to create a roster spot for the Flyers to recall Jordan Weal from Lehigh Valley (AHL). Konecny is expected to be out until at least early-to-mid March.
Weal, 24, leads the Phantoms with 47 points (15G / 32A) in 43 games and that ranks him second in the AHL. With Travis Konecny out for at least one month, Weal has been recalled and skated with Sean Couturier and Jakub Voracek in Friday’s practice.
Howard left his second rehab start after suffering a minor setback to his knee injury. General Manager Ken Holland said it was irritation of scar tissue and will be recalled by Detroit shortly, so his conditioning assignment with Grand Rapids (AHL) is over.
Ericsson fractured his wrist when he was hit from behind by Nicklas Backstrom late in the first period of the Red Wings’ loss in Washington. Ericsson will miss at least six weeks, which means he may be back with only 10 games left in the season. Xavier Ouellet is expected to be back in the lineup on Saturday with Ericsson sidelined.
Dubnyk allowed two goals on 40 shots in the Wild’s win in Winnipeg on Tuesday. Darcy Kuemper got the nod on Wednesday, so there was no doubt that they would come back to Dubnyk tonight vs. the Lightning. Dubnyk has been sensational all season-long and he comes into Friday with a 15-50 record, 1.91 GAA and .927 SV% on home ice.
