Bishop was back at practice again on Monday and said after the skate that he thinks he will be able to play on Tuesday. We likely won’t know if he is starting for sure until after tomorrow’s morning skate, but this is great news for Bishop owners.
Howard skated on Monday, but left practice a bit early, which suggests that he won’t be ready for Tuesday’s game vs. the Sabres. With the easy matchup and three days off after, it would seem to make sense to give Petr Mrazek another start and give Howard a few more days to get to 100 percent.
Mrazek allowed one goal on 23 shots in the Red Wings 2-1 shootout loss to the Avalanche on Sunday. It was another strong out for the young net minder but Detroit continues to struggle to find ways to score. It looks like Jimmy Howard will be held out of tonight’s game, so look for Mrazek to take on the Sabres.
Zatkoff will be recalled, very likely to backup Marc-Andre Fleury tonight because Thomas Greiss has been sent back to Pittsburgh to be tested for mumps again.
Gormley suffered a lower-body injury in mid-November and missed several games. He was sent down to Portland as a type of conditioning stint to get him back up to speed. He has one goal in six games with Arizona this season.
Rinne allowed gave up five goals on 27 shots but still walked away with the win on Saturday vs. the Wild. It wasn’t pretty, but it was enough to get the W. Rinne has won four of his last five with one shutout, 1.77 GAA and .941 SV%. He stopped 21 shots in a 2-1 win in his first start vs. Columbus.
Granlund missed Saturday’s game with an illness and missing practice this morning suggests that Granlund won’t be available on Tuesday vs. the Flyers. Monitor his status during tomorrow’s morning skate.
Stempniak has missed the last two games with an illness that has been diagnosed as mumps. Despite having the virus, Stempniak skated on his own this morning and is expected to join the team on Tuesday. That suggests that he is past the infectious stage.
Greiss was already tested last week and results came back negative. Since he did not have it the first time, he may have contracted it now. Brandon Sutter and Steve Downie are also being sent home for tests.
Sutter will not play on Monday because he has been sent home to be tested for mumps. Sutter will be joined by Thomas Greiss and Steve Downie, who are also being tested for the virus. The Penguins have been hit harder than anyone by the mumps virus and will be down a few more players tonight vs. Florida.
Downie will not play on Monday vs. the Panthers after being sent home to be tested for mumps. Brandon Sutter and Thomas Greiss were also sent home as the Penguins continue to battle the virus.
Bobrovsky allowed two goals on 41 shots in the Blue Jackets shootout victory over the Blackhawks on Saturday. Despite a plethora of injuries in Columbus, the one constant remains Bobrovksy. He is 8-0-1 with a 2.01 GAA and .940 SV% in nine December starts.
Garrison, who is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed, did not skate this morning which puts his status for Tuesday’s game in doubt.
Neal missed Saturday’s game with an illness, but he is skating this morning which suggests that he will return to the lineup tonight vs. the Blue Jackets. Neal has two goals and three assists in his last six games and 19 points (11G / 8A) in 30 games this season.
In Monday’s practice Connolly swapped places with Ryan Callahan and is skating on the top-line with Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Drouin. Connolly has six goals in 23 games this season and playing with Stammer and Drouin should give Connolly a ton of room on the ice.
Bishop has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury that he suffered last Monday. He was hoping to be back in the crease this weekend, but only practiced on Saturday. His availability again this morning suggests that Bishop could be back tomorrow vs. the Penguins.
Tokarski, who has not started for the Habs since November 29th, was sent down to Hamilton to get some game action. In two games he went 1-1-0 with a 2.52 GAA and .919 SV%. Now back with the big club, expect Tokarski to back-up Carey Price tomorrow vs. the Islanders.
Holtby stopped all 21 shots that he faced in the Capitals 4-0 shutout win over the Devils on Saturday. The shutout was Holtby’s second of the season and his sixth win in his last eight games. Over that eight game span he has posted a 1.84 GAA and .934 SV%.
Gionta was levelled by Matt Bartkowski in Sunday’s game and retired to the dressing room immediately after. Bartkowski was ejected from the game, but will not face any supplementary discipline. Gionta will be re-evaluated on Monday and likely sit out until after the Christmas break.
Varlamov skated and took shots on Sunday in Detroit and Patrick Roy said he is “95 percent and will likely start on Tuesday” but the team will decide for sure on Monday. Calvin Pickard continues to play extremely well, so there is no need to rush Varlamov back if he is not 100 percent.
