Shugg, 22, did not record a point and had two penalty minutes in three games with Carolina during the first recall of his career. He heads back to Charlotte, where he has nine goals and two assists (11 points) in 17 games.
Semin has missed the last six games with a lower-body injury, but will be back in the lineup on Sunday in New York. It has been a struggle all year for Semin, who has just six points (1G / 5A) and a minus-9 rating in 21 games. The Hurricanes sent Justin Shugg back to the minors to make room for Semin.
Lehtonen stopped 21 of 22 shots in the Stars’ 2-1 victory over the Flames on Friday. This had to be coming sooner or later—Lehtonen has finally gotten hot for the Stars, winning four of his last five with a 1.80 GAA and .930 SV%. He started the year 9-6-5 and now sits at a nice 13-7-5 as we near the Christmas break. Look for things to continue tonight in Edmonton vs. a disastrous Oilers team.
Reimer stopped the only shot that he faced after replacing Jonathan Bernier in the Maple Leafs blowout loss to the Flyers on Saturday night. Heading into tonight, Reimer has won each of his last two starts in shootouts, while posting a 1.85 GAA and .949 SV%. There are better spot-start option than him tonight, with the Leafs in Chicago to take on the Hawks.
Pickard stopped 28 of 29 shots in the Avs’ 5-1 win over the Sabres last night. Head coach Patrick Roy made the decision at the start of the week to start Pickard in all three games this week—after two games, it looks like it was a great plan. He has stopped 75 of 77 shots (.974) and gone 1-0-1. Tonight he faces a Red Wings team who have averaged just 1.00 goals per game on a six-game losing skid.
Gardiner is on the ice for warmups, but he is skating as an extra, which suggests that Gardiner will be out and Korbinian Holzer will be in.
Pacioretty was injured on Thursday, but it looks like he won't miss a game and will play tonight vs. the Senators.
Larsson will replace Matt Moulson, who was send home sick just prior to warmups.
Moulson was a late scratch tonight, he was sent home sick just prior to warmups. Johan Larsson has been recalled and will play if he makes it to the arena in time. Moulson is day-to-day.
Bobrovsky allowed five goals on 36 shots in the Blue Jackets OT loss to the Capitals on Thursday. The loss snapped his seven game winning streak. He will look to get back in the win column tonight, but it won’t be easy with the Blackhawks in town. Chicago comes into town having won 10 of their last 11 contests.
Kunitz was listed as a game-time decision, but he will officially return tonight vs. Florida. He will skate on the Pens top-line with Sidney Crosby and Patric Hornqvist.
Johnson was listed as a game-time decision after missing Thursday's game with an illness. His presence on the ice for warmups suggests that he will be in the lineup tonight.
Fleury stopped all 29 shots that he faced in the Penguins 1-0 OT win over the Avalanche on Thursday. Fleury has won three straight and four of his last five with a 1.77 GAA and .938 SV%. Tonight he will go up against the 14-8-8 Panthers at home, where he is 12-3-1 on the year.
Luongo allowed one goal on 26 shots in the Panthers win over the Flyers on Thursday. He has won three in a row while allowing just four goals on 81 shots (.951 SV%). He has been red-hot in December (5-1-1) and catches a break when he faces the Penguins tonight. The Pens have three regular defenseman missing as well as a couple forwards.
Stone suffered an upper-body injury on Tuesday vs. Edmonton and will not play today. He will be replaced by Chris Summers.
Quick allowed four goals on 28 shots in the Kings 6-4 win over the Blues on Thursday. Quick has been victorious in just two of his last six starts with a 2.82 GAA and .885 SV%. It has been a very non-Quick-like stretch of games, but he draws a great matchup today vs. Arizona—Quick enters play at 11-3-1 with a 1.69 GAA and .942 SV% at home.
Niemi surrendered three goals on 28 shots in a the Sharks 4-3 win over the Oilers on Thursday. It was not Niemi’s best outing, but it was enough to earn his sixth straight victory. Over the span of his six-game streak he has a 2.33 GAA and .922 SV%. He draws a tough matchup against a Blues team who has averaged 4.00 goals per game in eight games in December.
Miller allowed five goals on 23 shots in a loss to the Rangers last Saturday. He was given Wednesday night off, but will be back in goal tonight vs. the Flames. He has lost each of his last three starts with a 4.56 GAA and .820 SV%. He stopped 23 shots in a 4-2 win over the Flames in his Canucks debut on October 8th.
Hiller allowed two goals on 21 shots in the Flames loss to the Stars last night. Despite the loss, he was not very busy so he will get back-to-back starts for the first time this season. Hiller has lost his last six straight starts with a 2.75 GAA and .893 SV%.
Hanzal's wife gave birth to a baby girl yesterday and his status was uncertain. He will play this afternoon vs. the Kings.
