Cholowski has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury, but is expected to play on Monday. Jeff Blashill wouldn’t go as far as to confirm Cholowski’s return, but he would replace Danny DeKeyser if he does play. The rookie defenseman has had a great start to his NHL career, picking up one goal on five shots and two assists in three games.
Allen allowed three goals on 34 shots in the Blues win over the Flames on Thursday. Allen will start the front-end of the Blues’ back-to-back tonight in Chicago. The Blackhawks lit him up for five goals on 30 shots in St. Louis last Saturday, making Allen a risky option during his fourth start of the season.
Cholowski missed Thursday’s game vs. the Maple Leafs and will not play vs. the Bruins on Saturday. Cholowski was on the ice for Friday’s practice, but skated on the “fourth-pair.” Head coach Jeff Blashill suggests that Cholowski “might play Monday.”
Allen allowed five goals on 30 shots in the Blues overtime loss to the Blackhawks last Saturday. Allen has had a terrible start to the season, allowing 10 goals on 55 shots (.818 SV%) in his first two starts. Tonight he faces a Flames team that is scoring 4.00 goals for per game so far.
Cholowski has been great for the Red Wings so far, scoring one goal with two assists while averaging 22:10 TOI/GM in his first three NHL contests. There’s no word when the rookie defenseman suffered the injury, but he will be replaced by Niklas Kronwall vs. Toronto on Thursday.
Markstrom allowed five goals on 35 shots in the Canucks loss in Calgary on Saturday. Markstrom faced the Flames in his first two starts of the season, allowing a combined seven goals on 70 shots (.900 SV%). Tonight he faces a Hurricanes team that is 2-0-1 and averaging 4.00 goals per game so far.
Lammikko, 22, was a third round pick (No.65 overall) in 2014 and has spent the last two seasons with the Thunderbirds. Lammikko has just 14 goals and 25 assists (39 points) in 108 career AHL games. He is expected to make his NHL debut on Thursday with Derek MacKenzie dealing with an upper-body injury.
Allen allowed five goals on 25 shots in the Blues loss to the Jets on Thursday. It was a rough start to the season for Allen, who draws an easier matchup tonight with the Blackhawks in town. The 28-year-old was 2-1-0 with a 3.28 GAA and .875 SV% vs. Chicago last season.
Bratt suffered a fractured jaw after he was hit in the face by a puck that deflected off of the crossbar during Thursday’s practice. With Bratt out, the team signed veteran winger Drew Stafford to a one-year deal after playing on a PTO during training camp. Stefan Noesen is expected to move up into the top-6 in the Devils’ season opener with Bratt sidelined.
Over the last two seasons, Allen has averaged 60 starts per season while posting a 2.75 GAA (14th) and .906 SV% (21st). Allen looks like a pretty average netminder, but he plays behind a defensively sound team that scores a lot of goals, so he’ll rack up the wins this year. He draws a brutal matchup tonight with the Jets in town—he was 1-2-0 with a 3.34 GAA and .890 SV% against them last season.
During the 2017-18 season, Markstrom started a career-high 57 games and went 23-26-7 with a 2.71 GAA, .912 SV% and two shutouts. The Sedin Twins are gone, but the Canucks have some young blood that could provide Markstrom with a decent amount of goal support this year. Tonight he faces a Flames team that he was 1-2-0 while allowing 13 goals on 78 shots (.833 SV%) against last year.
Allen was sidelined with back spasms during the start of training camp, but has been cleared for game action on Tuesday. This is great news for the Blues, who kick-off the regular season next Thursday (Oct. 4th). Allen had one of his worst seasons in 2017-18, going 27-25-3 with a 2.75 GAA, .906 SV% and one shutout. He had a negative (-10.34) goals saved above average for the first time since 2015.
Hamilton is ranked as the No.13 right-handed defenseman according to Corsica Player Ratings. During his three-years in Calgary, Hamilton ranked sixth in the NHL among defensemen in goals (62) and 17th in points (137). Over the last two seasons, Hamilton has a 56.3 CorsiFor% and brings that to a team that ranked first in Corsi last season.
