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.
Bernier was 19-13-3 with a 2,85 GAA and .913 SV% in 37 games with the Avalanche last season. Bernier inked a deal with the Red Wings this season and will start tonight vs. the team that drafted him back in 2006. The Red Wings have a very inexperienced blueline in front of him, making the 30-year-old a risky option on the last night of the week.
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.
Dumoulin, who has been battling an upper-body injury, took part in Wednesday’s practice and today’s morning skate, so it looks like he’ll play tonight. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan loves the “game-time decision” tag, so expect Dumoulin to be in the lineup.
Dumoulin shed his non-contact jersey during Wednesday’s practice session and skated on the top pair with Kris Letang, which is a good sign that he will be available for Thursday’s season opener vs. the Capitals. Dumoulin doesn’t carry a to of fantasy value despite playing over 20 minutes a night for one of the best teams in hockey. He had just 18 points (5G / 13A) in 80 games a season ago.
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.
Following a one-year stint with the Avalanche, Bernier signs with the Red Wings, where he will fight with Jimmy Howard for playing time. The 29-year-old had a solid season in Colorado, going 19-13-3 with a 2.85 GAA, .913 SV% and two shutouts in 37 games.
Sprong dominated the AHL last season, collecting 32 goals and 33 assists (65 points) in 65 games before being called-up by the Penguins. After arriving in the NHL, he had two goals and one assist in eight games. Sprong has been great at lower-levels but it hasn’t translated into NHL success yet.
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.
