Hagel has missed the last three games with a shoulder injury but is expected to play Saturday in Edmonton. Hagel, who will skate with Jonathan Toews and Dominik Kubalik, comes in with four goals and two assists in 13 games.
Cirelli took a puck to the face on Tuesday and took Wednesday off but was back on the ice for Thursday's morning skate and will play in Philadelphia. Cirelli will wear a bubble and comes in with three goals and four assists (seven points) in his last seven games.
Vasilevskiy stopped 26 of 28 shots in the Lightning's win over the Panthers on Saturday. The win snapped a brief two-game losing skid for Vasilevskiy, who is now 4-0-2 with a 1.63 GAA and .944 SV% in his last six starts. Tonight he faces an Islanders team that is 5-4-2 and ranks 27th in goal-scoring (2.45 GF/gm).
Cernak was hurt early in Tuesday's game vs. the Hurricanes and is expected to miss multiple weeks with an upper-body injury. Luckily for the Lightning, Mikhail Sergachev will return from his suspension to replace Cernak vs. the Panthers.
Gourde was banged up in the Kraken's loss in Vegas on Tuesday. Head coach Dave Hakstol called him day-to-day on Wednesday, making him questionable to play Thursday vs. the Ducks. Luckily, it looks like Jared McCann will return from the COVID-19 reserve list to replace Gourde.
As of now, Hagel is considered day-to-day with a shoulder injury but is expected to undergo further evaluation. The Blackhawks are expected to reveal the extent of his injury later this week.
Kucherov underwent an unspecified procedure on Wednesday and will miss at least two months. This is obviously a massive blow for the Lightning, but we saw what they were capable of doing without him last season. The good news here is that Kucherov will not miss the rest of the season, so expect to get him back by mid-January at the latest.
