NHL Hockey Player News

Mermis will play for the first time since last Thursday as he takes the place of Daemon Hunt on the Wild blue-line. Mermis has two goals and three assists in 15 games this season.

Hartman was a late scratch for Thursday's game, with the Wild only announcing his absence 30 minutes before puck drop. Hartman has nine goals and six assists in 27 games this season.

Schmid has started three of the last five games for the Devils and will start again on Thursday after spending the first portion of the season as the clear backup to Vitek Vanecek. Since taking on a larger role in late November, Schmid has a 4-4-0 record while posting a .905 SV%, a vast improvement over the .885 SV% he sported in the six games leading up to it (1-3-1). The Devils have a challenging matchup on Thursday against the Edmonton Oilers but are still -111 home favourites despite losing to them 4-1 less than two weeks ago.

Fabbro will play for the first time since December 12th on Thursday as the Predators are opting to dress seven defensemen. He has two goals and five assists in 24 games this season.

Sherwood will get his first chance to play on Thursday since December 12th. Sherwood originally missed time due to an upper-body injury, but was left out of the lineup on Tuesday despite being medically cleared to play. He has five goals and six assists in 29 games this season.

Robinson will be the odd-man out on Thursday as Jordan Greenway and Jeff Skinner are both set to return from their respective injuries. Robinson has a goal and two assists in seven games on the season.

Parssinen will take a seat on Thursday as the Predators are opting to dress seven defensemen in Philadelphia. He has six goals and three assists in 31 games this season.

Glass will take a seat on Thursday as the Predators are opting to dress seven defensemen in Philadelphia. Glass has registered just two points in 14 games this season.

With both Logan Thompson and Adin Hill unavailable due to injury, it will be Jiri Patera who gets the call for the Golden Knights on Thursday. Patera made his second appearance of the season in Tuesday's 6-3 loss to the Hurricanes, stopping all ten shots he faced after Thompson left early in the third period with an upper-body injury. Patera picked up the win in his lone start of the season, allowing four goals on 39 shots enroute to a 5-4 shootout victory over the Sharks on December 10th. The second-year netminder owns a .924 SV% across four career appearances.

Hart was originally reported to be starting Tuesday but ultimately remained out for a fourth-straight game due to illness. The 25-year-old returned to practice Monday but was deemed not fit to return on Tuesday even though he was a full participant. When he does return between the pipes, he will look to build off his 9-6-1 record, 2.42 GAA and .919 SV%.

Saros will get an immediate chance at redemption after a disappointing outing on Tuesday as he is set to make his league-leading 26th start of the season. Saros saw his personal six-game winning streak come to a crashing halt against the Canucks last time out, allowing five goals on just 24 shots. The uncharacteristic outing resulted in Saros' SV% dropping to .908 on the season to go along with his 14-11-0 record. He draws a decent matchup tonight on the road against the Flyers.

Jokiharju will sit on Thursday as the Sabres will opt to dress Ryan Johnson in his place. Jokiharju has two goals and seven assists in 30 games this season.

Kochetkov has almost exclusively been the starter for the Hurricanes the last several weeks and will start for the fifth time in the last six games on Thursday. His competition between the pipes has been underwhelming but Kochetkov has earned the increased workload under his merit, allowing only six combined goals over his last four games (3-0-1), posting a dazzling .946 SV%. The Hurricanes, coming off a convincing 6-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights, are -140 road favourites against a Pittsburgh Penguins team that has won three of their last four (3-1-0).

Greenway has only played two of the last 14 games for the Sabres due to an upper-body injury dating back to November 24th. The 6'6 power forward was a full participant at practice on Wednesday and will return to the lineup on Thursday. He has seven points (2G / 5A), averaging 16:24 time-on-ice while playing predominantly with Casey Mittelstadt and Zach Benson this season.

Skinner has missed the last three games with an upper-body injury but was a full participant at practice on Wednesday and will return to the lineup on Thursday. Skinner has 22 points (12G / 10A) in 30 games this season and is averaging 17:46 time-on-ice, the most since his inaugural season with the Sabres in 2018-19. The Sabres are 1-2-0 in his absence, including a 9-4 blowout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

Vasilevskiy had his shutout bid spoiled with just over four minutes remaining in Tuesday's 6-1 victory of the St. Louis Blues and will return to the crease for his sixth straight start on Thursday. The 29-year-old netminder has been slightly inconsistent since returning for off-season back surgery but has shown more good than bad lately, posting an impressive .925 SV% across his last seven games (5-2-0). Tampa Bay is a -113 home favourite on Thursday against a Vegas Golden Knights team that has lost two of three (1-2-0), allowing 4.7 goals per game.

Samsonov has lost two straight contests and, as a result, served as the backup to Martin Jones in the last two games for the Maple Leafs. That said, Samsonov will return to the crease on Thursday in an attempt to get back into the win column. Samsonov has been extremely inconsistent all season, highlighted by his last two appearances (0-0-2), in which he allowed 10 goals combined and sported an ugly .844 SV%. The Maple Leafs are coming off their first regulation loss in nearly a month and are -135 road favourites against a Buffalo Sabres team that was handily defeated 9-4 on Tuesday.

Lindgren will take over the Capitals’ crease for the first time in three games Thursday and look to extend Washington’s winning streak to three as they head to Columbus. The 30-year-old veteran has surprisingly been the better of the Capitals’ two goaltenders with his 6-3-2 record, 2.45 GAA and .925 SV%. He will head to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets, who are fresh off their highest scoring game of the season as they beat Buffalo 9-4 their last time out.

Lucchini had nine goals, 20 points, six PIMs and a -6 plus/minus in 24 games with Iowa (AHL) and has been recalled to Minnesota for the first time this season on emergency conditions. The 28-year-old left-winger last appeared in the NHL for his one and only season in 2022-23 and had a goal, 14 SOG, and a -2 plus/minus in 11 games played.