NHL Hockey Player News

Ward surrendered three goals on 40 shots in the Blackhawks loss in Carolina on November 12th. Ward has not recorded a win since October 13th, losing four in a row while allowing a combined 14 goals on 149 shots (.906 SV%). Ward is 2-1-2 with a 3.51 GAA and .894 SV% on the road this year and is difficult to trust on a busy night in the NHL.

Ullmark allowed two goals on 39 shots in the Sabres win in Minnesota last Saturday. Ullmark has alternated wins ad losses in his last four games and is 4-0-1 with a 2.65 GAA and .922 SV% on the season. As solid as he has been in limited playing time, the Red Wings have won six of their last eight coming into the weekend.

Copp will come out of the Jets lineup on Saturday after suffering a concussion during Friday’s game in Minnesota. Brendan Lemieux will draw back into the Jets lineup to replace Copp.

Lemieux served his two game suspension but has served as a healthy scratch for the last five games. Tonight he replaces Andrew Copp, who is out with a concussion. Lemieux has no points, six shots and 27 PIMS in nine games this season.

Brossoit allowed two goals on 16 shots after replacing Connor Hellebuyck in the Jets loss in Calgary on Wednesday. On the season, Brossoit has gone 3-1-1 with a 1.65 GAA and .951 SV%. With Hellebuyck starting last night, they’ll turn to Brossoit for his fifth start of the campaign. He faces a Blues team that has lost five of their last seven games.

Petersen allowed six goals on 31 shots in the Kings loss to the Avalanche on Wednesday. It was the first bad performance of Petersen’s young career. So far the has a 2.75 GAA and .922 SV% in four starts and one relief appearance. Even when he’s playing well, wins are going to be difficult to come by while the Kings rank last in the NHL in scoring.

Comtois had seven points (2G / 5A) in 10 games with the Ducks before heading to the AHL for a conditioning stint. The 19-year-old had one assist in four games with San Diego, but heads back to the QMJHL where ehe had 85 points (44G / 41A) in 54 games with Victoriaville last year.

Varlamov allowed three goals on 36 shots in Colorado’s win in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Philipp Grubauer started last night, so Varlamov will go tonight vs. the Stars. The 30-year-old has won three straight and comes into Saturday at 3-2-1 with 2.18 GAA and .927 SV% on home-ice this season.

Hanley has been in the lineup for seven straight games, but will be replaced by Julius Honka on Saturday. Hanley has no points this season.

Honka has been out of the lineup for the last two games, but will replace Joel Hanley in Colorado. Honka is known as an offensive-defenseman, but has just three assists and 25 shots while averaging 14:18 TOI/gm in 18 games this season.

Khudobin allowed four goals on 33 shots in the Stars win over the Senators on Friday. With Ben Bishop still out, Khudobin will start his third straight game. He has struggled in the previous two, allowing a combined nine goals on 49 shots (.816 SV%). You add in a matchup vs. an Avalanche team that is first in goal-scoring (3.77 GF/pg) and you should leave Khudobin on the bench.

Hutchinson has been called-up because Roberto Luongo was hurt in Friday’s game and is not expected to be available on Saturday. Hutchinson projects to serve as James Reimer’s backup this evening.

Puljujarvi struggled with the Oilers earlier in the year, scoring just one goal in 11 games before being sent down. Since going to the Condors, Puljujarvi registered two goals and two assists in four games.

Fritz has picked up 10 points (2G / 8A) in 17 games with Bridgeport this season. He could draw into the Islanders lineup for his third game of the season on Saturday.

Dal Colle got into the lineup for just two games during his call-up and returns to Bridgeport with Tanner Fritz coming the other way. Dal Colle has 14 points (7G / 7A) in 14 games with Bridgeport.