Schneider allowed one goal on 32 shots in the Devils win over the Red Wings on Wednesday. Schneider has rattled off five straight wins while stopping 144 of 154 shots (.935 SV%). Tonight he faces the Sabres for the second time this season—he stopped 23 of 25 shots in a 6-2 win in the early part of 2017-18.
Rittich allowed one goal on 17 shots in the Flames win in Vancouver on December 17th. Rittich came up to the NHL as a relative unknown but has played well in his first four career NHL games—the 25-year-old enters Thursday at 3-1-0 with a 2.10 GAA and .919 SV% but draws a tough road matchup in San Jose tonight.
Ruhwedel departed Wednesday’s game early and did not return. He will likely miss at least a couple of weeks with an upper-body injury so Frank Corrado has been recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).
Howard allowed two goals on 31 shots in the Red Wings loss in New Jersey on Wednesday. Howard has lost six of his last seven starts while posting a 2.71 GAA and .902 SV%. Tonight he faces a Rangers team he has enjoyed success against in his career but was on the wrong end of a 2-1 OT final in late-November.
Condon allowed one goal on 38 shots in the Senators loss in Florida before the break. Condon has lost four straight starts while posting a 3.86 GAA and .894 SV%. Condon has gone 0-0-2 with a 3.39 GAA and .895 SV% in four appearances Canadian Tire Centre this season.
Jones stopped all 28 shots that he faced in the Sharks shutout win over the Kings before the Christmas break. It was a much-needed game for Jones, who had been struggling and in trouble of losing playing time to Aaron Dell. The 27-year-old has gone 8-4-2 with a 2.39 GAA and .914 SV% in 14 starts at the SAP Center this season.
Markstrom allowed two goals on 33 shots in the Canucks loss to the Blues last Saturday. Markstrom has dropped his last three starts while allowing a combined 12 goals on 84 shots (.857 SV%). This season the 27-year-old has gone 5-8-2 with a 2.58 GAA and .916 SV% in 15 starts on home-ice.
Rust left Wednesday’s game with an upper-body injury and the Penguins announced that he will be out “longer term.” The Penguins will likely have to dig into their farm system to find some forward depth with Rust out.
Letang will miss his second straight game with a lower-body injury but it doesn’t sound like he will be sidelined for an extended period of time because the Penguins expect him to join the team at some point during their brief three-game road trip.
Murray finished last night’s shootout win over the Blue Jackets but the Penguins announced on Thursday that he will travel with the team to Carolina but won’t be available to start.
Aho has recorded nine goals and 11 assists (20 points) in 29 games with the Sound Tigers in his first season in North America. The Swedish defenseman could make his NHL debut with Johnny Boychuk (lower-body) landing on IR on Thursday.
Boychuk finished Wednesday’s game vs. the Sabres but he must have sustained a lower-body injury somewhere throughout the game. Boychuk will likely miss a couple of weeks so the Islanders have recalled Sebastian Aho from Bridgeport (AHL).
Reimer stopped all 38 shots that he faced in the Panthers shutout won over the Senators last Saturday. Reimer has won three in a row while posting a 1.33 GAA and .964 SV%. The 29-year-old has gone 5-3-3 with a 2.60 GAA and .925 SV% in 11 December appearances.
Price allowed two goals on 35 shots in the Canadiens loss in Carolina last night. Price has won three of his last five starts while posting a 2.41 GAA and .928 SV%. He will be in tough starting for the second night in a row against the top offence in the NHL—Price has gone 4-7-0 with a 3.59 GAA and .895 SV% on the road this season.
Andersen allowed two goals on 32 shots in the Maple Leafs win in New York before the Christmas break. Andersen has won just four of his seven starts in December despite posting a 2.01 GAA and .941 SV%. In his first start against the Coyotes, Andersen allowed two goals on 29 shots in a 4-1 loss in mid-November.
Elliott stoped 35 of 36 shots in the Flyers shootout loss in Columbus last Saturday. Elliott has lost two in a row despite turning aside 68 of 71 shots (.958 SV%). Elliott has been strong in an extended run as the Flyers No.1, going 7-3-1 with a 1.99 GAA and .933 SV% in 11 December starts.
Kreider reportedly left the first period because his arm felt weird and he was sent to the hospital where they discovered he has a blood clot in his arm. Kreider will be sidelined for an extended period of time. Players with similar blood clots have missed about 6-8 weeks.
Vasilevskiy stopped all 22 shots that he faced in the Lightning’s shutout win over the Wild last Saturday. Vasilevskiy’s ridiculous season has not slowed down in December as he’s gone 7-1-0 with a 1.86 GAA, .932 SV% and two shutouts in eight starts. He is a must-start against a Canadiens team who played last night—Vasilevskiy is 14-1-1 with a 2.28 GAA, .921 SV% and one shutout on home ice.
With Kris Letang dealing with a lower-body injury and Chad Ruhwedel getting hurt last night, Corrado has earned yet another call-up. He has one goal and seven assists (eight points) in 19 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and has only appeared in three games with the Pittsburgh.
Crawford was placed on IR yesterday and will be out until at least January 3rd, meaning he will miss the next three games minimum. There’s a good chance that Anton Forsberg will start three games in four days but there’s no word whether Crawford will be out through January 3rd.
