Crawford allowed four goals on 27 shots in the Blackhawks’ win over the Flyers on Tuesday. It was Crawford’s first win of the season—he comes into Friday at 1-2-0 with a 3.41 GAA and .884 SV%. He draws a strong matchup vs. the 0-2-0 Blue Jackets, but he didn’t have a lot of success vs. Columbus last year. Crawford was 1-0-1 with a 2.94 GAA and .875 SV% vs. the Blue Jackets a season ago.
Hossa left Tuesday’s win over the Flyers with an undisclosed injury that will keep him out of the lineup on Friday. The good news for the Blackhawks is that it looks like Ryan Hartman will return to the lineup and take Hossa’s spot. Consider him day-to-day.
Schneider allowed one goal on 24 shots in the Devils’ win over the Ducks on Tuesday. It was Schneider’s first win of the season, but that has been no fault of his own. Schneider is 1-1-1 with a 1.99 GAA and .935 SV% in three starts this season. Tonight he will face a Bruins team that has a terrible performance sandwiched in between two great games to start the year.
Elliott allowed four goals on 28 shots in the Flames loss to the Oilers last Friday. Elliott’s Flames career has not gotten off to the start that his owners hoped for. He has allowed a combined 10 goals on 55 shots for an ugly .818 SV%. The veteran will look to bounce-back against a Hurricanes team that is 0-1-2 despite scoring 3.00 goals per game to start the year.
Dubnyk allowed three goals on 17 shots in the Wild’s win over the Jets on Saturday. Dubnyk was given the night off on Tuesday, so he will be in goal tonight vs. the Maple Leafs. Dubnyk allowed a combined six goals on 48 shots (.875 SV%) in his first two starts of the season. It hasn’t been an ideal start and tonight he faces a high-scoring Maple Leafs team, but they’re on the tail-end of a back-to-back.
Talbot allowed two goals on 33 shots in the Oilers’ win over the Hurricanes on Tuesday. Talbot has won three of his first four starts while posting a 3.92 GAA and .886 SV% and will make his fifth consecutive start tonight vs. the Blues. St. Louis comes into the game at 3-0-1 and they are averaging 3.00 goals per game.
Gibson allowed two goals on 28 shots in the Ducks’ loss in New Jersey on Tuesday. It was Gibson’s best outing of the year so far, but still wasn’t enough for him record his first win of the season. So far, he has allowed nine goals on 78 shots (.885 SV%) and has only had an average of 1.67 goals for per game scored in front of him. It could be a long season for the Ducks and Gibson.
With Kris Letang sidelined, Pouliot will play his first game of the season on Thursday. Pouliot has a lot of offensive upside, but has yet to translate that into a full-time NHL gig. He had just seven assists in a modest 22 games last year.
Bourque has one assist in three games with the Avalanche, but will not play on Thursday due to a groin injury. With Bourque out, Ben Smith will re-enter the Avalanche lineup after sitting as a healthy scratch on Tuesday.
Leddy missed Thursday's practice with an upper-body injury that he likely suffered on Tuesday vs. the Sharks. With Leddy questionable, the Islanders recalled Ryan Pulock from Bridgeport (AHL) and he will take Leddy's spot in the lineup should he be unable to play tomorrow.
Lindgren started the year with the Canadiens as Al Montoya's backup while Carey Price was sidelined with the flu, but Price is back and will start on Thursday, which ends Lindgren's time with the big club.
Morrow was a healthy scratch for the first three games of the regular season, but will replace rookie Rob O'Gara in the lineup on Thursday. Morrow had seven points (1G / 6A) in 33 games with the Bruins last year and will be paired with Torey Krug tonight.
O’Gara has no points and two shots on goal while averaging 16:01 in his first three NHL games, but on Thursday he will be replaced by Joe Morrow.
Gibson allowed two goals on 28 shots in the Ducks’ loss in New Jersey on Tuesday. It was Gibson’s best outing of the year so far, but still wasn’t enough for him record his first win of the season. So far, he has allowed nine goals on 78 shots (.885 SV%) and has only had an average of 1.67 goals for per game scored in front of him. It could be a long season for the Ducks and Gibson.
With Patrice Bergeron set to come back into the lineup, Spooner will be scratched after a disappointing start to the season. He saw his playing time drop under 11 minutes on Monday, so Claude Julien is obviously trying to send a message to his young forward.
Dumba has one goal on five shots and a minus-2 rating in three games this season but it looks like will be be replaced by Mike Reilly in the lineup on Thursday. Don’t expect the young defenseman to sit for very long.
Reilly, 23, has not recorded a point in one game at both the NHL and AHL level. Tonight he is expected to draw back into the Wild lineup for Mathew Dumba. Reilly has a lot of offensive ability, but that has yet to translate into his NHL game.
Varlamov allowed three goals on 40 shots in Colorado’s loss in Washington on Tuesday. Varlamov has allowed a combined eight goals on 68 shots (.882 SV%) in his first two starts of the season and draws another tough matchup tonight in Tampa Bay. The Lightning are off to a 3-0-0 start to the season and are averaging an impressive 4.33 goals for per game.
Jones gave up five goals on 27 shots in the Sharks’ 7-4 loss to the Rangers on Monday. He was given Tuesday night off, but will be back in goal tonight in Pittsburgh. Jones is 2-1-0 with a 2.68 GAA and .896 SV% to start the 2016-17 season and faces a Penguins team who is sitting at 2-1-1 with 2.25 goals for per game in four games so far.
