Graovac has not recorded a point in five career NHL games, but had three goals and one assist in six games with Iowa before his call-up. He will make his season debut on the Wild’s fourth line on Saturday.
Lehtonen allowed two goals on 25 shots in the Stars’ loss to the Blue Jackets last Saturday. Antti Niemi started the last two games, but they’ll go back to Lehtonen tonight in Minnesota. The matchup is a difficult one. The Wild are 3-3-1 but rank fourth in the NHL in scoring (3.50 G/PG).
Allen allowed one goal on 27 shots in the Blues shootout loss to the Red Wings on Thursday. Allen has won three of six starts while posting a 2.13 GAA and .908 SV% to start the 2016-17 season. Tonight he will take on a Kings team that has won four in a row—all needed overtime or a shootout—even without Jonathan Quick between the pipes.
Budaj allowed two goals on 26 shots in the Kings OT win over the Predators on Thursday. Budaj has won four in a row while posting a 2.21 GAA and .901 SV%. Even without Jonathan Quick, the Kings are making it easy enough on Budaj and they’re still winning. Budaj is facing just 23 shots per game, but remains a risky start tonight in St. Louis.
Hudler has missed the last five games with an illness, but says he is feeling much better and is likely to return to the lineup tonight. In order for Hudler to play, he will need to be activated from IR first.
Stone suffered an upper-body injury recently and left Saturday’s morning skate early. Head coach Dave Tippet said that Stone is questionable and a decision will be made later. Consider Stone a game-time decision.
Dubnyk stopped all 38 shots that he faced in the Wild’s shutout win in Buffalo on Thursday. Dubnyk has posed back-to-back shutouts, stopping all 65 shots that he has faced. Dubnyk has had an excellent start to the season, winning four of his first six starts with a 1.67 GAA and .944 SV%. Dallas is 3-3-1 with 2.57 goals per game this year.
Domingue allowed four goals on 32 shots in the Coyotes’ win over the Flyers on Thursday. It wasn’t pretty, but it was enough for Domingue to get his first win of the season. Domingue’s 4.74 GAA and .857 SV% do not give you a lot of confidence and they shouldn’t. Leave him on your bench or on the waiver wire tonight.
Ward allowed two goals on 30 shots in the Hurricanes’ win over the Rangers on Friday. It was Ward’s first win of the season and he now sits at 1-2-1 with a 3.52 GAA and .872 SV% in his first four starts of 2016-17. Tonight he will go up against a Flyers team that has lost three of their last four, despite averaging 3.00 goals per game.
Ramage, 25, has cleared waivers and been reassigned to Cleveland, where he had 27 points (8G / 19A) in 68 games last year.
Milano, 20, was called up, but never got into a game for the Blue Jackets. The 2014 No.16 overall pick will head back to Cleveland, where he has one goal in two games this season.
Hunwick will miss his second straight game with a lower-body injury. Hunwick has had a tough start to the season, so his injury gives the Maple Leafs a chance to look at some of their other defensemen.
Pulkkinen had one goal and averaged just 9:09 TOI in eight games with the Wild after being claimed from Detroit. Pulkkinen’s skating is what is lacking and could ultimately limit him to an elite AHL scorer.
Kucherov was injured after losing his footing and crashing into the boards on Thursday. He missed the Lightning’s morning skate and will not play in New Jersey tonight. Kucherov is listed as day-to-day.
Spurgeon missed the last four games, but will return to the lineup vs. the Stars on Saturday. Spurgeon has one goal and one assist in four games this season, but won’t start tonight with Ryan Suter. Instead he will play with Nate Prosser, as Mathew Dumba played with Suter in Spurgeon’s absence.
Matheson has four points (2G / 2A) and 19 shots on goal in seven games this season, but will be a healthy scratch on Saturday in Buffalo. This might just be a move to get the young defenseman some rest, especially with the Panthers back in action again tomorrow. He’ll be replaced by Steve Kampfer.
Vasilevskiy stopped 27 of 28 shots in the Lightning’s win in Ottawa last Saturday. Another Saturday, another start for Vasilevskiy, who has won a game on the first two Saturday’s of the season while stopping 59 of 62 shots (.952 SV%). Tonight he faces the Devils, who he beat in his season debut and that ranks second last in scoring (2.14 G/PG).
Luongo allowed three goals on 28 shots in the Panthers loss in Toronto on Thursday. Luongo has won three of his first five starts while posting a 2.20 GAA and .916 SV%. Luongo will face a Sabres team that he has dominated in his career—winning 17 of 27 starts with a 1.92 GAA and .936 SV%. He is a must-start this afternoon.
Mason gave up five goal on 25 shots in the Flyers loss to the Coyotes, but he is expected to start again tonight vs. the Penguins. Mason has an ugly 3.15 GAA and .886 SV% in his first five starts and two relief appearances in 2016-17. Mason makes for a risky start tonight—he was 1-3-0 with a 3.28 GAA and .904 SV% vs. Pittsburgh last year.
Rask missed the last three games with an undisclosed injury, but it looks like he will return to the crease tonight in Detroit. Rask has enjoyed a really good start to the season, winning each of his first three games with a 1.67 GAA and .947 SV%. He’ll be in tough against a Red Wings team that has won six consecutive games.
