Miller will sit out of Tuesday’s contest all together due to muscle tightness. University of British Columbia netminder Matt Hewitt will be the Canucks emergency backup with Miller out.
Lehtonen allowed one goal on 13 shots after replacing Antti Niemi in the Stars’ loss in Colorado on Saturday. Lehtonen almost led the Stars to a come from behind win, but the effort fell just short. Tonight he makes his first start of the season and it comes on the road, where he was 12-4-2 with a 2.76 GAA and .912 SV% a season ago.
Martin Jones has started the first three games of the season, including last night, when he was lit up for five goals on 22 shots, so Dell will make his NHL debut on Tuesday. The 27-year-old was undrafted and paid his dues in the ECHL and AHL before becoming the Sharks’ backup this season. Del was 17-16-6 with a 2.42 GAA and .922 SV% in 40 games with the San Jose Barracuda (AHL) last season.
Jacob Markstrom will get a second straight start with Miller dealing with some minor tightness, but expect Miller to be read to go later in the week.
Pearson has served his four-game suspension (two preseason games, two regular season games) and is set to return to the lineup on Tuesday. The Kings are very thin upfront, so Pearson’s return is huge for their top-6. He had 15 goals and 21 assists (36 points) last year and should build off of that this season. Teddy Purcell will sit with Pearson coming back into the fold.
Markstrom allowed three goals on 22 shots in the Canucks’ overtime win over the Hurricanes on Sunday. Ryan Miller played great on Saturday, but will not play tonight because of muscle tightness, so Markstrom gets a second straight start. However, there are better options with a very dangerous 3-0-0 Blues team in town.
Ward allowed five goals on 26 shots in the Hurricanes’ overtime loss in Winnipeg last Thursday. Eddie Lack started on Sunday, also in a losing effort, so they’ll go back to Ward tonight in Edmonton. The Oilers are coming off of an ugly performance, but with Connor McDavid leading the way, they’re a dangerous matchup on any given night.
Dowd was a healthy scratch for the first two games of the year, but will replace Kyle Clifford in Tuesday’s lineup. The 26-year-old centre had 48 points (14G / 34A) in 58 games with the Manchester Monarchs (AHL) a season ago.
Gilbert was a healthy scratch for the first two games of the season, but will replace Matt Greene in the lineup on Tuesday. Gilbert had just one goal and one assist in 45 games with the Canadiens last year.
Greene was a minus-3 in the Kings’ loss to the Flyers on Friday and he will be replaced by Tom Gilbert tonight in Minnesota.
Clifford has three assists and two penalty minutes in two games this season, but on Tuesday he will be a healthy scratch as Nic Dowd gets set to make his season debut in Minnesota.
Purcell failed to record a shot or a point in his first two games of the season and was a minus-2 on Friday. He was playing in the Kings’ top-6, but with Tanner Pearson set to return from suspension, Purcell will come out of the lineup on Tuesday.
Oleksiak missed the first two games of the season with an undisclosed injury, but he will get into the lineup on Tuesday as the Stars get set to take on the Predators. Oleksiad is not known for his offence though, he had just two assists in 19 games last year and has just 12 points (1G / 11A) in 78 career NHL games.
Lindell, 22, appeared in four games with the Stars last season, but did not record a point. He has offensive ability, as evidenced by his 42 AHL points (14G / 28A) but he likely won’t see the usage necessary to make a fantasy impact.
Benn picked up an assist in both of the first two games of the season, but will come out of the lineup for Jamie Oleksiak on Tuesday.
Nemeth was in the lineup for the Stars’ first two games of the year, but will be scratched on Tuesday to allowed Esa Lindell to make his season debut. Nemeth has no points, a plus-1 rating and two penalty minutes so far this season.
Gustavsson only made one save in his Oilers debut before getting injured in a collision with defenseman Adam Larsson. With Gustavsson sidelined, Laurent Brossoit was recalled from the AHL and will backup Cam Talbot on Tuesday.
Frederik Andersen started the first three games of the season, including last night, so Enroth will make his Maple Leafs debut in Minnesota on Thursday. Enroth was 7-5-1 with a 2.17 GAA and .922 SV% in 16 games with the Kings last year. Enroth has a modest .911 career SV% and is a serviceable backup who will get a lot of offensive support, but not nearly as much defensive support as he had in Los Angeles a year ago.
Andersen stopped 24 of 25 shots in the Maple Leafs’ win over the Bruins on Saturday. It was a nice bounce-back game for Andersen who had a rough Maple Leafs debut. Toronto has impressed in their first two games and tonight’s matchup in Winnipeg should be a good one for Andersen. The Jets are 1-2-0 while averaging 3.00 goals per game so far.
Anderson allowed three goals on 24 shots in the Senators shootout win over the Canadiens on Saturday. Andrew Hammond got the nod in Detroit last night, so the Senators will turn to Anderson in game No.2 of a back-to-back. The veteran netminder is 2-0-0 despite posting a subpar 3.34 GAA and .887 SV%.
