Lindback suffered an upper-body injury before Tuesday’s game and his season is in jeopardy. The Coyotes have not announced a timetable for his return, but he is not expected to return anytime soon.
Russell will miss his second straight game with a lower-body injury, but his injury is not believed to be serious, so Russell is listed as day-to-day and could be back in the lineup by Friday.
Warsofsky has been sidelined since January 17th but took part in a full contact practice on Wednesday and is nearing a return to the Penguins lineup.
Malkin will not play on Thursday vs. the Red Wings, but has been skating and is expected to return to the lineup soon. With Malkin out, Matt Cullen is expected to remain in the top-6.
Ericsson will miss his third consecutive game on Thursday and he is questionable for the Red Wings’ weekend back-to-back as well. With Ericsson and Niklas Kronwall sidelined, Xavier Ouellet will remain in the lineup until one of them is set to return.
Faulk will miss his fourth straight game with a leg injury. The Hurricanes said they’re being smart with Faulk’s injury, so he will not travel to Ottawa for Thursday’s game. He remains close to returning, but it won’t come until Friday at the earliest when the Hurricanes return home to play the Sharks.
Ramo suffered a knee injury last Thursday in San Jose and it was announced today that he will need surgery to repair meniscus damage and a torn ACL. He is expected to need 6-8 months to recover which leaves the Flames with Jonas Hiller and Joni Ortio as their goaltending tandem.
Mrazek gave up five goals on 22 shots in the Red Wings 6-5 win over the Bruins on Sunday afternoon. Jimmy Howard started on Monday, so they’ll go back to Mrazek tonight in Pittsburgh. Mrazek is 4-1-1 with a 1.99 GAA and .915 SV% since the break and 12-5-0 with a 1.95 GAA and .937 SV% on the road this season.
Svedberg has appeared in the last two games and picked up a goal on Monday, but will come out of the lineup tonight in New York. Erik Gustafsson will replace him in the lineup.
Gustafsson was a healthy scratch for the last two games, but will replace Viktor Svedberg tonight in New York. Gustafsson has eight assists and a plus-10 rating in 25 games with the Blackhawks this season.
Gudbranson will miss his seventh straight game with an upper-body. He has been skating recently but remains on IR.
Barkov will miss his fifth straight game with an upper-body injury. He has been on the ice and seemed to be nearing a return, but he will miss Thursday’s contest and won’t be able to return until Saturday at the earliest.
Scuderi has no points and a minus-6 rating in 17 games since being acquired from Pittsburgh earlier in the season. With the emergence of Erik Gustafsson and Viktor Svedberg, Scuderi’s services seem to be no longer needed.
Crawford allowed three goals on 44 shots in the Blackhawks loss to the Ducks on Saturday. Crawford has lost three in a row while allowing a combined eight goals on 88 shots (.909 SV%). The Blackhawks have been great on home ice, but not so much on the road—Crawford is 13-7-1 with a 2.78 GAA and .912 SV% in cities not named Chicago this season.
McDonagh has missed the last four games with a concussion, but will return tonight vs. the Blackhawks. With McDonagh back, Dan Boyle is expected to sit due to the flu. McDonagh will return to his spot on the top pairing with Dan Girardi and on the second power-play.
Jaskin has picked up 10 points (3G / 7A) in 49 games with the Blues this season but he heads back to Chicago after serving as a healthy scratch for the last four games.
With Cam Ward expected to be able to dress on Thursday, Daniel Altshuller has been assigned to Florida after serving as Eddie Lack’s backup on Tuesday.
Varlamov was pulled after allowing two goals on two shots in Colorado’s loss in Buffalo on Sunday. Varlamov has gone 2-3-0 with a 3.45 GAA and .902 SV% since the All-Star break. Varlamov draws a strong matchup on Wednesday with the Canadiens in town. Montreal has lost seven of their last eight on the road (1-6-1).
Desharnais suffered a foot injury in the Canadiens game in Arizona on Monday. With Desharnais out, Lars Eller is expected to move into the Habs’ top-6. Desharnais is listed day-to-day for now without a timeframe for his return.
