Purcell will miss his fourth straight game with a groin ailment, but will be back in the lineup tomorrow vs. the Canadiens. Purcell has one assist and a minus-4 rating in two games since being acquired by the Panthers.
Luongo allowed four goals on 26 shots, but walked away on the right side of a 5-4 shootout final against the Flyers on Saturday. Tonight, Luongo will make his fourth consecutive start—he has gone 2-1-0 with a 4.14 GAA and .857 SV% in his previous three outings. Luongo has gone 2-0-0 with a 1.44 GAA and .949 SV% vs. the Islanders this season.
MacKenzie recently returned from an upper-body injury, but it looks like he’ll come out of the lineup tonight with an undisclosed injury he is believed to have suffered in overtime on Saturday. With MacKenzie out, Quinton Howden or Shawn Thornton will return to the lineup.
Voracek appeared on-track to return to the lineup vs. the Red Wings tomorrow, but he missed Monday’s practice and will be held out of the lineup for an eighth straight game. Tuesday is the first of a back-to-back, so it seems unlikely that he’ll return vs. the Blackhawks.
Kucherov was sucker-punched by Blue Jackets’ defenseman Dalton Prout. The Lightning did not have an update on Kucherov’s status, but it is not believed to be serious.
de Haan missed the last four games with a lower-body injury that he suffered on March 3rd. de Haan will replace Brain Strait in the lineup and comes in with 10 points (2G / 8A) and plus-7 rating on the season.
Greiss allowed three goals on 31 shots in the Islanders loss in Boston on Saturday. Since Jaroslav Halak went down, Greiss has gone 0-1-1 while allowing a combined six goals on 67 shots (.910 SV%). Tonight he takes on the Panthers on home ice, where he has gone 10-3-3 with a 2.14 GAA and .930 SV% this season.
Ortio allowed three goals on 25 shots in the Flames loss to the Coyotes on Friday. Tonight he’ll make his fifth consecutive start—he has gone 2-1-1 with a 2.25 GAA and .914 SV% in his previous four outings. He draws a terrible matchup with the Blues in town. St. Louis comes in riding a six-game winning streak while averaging 4.33 goals per game.
Crawford surrendered four goals on 20 shots in the Blackhawks loss in Dallas on Friday. Crawford lost both of his starts on the Hawks’ brief two-game road-trip, allowing a combined six goals on 50 shots (.880 SV%). Crawford was victorious in his first start vs. the Kings and has gone 20-8-2 with a 1.74 GAA and .944 SV% on home ice this season.
Niemi was pulled after he allowed four goals on 18 shots in the Stars loss in Nashville on March 1st. Kari Lehtonen started the last four games, but the Stars will go with Niemi tonight vs. the Blues. Niemi is 0-1-1 with a 2.40 GAA and .921 SV% in his first two starts vs. St. Louis.
Varlamov stopped all 37 shots that he faced in Colorado’s shutout win over the Ducks on Wednesday. Varlamov has responded very well after sitting for two games last week. He has won two in a row while stopping 74 of 75 shots (.987 SV%) to earn back-to-back wins. Varlamov has gone 10-7-0 with a 2.40 GAA and .928 SV% on the road this season.
