Rinne allowed five gaols on 36 shots in the Predators overtime loss in Detroit on Saturday. Carter Hutton got the nod last night, so Rinne will go tonight in Chicago. Rinne has lost six of his last seven starts and he has struggled on the road, going 3-4-3 with a 2.98 GAA and .887 SV% away from home this year.
Crawford made 30 saves on 31 shots in the Blackhawks win over the Jets on Sunday. The win snapped a brief two-game losing streak for Crawford, who sits at 12-7-2 on the year. Tonight he takes on Pekka Rinne and the Predators at home, where he is 7-3-1 with a 2.00 GAA and .931 SV% on the season.
Vermin had one assist in five games with the Lightning during his call-up, but his assignment to the AHL suggests that Ondrej Palat could be back in the lineup on Thursday. It could also be a paper move to save money because the Lightning had three days off in between games.
Daley will miss Tuesday’s game with an upper-body injury that he suffered on Sunday vs. the Jets. With Daley out, David Rundblad will return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the last 17 games. Daley is listed as day-to-day.
Zajac will miss his third straight game with an undisclosed injury and could be in danger of missing more. Consider him day-to-day.
Jones suffered an injury on Friday, but will not miss anytime, he will play tonight vs. the Sharks. Jones is skating on the Flames’ first line with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan. He has 10 points (7G / 3A) in 26 games this season.
Russell missed practice for the second straight day and he is in danger of missing his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. Monitor Russell’s status during the Flames’ morning skate on Tuesday.
Allen allowed four goals on 29 shots in the Blues loss to the Maple Leafs on Saturday. Allen has given up a combined seven goals on 44 shots (.841 SV%) in his last two starts. He has been shaky recently, but will get the call again on Tuesday. Allen has gone 6-4-1 with a 2.22 GAA and .918 SV% at home and draws a good matchup vs. the Coyotes.
Berra made 27 saves on 28 shots in Colorado’s win in New Jersey on December 1st. Semyon Varlamov started the last three games, but Berra will start tonight vs. the Penguins. In Berra’s first start against Pittsburgh, he allowed four goals on 30 shot in a 4-3 loss. The Pens come in having lost four of their last five while averaging just 2.40 goals per game.
Martinsen was a healthy scratch in the last two games, but will be back in the lineup tonight vs. Minnesota. Martinsen has one goal and two assists in his first 12 games.
Grigorenko has no points in his last games and will come out of the lineup in favour of Andreas Martinsen on Monday. Grigorenko had been play with Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla, which seems like the perfect fit for him, but Patrick Roy is clearly searching for more out of the young centre.
Salomaki has missed the last eight games with an undisclosed injury, but will be back in the lineup on Monday in Boston. He has just one goal and nine shots in eight games this season.
Varlamov allowed two goals on 43 shots in Colorado’s loss in Minnesota on Saturday. Since returning from injury, Varlamov has gone 3-3-0 with a 4.24 GAA and .912 SV%. Those numbers are still ugly, but his start on Saturday is promising. He gets a break tonight when he takes on the Wild again, but they’ll be without Devan Dubnyk tonight.
Semin has been a healthy scratch for the last five games and has registered just four points (1G / 3A) in 15 games with the Canadiens.
Kadri missed Monday’s practice with an illness, but head coach Mike Babcock said that Kadri will be in the lineup on Tuesday. Deploy Kadri like you normally would.
Bouma has been out since October 13th with a broken fibula, but was on the ice for the second straight day. He is not expected to play until next week at the earliest, but it is a good sign for the Flames that he is nearing a return.
Hutton allowed two goals on 32 shots in the Predators win in Buffalo on November 25th. Pekka Rinne has started the last three games, but it will be Hutton who goes tonight in the first game of a back-to-back. Hutton is 2-1-0 with a 2.97 GAA and .911 SV% this season, but will be in tough against a Bruins team that is third in the NHL in scoring.
McQuaid blocked a shot on his wrist in Saturday's win, but he was on the ice for the Bruins morning skate. Head coach Claude Julien would not commit to saying that McQuaid would for sure play, so we have listed him as a game-time decision.
Kero had a nice stint with the Blackhawks. Known more for his two-way play, Kero had one goal and two assists in 17 games, but his 1:37 SH/TOI per game was good for second among Blackhawks forwards. He goes back to the AHL with the team deciding to give Dennis Rasmussen a chance to make his NHL debut on Tuesday.
Rasmussen, 25, was an undrafted free agent that signed with the Blackhawks last season. His firth season in North America wasn’t great, but he is tied for second on Rockford in scoring with 14 points (7G / 7A) in 22 games and he is expected to make his NHL debut on Tuesday.
