Quick struggled on opening night, giving up five goals on 32 shots in the Kings’ 5-1 loss to the Sharks. The Kings were dominated all evening and didn’t provide Quick with much assistance. He should be in store for a better evening tonight as he gets set to take on the Coyotes. Quick was 2-0-1 with a 1.62 GAA and .939 SV% in three starts vs. Arizona last season.
Weal, 23, is expected to replace Andy Andreoff in the Kings’ lineup on Friday. The 2010 third round pick (70th overall) had 20 goals and 49 assists (69 points) in 73 games with Manchester (AHL) last season.
Despres, 24, who was acquired from the Penguins last season, had six points (1G / 5A) in 16 games with the Ducks and 23 points (3G / 20A) in 75 games between both teams. He is expected to open the season on the Ducks’ second pair with Cam Fowler as his partner and has clearly become a big part of the Ducks’ plans going forward.
Ward allowed two goals on 25 shots in the Hurricanes opening night loss in Nashville. It was a strong performance for the longtime Hurricanes’ starter, who will start his second game tonight vs. the Red Wings. Ward was 0-2-0 despite posting a 2.07 GAA and .920 SV% in two starts against the Red Wings last season.
Baun had one shot in 9:23 TOI in the Blackhawks’ season opener but it looks like he will sit in favour of Viktor Tikhonov.
It looks like Tikhonov will replace Kyle Baun in the Blackhawks starting lineup on Friday. Tikhonov skated in Baun’s spot on the Blackhawks’ third line with Andrew Shaw and Bryan Bickell. The former first round pick of the Coyotes, had 24 points (8G / 16A) in 49 games in the KHL last season.
Condon won the Canadiens backup job by not allowing a goal in 93 minutes of preseason hockey. The 25-year-old was 23-19-6 with a 2.44 GAA and .921 SV% with Hamilton (AHL) last season. He will make his NHL debut tonight against a 2-0 Senators team.
Price stopped 36 of 37 shots that he faced in the Canadiens’ win over the Maple Leafs in their season opener. Price picked up where he left off in 2014-15 and will look to move to 2-0 tonight in Boston. Price dominated the Bruins last season, going 4-0-0 with a 1.50 GAA, .950 SV% and one shutout.
Crawford gave up three goals on 27 shots in the Blackhawks 3-2 loss to the Rangers in their home opener on Wednesday. It wasn’t the best start to the season for Crawford, but he will get another shot tonight vs. the Islanders. Crawford was better on the road than he was at home last season, let’s see if that trend will carry into 2015-16.
2014-15 was a season to forget for Mike Smith. He won just 14 of his 62 games and posted a career-worst 3.16 GAA with a .904 SV%. The good news? He can’t possibly be that bad again and you probably got him on the cheap. His bounce-back season will start tonight against the Kings—who he was 0-2-0 with a 2.54 GAA and .927 SV% against a season ago.
Ondrej Pavelec got the win in Thursday’s season opener, but with the Jets opening the season up with a back-to-back, they will turn to Hutchinson tonight in New Jersey. The 25-year-old netminder was 21-10-5 with a 2.38 GAA and .914 SV% last season and he opens the season with a great matchup. He will face the inept offence of the New Jersey Devils—he stopped 21 of 22 in 3-1 win in his only other start s. the Devils last November.
Clarkson will be held out of the season opener with a lower-body injury. The Blue Jackets are unsure if Clarkson will travel with the team to start the season, so expect him to miss at least the first two games. He will be replaced by Jared Boll.
Anderson stopped 26 of 27 shots that he faced in the Senators 2-1 win over Buffalo in their season opener. He draws another great matchup tonight against a Maple Leafs team who have scored just one goal through their first two games. Anderson had a 3.41 GAA and .901 SV% in two games vs. Toronto last year, but this is not the same Maple Leafs team.
Halak has been battling an upper-body injury since the preseason and there was some speculation that he might miss a few games and it looks like that will be the case as Thomas Greiss gets the call in tonight’s season opener. The Islanders play again tomorrow so there is a good chance Halak won’t be available for that game either.
After going 9-6-3 with a 2.59 GAA and .908 SV% with the Penguins last season Greiss signed with the Islanders this summer and will start the season opener because Jaroslav Halak is out with an upper-body injury. Greiss has 70 career starts under his belt but his first outing with the Islanders will be a difficult one with the reigning Stanley Cup Champions in town.
Bobrovsky was limited to 51 starts last season, but he was still a 30-game winner while posting a 2.68 GAA and .918 SV%. Bobrovsky has posted strong numbers in his tim with Columbus, but he has yet to stay healthy enough to start 60-plus games. If he can do that in 2015-16, he could turn into a top-5 fantasy netminder. Tonight he starts his season vs. the Rangers—he was 1-1-1 with a 2.62 GAA and .915 SV% in three games vs. New York last year.
Just 47 seconds into his Hurricanes debut, the oft-injured Wisniewski went down with a lower-body injury and had to be helped off of the ice. After the game, head coach Bill Peters did not have an update on Wisniewski’s injury, but expect a status report leading up to Saturday’s game with the Red Wings.
Halfway through his first game with his new team, Lehner suffered a fluky injury that is going to force him to “miss some time” according to Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma. Lehner went behind the net to play the puck and when he returned to the crease and went into the butterfly, he suffered a leg injury. Lehner was unable to put any weight on his leg and was spotted wearing a walking boot on his right foot after the game. Chad Johnson will take over as the Sabres netminder in the meantime.
Lundqvist stopped 32 of 34 shots that he faced in Wednesday’s season opening win in Chicago. This is the type of performance we’ve become accustom to seeing from King Henrik over the years. Tonight he will take on a Blue Jackets team that he was 2-0-0 with a 1.94 GAA and .941 SV% against in 2014-15.
MacAthur was listed as a game-time decision, but he is on the ice for warmups, so it appears as if he will play. MacArthur, who is expected to skate on the Senators third line with J.G Pageau and Milan Michalek, is coming off of a season where he had 36 points (16G / 20A) in 62 games last season.
