Rinne stopped 33 of 36 shots and two of three shootout attempts in the Predators win over the Coyotes on Tuesday. Rinne has been a difference maker for Nashville so far and will be for the rest of the season. He has a 1.55 GAA and .940 SV% entering play tonight and despite the tough matchup, he is a must-start---unless you have other really good options.
The Islanders are calling Hamonic day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He will be replaced by Lubomir Visnovsky, who is coming off of IR with an upper-body injury of his own.
Visnovsky has yet to play this season because of an upper-body injury he suffered in the preseason. Visnovsky has only played in 59 of a possible 130 games since being an Islander. Over that time he has averaged 34.7 points per 82 games, so he is a legit fantasy option, but health is a concern for the 38-year-old blueliner.
Johnson stopped all five shots that he faced after replacing Jaroslav Halak on Tuesday vs. Toronto. He won his first start vs. the Hurricanes, but it will be much tougher sledding tonight in Boston. He might bring his A-game because it is his former team, but look at your other options before using him as a spot-start.
Ballard was expected to play on the Wild's third pair tonight with Christian Folin, but both of them are absent from the morning skate because of the flu, so it looks like Mathew Dumba and Nate Prosser will slide into the lineup.
Folin was expected to play on the Wild's third pair tonight with Keith Ballard, but both of them are absent from the morning skate because of the flu, so it looks like Mathew Dumba and Nate Prosser will slide into the lineup.
Steen stepped onto the ice alone before the skate, but as soon as his teammates started filing onto the ice, he left. Steen is among a few Blues' players battling the flu, expect an update after practice, but it doesn't look like Steen will be in tonight.
Tootoo injured his foot when he blocked a Dan Girardi shot on Tuesday. With Tootoo out, Tuomo Ruutu will slide back onto the fourth line after being a healthy scratch in the last game.
Svedberg stopped all 32 shots that he faced in a 4-0 win over the Sabres on Saturday. He has had a great start to the year, stopping 62 of 64 shots (.969 SV%). It looks like he will go tonight and Tuukka Rask will go on Saturday vs. the Maple Leafs. It is not the best spot-start situation, seeing as how the Islanders are second in the NHL with a 3.50 goals per game.
Lee, 24, has three goals and two assists in five games with Bridgeport so far this season. He was close to making the Islanders out of camp, but it didn't take him long to get recalled. He had 14 points (9G / 5A) in 22 games with the Isles last season. There is a good chance he will centre the Islanders second line with Brock Nelson and either Ryan Strome or Nikolai Kulemin on his wing tonight.
Bobrovsky stopped 17 of 18 shots after replacing Curtis McElhinney when he was injured las Saturday. With so many days off between games, it is a near certainty that Goalie Bob will be between the pipes against San Jose. He has three wins in four starts with a 2.00 GGA and .931 SV%.
Despite scoring three goals with two assists in the first five games of the season, Atkinson was replaced by Scott Hartnell on the top line on Wednesday. Atkinson was skating on a line with Alexander Wennberg and Matt Calvert and is expected to start there against the Sharks on Thursday.
Hartnell skated on the first line with Ryan Johansen and Nick Foligno on Wednesday. Hartnell has picked up four assists in five games and it looks like he will replace Cam Atkinson on the top line in Thursday's meeting with the Sharks. Johansen has been on fire (3G / 4A) to start the season, so Hartnellis in a good opportunity.
Greiss, 28, went 10-8-5 with a 2.29 GAA and .920 SV% as Mike Smith's backup in Arizona last season. He should have a lot more goal support this year in Pittsburgh, but won't seem many starts behind Marc-Andre Fleury. He has a solid matchup tonight against a Red Wings team who have just 2.00 goals per game this season.
Smith allowed six goals on 36 shots in a blowout 6-1 loss to the Blues last Saturday. He sat on Tuesday but the Coyotes will return to their number-1 netminder tonight in Minnesota. He has posted a 5.34 GAA and .822 SV% in his first three starts, but Arizona is confident Smith will be able to find his game. They still want him to start 55-60 games this season.
Andersen stopped all 28 shots that he faced in a 3-0 win over the Blues on Sunday. The win moved him to 5-0-0 with a 1.38 GAA and .950 SV% on the season. He is off to the best start of any goalie in the NHL and is an absolute must-start tonight vs. the Sabres.
Emery allowed three goals on 38 shots in a loss to the Habs on October 11th; his only start of the season. He recorded a win last Saturday in relief of Steve Mason, but with the Flyers playing their second game in two nights and taking on a great Penguins team, it is hard to have faith in Emery as a reliable spot-start tonight.
Sutter, 23, made his NHL debut last Thursday, in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Rangers. The 2011 seventh round pick is in his third full professional season and has one goal and a minus-1 rating in five games with Charlotte.
The Hurricanes have placed Staal on IR in order to make roster room to recall Brody Sutter. Carolina played with 11 forwards and seven defensemen last night, so this move allows them to play 12 forwards until Staal is ready to return. The move is retroactive to October 11th, meaning he is eligible to be activated from IR whenever he is healthy enough to play.
Coyle, 22, was set to become a restricted free agent in the offseason (per nhlnumbers.com) but is now signed through the 2020-21 season. The 6-foot-3, 221 lbs. winger has one goal and one assist through four games this season and was recently bumped up to the second line with Mikko Koivu and Thomas Vanek. This is his third full NHL season; he played 37 of 48 games in the lockout shortened season.
