Smith was pulled after he allowed four goals on 11 shots in the Coyotes loss to the Canucks on December 22nd. He anxiously watched Devan Dubnyk start the last four games, but will be back between the pipes tonight vs. Columbus. Smith is 5-12-2 with a 3.48 GAA and .884 SV% this season.
Schlemko has one goal and three assists in 20 games with the Coyotes this season. He has also registered one goal and three assists in two games with Portland (AHL). The 27-year-old blue liner has 50 career points (9G / 41A) in 207 NHL games.
McQuaid has been sidelined with a broken thumb since November 18th, but is medically cleared to play and could return to the lineup today. He is expected to take part in warmups and then coach Julien will make a decision on whether or not he plays vs. the Senators. With a back-to-back today and tomorrow, it would seem logical to sit McQuaid today and have him return tomorrow vs. Carolina.
Lehtonen stopped all 32 shots that he faced in the Stars 6-0 shutout win over the Coyotes. The Stars dominated all night, earning Lehtonen his third shutout of the season and third straight win. Tonight it looks like he will face the Wild for the fourth time this season. He has gone 0-2-1 with a 3.67 GAA and .872 SV% in the first three meetings.
Price turned aside 22 of 24 shots he faced in the Canadiens win over the Devils last night. It was Price’s 200th career win (21st of the season) in his 400th career game. He wasn’t overly busy last night, so he will start again tonight in Pittsburgh. He comes in having won four straight while posting a 1.25 GAA and .957 SV%.
Perron, who was acquired from the Oilers on Friday, did not play last night vs. Tampa Bay but will play tonight vs. the Canadiens. Because of the back-to-back the Penguins did not have a morning skate, so there is no word on who Perron is going to play with tonight. You would have to think that they will ease him in and they could move him around between Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to see where he fits best.
Burakovsky, who served as a healthy scratch during the Winter Classic and has only played in two of the last eight games, skated on the top-line in practice on Saturday morning. It looks like he will go from the doghouse to the penthouse. He has 13 points (4G / 9A) in 28 games this season.
Lundqvist gave up two goals on 20 shots in the Rangers win over the Panthers on Wednesday. He has won eight of his last nine starts and now sits pretty at 17-8-3 with a 2.39 GAA and .913 SV%. He is a must-start tonight with the Buffalo Sabres in town.
Hutchinson gave up three goals on 31 shots in the Jets loss to the Wild on Monday. He was given Wednesday night off, but will be back in the cage for his fourth start in the Jets last five games. He will look to build off of a strong December, where he went 5-2-0 with a 2.14 GAA and .927 SV%.
Ristolainen was back paired with his usual partner Nikita Zadorov last night vs. the Panthers. He played 19:07 TOI and registered one shot in the 2-0 loss. The Sabres are back in action tonight in New York.
Versteeg suffered a hand injury while blocking a shot in the Winter Classic. Versteeg is expected to be sidelined for at least a few weeks, so the Blackhawks have recalled highly-touted prospect Teuvo Teravainen from Rockford (AHL).
Teravainen, 20, has six goals and 17 assists in 33 games with the IceHogs this season. After a slow start as he adapted to the North American style of play (particularly the dump-and-chase style of the AHL), he had three goals and seven assists in his last 10 games.
Lupul was placed on IR earlier in the week, but the Maple Leafs announced on Friday that he will be out for one month. Look for him to return in early-February.
Holland missed Friday’s game with an upper-body injury and will obviously miss Saturday’s game vs. the Jets as well. With a week-to-week injury it is hard to pinpoint when Holland will return until he is upgraded to day-to-day.
Kadri was held out of last night’s game and won’t play tonight in Winnipeg because of an undisclosed injury. He is likely in danger of missing a third game next Wednesday, but could be back for Friday’s clash with the Blue Jackets.
Gudbranson was not in the lineup on Friday against the Sabres because of an upper-body injury. Shane O’Brien was recalled and replaced Gudbranson on the Panthers blue line. Monitor his status leading up to Sunday’s game vs. the Capitals.
Stalberg returns to Nashville where he has appeared in five NHL contests in 2014-15. In six games with Milwaukee, he has amassed six points (2G / 4A), including a three-point effort (1G / 2A) last time out on Tuesday vs. Lake Erie.
Salomaki, 21, was a second round pick (52nd overall) of the Predators in the 2011 NHL Draft. He has 16 points (5G / 11A) and 26 penalty minutes in 29 games for the Admirals this season, in addition to ranking among the AHL’s Top 10 forwards in plus/minus rating (+13).
Beck was set to miss the Predators upcoming two-game road trip with an illness, so his placement on IR allowed the Predators to recall Miikka Salomaki from Milwaukee (AHL) to bring on the road trip as the extra forward.
Megna was a healthy scratch on Friday and with the addition of David Perron yesterday, there was no way Megna was getting into the lineup over Perron on Saturday. He heads back to WBS where he has 14 points (9G / 5A) in 22 games.
