Brouwer suffered a lower-body injury in the season opener while blocking a Griffin Reinhart slapshot. Brouwer is expected to play according to Ken Hitchcock, but if he can’t go, Scottie Upshall will suit up for his Blues’ debut.
Mason allowed three goals on 32 shots in the Flyers overtime loss to the Lightning in the season opener. Mason continues to play very well for the Flyers and will look to register his first win of the season tonight in Florida. Mason was 1-1-1 with a 1.32 GAA and .959 SV% in three starts against the Panthers last season.
Dubnyk allowed four goals on 23 shots in the Wild’s 5-4 come from behind win over the Avalanche on Thursday. Dubnyk’s season did not get off to a great start. He allowed four goals on the first 11 shots that he faced, but settled in an was rewarded with the win. Tonight he will face a Blues team whom he was 2-1-0 with a 2.63 GAA and .918 SV% against last season.
Wennberg suffered a concussion in Friday’s loss to the Rangers after being hit by Chris Kreider, who was not penalized on the play. This is not an ideal start to the season for the Blue Jackets, who led the MHL with 508 man-games lost to injury last year.
Wisniewski was acquired this summer from Anaheim in a trade that saw Anton Khudobin go the other way. Wisniewski has battled injury issues throughout his NHL career and he only made it 47 seconds into his Hurricanes debut before he had to be helped off of the ice. Wisniewski is signed through next season, so he might get another chance to dress with the Hurricanes.
Lundqvist stopped 31 of 33 shots that he faced in the Rangers’ 4-2 win in Columbus last night. He will start on back-to-back nights as the Rangers welcome the Blue Jackets for their home opener. Lundqvist has stopped 63 of 65 shots (.940 SV%) that he’s faced en route to a 2-0 start.
Johnson allowed one goal on nine shots after replaced Robin Lehner in the Sabres 2-1 loss to the Senators on Thursday. With Lehner expected to miss an extended period of time, this is Johnson’s team for the foreseeable future. He comes in with a strong 2,41 career GAA and .914 SV%. However, he draws a tough matchup in his first start with the 2015 Eastern Conference Champions in town.
Reimer stopped 12 of 13 shots after replacing Jonathan Bernier in the Maple Leafs 4-0 loss to the Red Wings last night. Reimer will make his first start of the season against the Senators—he allowed three goals on 25 shots in a loss in his only start against Ottawa last season. A strong start tonight could carve out a larger early-season role for Reimer.
After sitting out the season opener on Wednesday, McNabb is expected to replace Matt Greene in the lineup tonight vs. the Coyotes. McNabb had 24 points (2G / 22A) in 71 games with the Kings last season.
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.
