NHL Hockey Player News

Head coach Mike Johnston said that Crosby is “under the weather” and undergoing some testing. Monitor Crosby’s status throughout the day, but I wouldn’t expect Crosby to sit due to an illness.

Fleury allowed three goals on 34 shots in Friday’s loss to the Hurricanes. It was an unexpected defeat and just Fleury’s fourth regulation loss of the season. He enters play tonight at 13-4-1 with a 2.19 GAA and .924 SV% on the year. Fleury has a nice matchup vs. a banged-up Devils team who are 24th in scoring.

Howard stopped 30 of 33 shots that the Canucks threw at him in Sunday’s 5-3 win. Howie has won three in a row with a 2.67 GAA and .904 SV%. Tonight he draws a strong matchup against a Panthers team who are 9-7-6 while ranking 28th in scoring with 2.04 goals per game.

Ward allowed two goals on 22 shots in the Hurricanes surprising 4-2 win over the Penguins on Friday. He was given Saturday night off, but will be back between the pipes tonight vs. the Predators. Nashville has been really impressive in their first 23 games—going 16-5-2 with the NHL’s 14th best offence at 2.65 goals per game.

Visnovsky will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury that he suffered last Friday. He is reportedly coming along well, so monitor his status prior to Thursday’s game against the Senators.

Boychuk will miss his third consecutive game with an upper-body injury. Coach Jack Capuano said that Boychuk is coming along nicely and could be back in the lineup on Thursday in the back-end of a home and home vs. the Senators.

Halak stopped 34 of 35 shots in the Islanders 3-1 win over the Devils on Saturday. The W extended Halak’s winning streak to an absurd nine gams—he has posted an even more ridiculous 1.19 GAA and .956 SV% over that span. He is an absolute must-start during this hot streak.

Ward allowed two goals on 22 shots in the Hurricanes surprising 4-2 win over the Penguins on Friday. He was given Saturday night off, but will be back between the pipes tonight vs. the Predators. Nashville has been really impressive in their first 23 games—going 16-5-2 with the NHL’s 14th best offence at 2.65 goals per game.

Bernier stopped 35 of 37 shots in the Maple Leafs 6-2 win over the Capitals on Saturday. He has gone 3-0-1 with a 2.23 GAA and .924 SV% in his last four starts and has clearly re-solidified himself as the Leafs clear number-1. Tonight he takes on a Stars team who are 3-4-1 in their last eight.

Dumoulin, 23, was the Carolina Hurricanes second round pick (51st overall) in 2009. The 6-foot-4 blue liner has 10 points (2G / 8A) in 22 games with WBS this season. He has one career assist in six NHL games.

Red Wings’ GM Ken Holland said that Abdelkader is dealing with a “low-level [shoulder] injury, we’ll see how fast he heals.” Abby has already been ruled out of Tuesday’s game so monitor his status prior to Thursday’s game vs. Dallas.

For the first time in his 15 year career. He played a season-low (likely a career-low) 5:56 in the Flyer loss to the Rangers on Saturday. Philadelphia is struggling mightily right now and Vinny has just one assist in his last nine games.

Mason allowed three goals on 24 shots in the Flyers loss to the Rangers on Friday. After a 46-game shutout, Mason has dropped his last two starts with a 3.94 GAA and .842 SV%. As much as the Flyers are struggling, things haven’t been great for the Sharks either—they are 3-5-2 in their last 10.

On Tuesday Stalock will serve as Antti Niemi’s backup for the second straight game. “He still needs a little more practice work,” coach Todd McLellan said. “He’s capable of going in to back up, but we want him to have a chance to be successful. McLellan is holding out hope that Stalock will be completely ready to go by Thursday, but if not Thursday certainly by the weekend.

Niemi surrendered four goals on 34 shots in the Sharks win over the Ducks on Saturday. The win snapped a four-game losing skid for the Finnish net minder. Niemi went 3-5-2 with a 2.48 GAA and .908 SV% in November, but has a juicy matchup to start December—the Flyers have lost eight of nine.

Jokinen missed Friday’s game with an illness but will be back in lineup tonight in Columbus. With Jokinen back in, Shawn Thornton will take a seat. Jokinen has no points in his last four games.

Luongo said that he could have started last night, but with an easier matchup vs. the Blue Jackets, the Panthers went with Al Montoya, which leaves Bobby Lu for tonight in Detroit. Luongo’s numbers in November were nearly the exact same as his October numbers—he went 4-3-3 with a 2.33 GAA and .928 SV% in 10 starts.

Gilbert served as a healthy scratch in the Canadiens last two games, but will be back in the lineup tonight in Colorado. He will replace Bryan Allen who has suited up in all four games since coming over from Anaheim. Gilbert has three points (1G / 2A) in 23 games.

Martinez was on the ice for Kings’ practice on Monday and said that his finger is getting better everyday, but he still does not know when he will be available to return to the lineup.

Ramo stopped all 26 shots that he faced in the Flames 3-0 shutout win over the Coyotes on Saturday. He has posted back-to-back shutouts while stopping all 58 shots. Tonight he will face Arizona again, this time at home—while it would be unfair to expect a third straight shutout, he makes for a nice spot-start.