Price stopped all 27 shots that he faced in a 2-0 win over the Flames on Tuesday. It was his 24th win and fourth shutout of the season. Price is 2-1-1 with a 0.98 GAA, .970 SV% and two shutouts in his last four starts. Get him in there vs. Roberto Luongo and the struggling Canucks offence.
Rask stopped 27 of 28 shots in a win over the Canucks on Tuesday. The Canucks offence has bee quiet lately so this was just another day at the office for Rask. With two games left before the Olympic break, Rask appears set to face the Blues in St. Louis. Rask is 9-7-1 with a 2.50 GAA and .916 SV% on the road this season.
Quick allowed five goals on 30 shots in a loss to the Blackhawks on Monday. He has now lost four in a row and eight of his last nine starts. However those losses have more to do with the Kings lack of offence than Quick's goaltending. Tonight the Kings welcome the Blue Jackets, he enters play 10-8-1 with a 2.34 GAA and .899 SV% at home this season.
Hutton allowed three goals on 34 shots in a shootout loss to the Blues on Saturday. Hutton has won six of his last eight starts while posting a 2.45 GAA and .916 SV%. Tonight it looks like Hutton will go head-to-head with Darcy Kuemper.
Stone has been out since January 20 after suffering an upper-body injury in practice. The Senators have been impressed with how Stephane Da Costa has played since being recalled, so they elected to stick with him and return Stone to the AHL.
Niklas Backstrom is dealing with abdominal soreness and will not be available tonight, so Gustafsson will back-up Darcy Kuemper.
Richardson missed the last two games with an undisclosed injury. With Henrik Sedin out once again, Richardson could be asked to play a larger role. He has 17 points (8G / 9A) and was playing an average of 17:49 while Sedin was out originally.
Higgins missed Tuesday's game in Boston with an undisclosed injury, but will return tonight in Montreal. Higgins has been on of the Canucks most consistent offensive producers this season. He has totalled 31 points (15G / 16A) in 56 games.
Tarasenko has not been completely ruled out, but it does not sound like he will play. With the Olympics on the horizon and Tarasenko playing for Russia, it will be no surprise if he is held out. Dmitrij Jaskin will slide into the lineup for Tarasenko.
Sedin returned to the Canucks lineup on Monday in Detroit after missing the previous six games. Sedin also played on Tuesday in Boston, both nights he played more than 20 minutes, but was held off of the scoresheet. "We are shutting Henrik down for next 2 games. He wants to play, but he's not as effective as we need him to be right now," said Canucks head coach John Tortorella.
Luongo allowed three goals on 32 shots in a loss to the Bruins on Tuesday. Tonight he is expected to go head-to-head with his Team Canada teammate Carey Price. Winner is the starter in Sochi? Doubt it. But Luongo should make for a strong start as the Canadiens rank in the bottom one-third of the league in scoring.
Green will miss his fourth consecutive game and it looks more and more like he will not be back until after the Olympics. WIth Green out, Julien Brouillette will make his NHL debut tonight.
Timonen missed the last two games with a foot injury, but will return to the lineup toning vs. Colorado. He will play alongside Brayden Coburn and also man the point on the top power-play unit. He has two goals and 17 assists (19 points) in 55 games this season.
This season has been a struggle for Backstrom. He has not played well and he has had to deal with multiple injuries throughout the first four months of the season. Johan Gustafsson has been recalled and will serve as Darcy Kuemper's back-up. Backstrom will likely be held out until after the Olympic break.
Datsyuk has not played since the Winter Classic on January 1st. The Red Wings are slowly starting to get healthy and they are still sitting in the last WIld Card spot in the East despite playing most of January with an AHL dominant roster. Datsyuk will centre a line with Darren Helm and Daniel Alfredsson tonight in Florida.
Varlamov allowed five goals on 43 shots in a 5-1 loss to the Rangers on Tuesday. This loss was more on the rest of the Avs and less on Varlamov. They were badly outplayed all night and Varly was hung-out to dry. They will look to bounce back tonight in Philadelphia. Varlamov stopped 29 of 30 shots in a 2-1 win the first time he faced the Flyers on January 2.
Kuemper stopped 34 of 35 shots in Tuesday's win over the Lightning. It was Kuemper's best performance in two weeks, as he moved to 7-3-2 with a 2.20 GAA and .931 SV% since being recalled. He has been hot and you should continue to enjoy this surge of success tonight vs. the Predators.
Enroth gave up three goals on 28 shots in yet another loss on Monday vs. the Oilers. Enroth is still stuck with one win (1-11-5) and remains as risky of a spot-start as there is in the NHL right now. Tonight it looks like he will meet a Senators team for the first time this season. Ottawa has won three of five while averaging 3.00 G/PG over that span.
Neuvirth stopped 27 of 28 shots in a 1-0 loss to the Islanders on Tuesday. The Caps were unable to put one by Evgeni Nabokov, so Neuvirth was the tough-luck loser. In his three consecutive starts he went 1-1-1 with a 2.90 GAA and .913 SV%. Tonight he will run into a Jets squad who have been a completely different team under Paul Maurice (9-2-0).
Pavelec stopped 28 of 29 shots in a 2-1 win over the Hurricanes on Tuesday. It marked his 18th victory of the season and his seventh in his last nine starts. His recent stretch of strong goaltending has brought his GAA (2.95) and SV% (.902) to points of acceptability. He draws a good matchup vs. the Capitals tonight. I know they have Ovi, but go look at their lines, you've probably never heard of a couple of their current roster players.
