NHL Hockey Player News

Nash is battling an illness so he was held out of practice on Wednesday, but should be good to go for game 1 on Thursday.

Garrison is expected to be the only injured Lightning player headed into round 1, but he is making good progress and could be back next week.

Wilson will miss his third straight game with a head injury despite skating in every session since Monday. He could get back in for game 2.

Fisher missed the final two games of the regular season, but will play in game 1 on Wednesday. He had 19 goals and 20 assists (39 points) in 59 games this season.

Franson was a full participant in Wednesday’s morning skate, but will be held out of game 1 vs. the Blackhawks. With Franson out, look for Anton Volchenkov to get in.

Hammond had below average numbers with Binghamton (AHL). He was 7-13-2 with a 3.51 GAA and .898 SV% at the time of his call-up. However he was a changed man once he got to the NHL. The Hamburglar has gone 20-1-2 with a 1.79 GAA and .941 SV% in the first 23 stars of his NHL career. He is 2-0-0 with a 2.00 GAA and .945 SV% vs. the Habs.

Price had an outstanding season and has the Vezina Trophy on lockdown. He led the NHL in Wins (44), GAA (1.96) and SV% (.933)…It does not get much better than that. In two starts against the Senators this season, Price went 1-1-0 with a 3.02 GAA and .887 SV%.

Pacioretty, who has been practicing with the team, will miss game 1, but it is possible that he returns to the lineup for game 2. With Pacioretty out, Devante Smith-Pelly and P.A Parenteau will skate on the second line with David Desharnais.

Halak was fifth in wins (38) and 23rd in both GAA (2.43) and SV% (.914). Despite putting together a nice year, Halak doesn’t come in on the best of notes. He went 3-2-2 with a 2.81 GAA and .911 SV% down the stretch. Halak made two starts against the Capitals this season. He won each outing while posting a 2.35 GAA and .906 SV%.

Ehrhoff continues to skate and was finally cleared for contact but his status likely won’t be known until after the morning skate on Thursday.

Klein remains sidelined with an arm injury that has had him out of the lineup since March 11th. He remains day-to-day and his absence will keep Matt Hunwick in the lineup.

When Dubnyk was acquired by the Wild their team GAA sat at 3.26. Since trading for Dubnyk, he has gone 27-9-2 with a 1.78 GAA and .936 SV%, lowering the team GAA to a sixth best 2.42. Dubnyk has gone 2-1-0 with a 2.63 GAA and .918 SV% in three starts against the Blues this season.

Kane has been out with broken collarbone since February 24th, but he will be back for game 1 vs. the Predators. This is a massive boost for the Blackhawks lineup and should make them clear-cut favourites in this series. He had 27 goals and 37 assists (64 points) in 61 games before getting injured.

Pacioretty was cleared to take contact in Tuesday’s practice, but he did not participate in any contact drills. Coach Therrien said that he would be surprised if Pacioretty plays in Game 1, but they will see how he feels Wednesday.

Holtby was outstanding all season-long. Holtbeast was first in the NHL in games played (73) and saves (1,887), second in Wins (41), fifth in GAA (2.22) and seventh in SV% (.923). In his four starts against the Islanders, Holtby was 2-0-2 with a 2.62 GAA and .918 SV%.

Chara said that his PCL is permanently torn, but it is something that he won’t need surgery on. His knee is stabilized and healed, but it will be something that he will need to play through for the remainder of his career. It was obvious that Chara was slowed this season and now you know why.