Rinne was pulled just 9:45 into the game after allowing three goals on six shots. Rinne is coming off of hip surgery this offseason and did not play a full 60-minute game in the preseason. It looked as if he was not ready for the speed of the preseason, but says that his hip is fine. He will face Semyon Varlamov and the Avalanche tonight, who dominated the Ducks 6-1 in their first game.
Quick started the season strong, allowing just two goals on 29 shots in a shootout win over the Minnesota Wild last night. One of the goals looked like it was kicked in by Matt Cooke, but after review it was ruled a good goal. He should be back between the pipes tonight against a Jets team that scored five on Devan Dubnyk. Quick is a must-start regardless of matchups.
Pavelec's 2013-14 season got off to a good but ugly start. The good was he made 34 saves and got the win. The ugly, was that he allowed four goals and forced his team to score five. He has a tough matchup tonight in the Jets home opener when he will see the powerful Los Angeles Kings.
Consider Salo day-to-day and questionable for tomorrow's meeting with the Blackhawks.
Klesla suffered a concussion two weeks ago after being hit by Kings forward Jordan Nolan. He is not quite ready to return to the lineup, but he is trending in the right direction.
McCarthy had nine goals and 16 assists (25 points) in 65 games for Worcester last season.
Pelech played just 5:01 in the Sharks season opener last night. Coming up from Worcester is John McCarthy.
Smith will skate on the Hawks third line with Brandon Saad and Andrew Shaw. He had a goal in his only game with Chicago last season and also netted 27 with 20 assists (47 points) in 54 games with the Rockford IceHogs (AHL).
The original timetable for Gagner's return was November, but he appears to be ahead of schedule. The Oilers got word that they will get Ryan Nugent-Hopkins back today which allows them to ease Gagner back in.
Nugent-Hopkins is coming off of shoulder surgery in the offseason. He was expected to miss much more than just two games, but that does not appear to be the case. His return will certainly be a welcome sight to the Oilers, who are really thin down the middle right now.
Halak looked much better than his counterpart Pekka Rinne last night. He allowed two goals on 30 shots in the Blues 4-2 victory over Nashville. Although the Panthers beat the Stars in their opener, they are still rebuilding so the matchup is a good one for Halak.
Varlamov was outstanding versus the Ducks in the Avs season opener. He allowed just one goal on 36 shots in Colorado's 6-1 rout. He will face a Predators team who saw Pekka Rinne get chased in the first period last night.
Backstrom was not very busy in the Wild season opener. The Kings only fired 18 shots his way, but were able to score twice. Backstrom will start against a Ducks team who were beat-up 6-1, by the Avs in their first game.
Mitchell scored a goal on two shots in 12:26 of playing time in Wednesday's season opener. He had a career year last season scoring 10 goals and adding 10 assists in 47 games.
Landeskog played 16:07 and recorded three shots on goal in the season opener. There is no word on what happened to the Avs captain, but make sure he is not in your lineup tonight. Colorado's next game is not until Tuesday, so there is a good chance Landeskog could be back by then.
Price struggled down the stretch at the end of last season but played well stopping 34 of 38 shots, albeit in a losing effort to the Maple Leafs on opening night. Toronto also beat Philadelphia on the following night; who Price will face tomorrow as the Habs look to get into the win column.
Monahan recorded one assist and two shots on goal in 11:40 of ice time in his NHL debut.
Pacioretty was a minus-2 in 13:54 in the season opener against Toronto. He says he is "hopeful" that he will be in the lineup tomorrow vs. Philadelphia.
Clitsome did not skate this morning but still remains an option for Sunday's game.
He skated just 3:49 in the season opener before leaving and not returning. Beau Bennett will slide up to the second line with Evgeni Malkin and Jussi Jokinen.
