Perreault has missed the past three games with an upper-body injury. Perreault and Rickard Rakell took turns centering a line with Patrick Maroon and Teemu Selanne. “He’s progressing a lot quicker than we thought he would,” said Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau of Perreault. “I think sometime this week he’ll be playing.”
Head coach Bruce Boudreau says he doesn’t want to rush the 37-year-old back into the lineup, especially with back-to-backs against the Avalanche and LA Kings on Friday and Saturday. Boudreau says playing him on Tuesday, March 18 against the Washington Capitals is more likely.
Bryzgalov is expected to make his Wild debut on Sunday when Minnesota faces the Blues. He was 5-8-5 with a 3.01 GAA and .908 SV% with Edmonton before being traded. While those numbers are far from pretty, he goes from a team who gave up the sixth most shots in the NHL (32.3) to the team who allows the sixth least shots (28.0). However, the matchup vs. St. Louis forces you to look at your other options.
Quick stopped 17 of 18 shots in a win over the Jets on Thursday. Quick has not allowed more than one goal in each of his last five starts (all wins). He has posted a 0.80 GAA and .964 SV% during his five-game winning streak. He has a good chance to make it six in a row when he takes on the Oilers tonight.
Stajan and his wife lost their newborn son who was born on March 3. He has missed the last four games and there is no word when he plans to return to the team. With the Flames way out of the playoff race and with the unimaginable grief that Stajan and his family must be dealing with, there is no reason for him to rush back to the lineup.
Johnson stopped 23 of 24 shots in a win over the Panthers on Tuesday. With Tuukka Rask getting the call last night, Johnson will get another crack at the Panthers tonight. However, this time around Roberto Luongo will be standing at the opposite end of the ice. If you are in need of a spot-start, Johnson looks like your only option.
Luongo stopped all 25 shots that he faced in his Panthers re-debut on Thursday. He was already the Panthers' all-time leader in shutouts, so his 27th shutout with Florida even furthers his lead. He draws a pretty difficult matchup against the Bruins, although Tuukka Rask will get the night off.
Dougie Hamilton will serve as a healthy scratch while Meszaros makes his debut after being acquired by the Bruins on Wednesday. While shuffling in-and-out of the lineup in Philly, Mez had five goals and 12 assists (17 points) in 38 games.
Thomas stopped all six shots he faced after replacing the injured Kari Lehtonen on Saturday. He entered the game while it was 3-3 and the Stars took the lead with under five minutes in the third, earning Thomas his firs win with Dallas. With Lehtonen battling a head injury, Thomas looks to be in line to start vs. the Blue Jackets.
Sbisa injured his knee after playing just 2:56 on Friday and did not return. He will take a seat while Mark Fistric draws back into the lineup. Consider Sbisa day-to-day for now.
Stastny “tweaked” his back Saturday against the Blues. He missed a late November game at home against the Blues because of back spasms, but was in the lineup three days later. So, the hope is he’ll have the same fast recovery, but we’ll see.
Miele is undersized at 5-foot-8, 175 lbs. but has been great with Portland this season. Miele has recorded 23 goals and 35 assists (58 points) in 56 games.
Lehtonen was run over by Wild forward Erik Haula in Saturday's 4-3 win over the Wild. It was an ugly looking collision that caused Lehtonen to hit his bare head off of the cross bar. Ruff also said that Lehtonen is not doing well this morning, so the immediate concern is a concussion. The move to get Tim Thomas at the deadline looks even smarter at this point.
Quick stopped 17 of 18 shots in a win over the Jets on Thursday. Quick has not allowed more than one goal in each of his last five starts (all wins). He has posted a 0.80 GAA and .964 SV% during his five-game winning streak. He has a good chance to make it six in a row when he is expected to take on the Oilers tonight.
Lehtonen was injured when Wild forward Erik Haula ran him over in the crease with 13:23 left in the game, leaving Lehtonen, who suffered a cut to his head, down on the ice for a few minutes before heading to the locker room. "Obviously, it's not good,” head coach Lindy Ruff said. “He went in hard, hit the crossbar hard. The likelihood is it's a concussion on just a dirty play. He should be suspended. A fourth liner takes out our goaltender.” Haula received a major penalty for charging and a game misconduct.
Brown played 12:16 with one shot on goal in his Capitals debut on Thursday, but did not dress on Saturday.
Wellman was recalled and expected to play on Saturday, however he did not dress and has been returned to the Hershey Bears.
Enroth stopped 43 of 44 shots to earn his fourth victory of the year on Thursday. It was Enroth's best game of the season by a long shot. He was given the following night off, but will need a similar performance tonight with the Blackhawks in town. The matchup is terrible, I would advise you to look elsewhere.
Ryan Miller has started his career with the Blues at 4-0 which has held Elliott to the bench, until now. Tonight he will get the call in the second game of a back-to-back against the Wild. Elliott is 15-5-2 with a 2.08 GAA and .917 SV% this season, but the Blues have just two back-to-backs left this season, so it doesn't look like he will see much crease-time down the stretch.
Rinne stopped 20 of 22 shots in a loss to the Blues on Thursday He has now allowed five goals on 41 shots (.878 SV%) since returning from a long layoff. Tonight it looks like he will go head-to-head with Sergei Bobrovsky as the Blue Jackets are in town. It is a fairly strong matchup for Rinne to record his first win since October 19.
