Nelson, 23, had two goals in Game 1, but has been held off of the scoresheet, while only recording two shots and a minus-2 rating in the last three games. With Mikhail Grabovski coming back tonight, Nelson will get a chance to watch the game from the press box.
Wagner was injured early in Game 2 and it looks like he will be held out of tonight’s game in Winnipeg. With Wagner and Nate Thompson both sidelined, it looks like Tomas Fleischmann will centre the Ducks’ fourth line.
It looks like Drouin will take a seat in game 1 as Vladimir Namestnikov gets set to suit up in his first career playoff game. Monitor Drouin’s status as the playoffs progress. The young forward is too goo to be held out of the lineup permanently.
Drouin missed the season finale, but was on the ice for practice this morning which suggests that he will be fine for Thursday’s game. Drouin had just four goals, but 28 assists (32 points) in 70 games this season.
Parise is reportedly dealing with a “nagging injury” but this looks like resting your star players for the playoff-bound Wild. Parise has 32 goals and 29 assists (61 points) in 73 games this season.
Nichushkin was held out of the lineup on Monday, but he will be back in the lineup tonight and is expected to play on the top line and see power-play time. He has one assist and a minus-2 rating in two games since returning to the lineup.
Johnson still is not ready to be back in the lineup and with only three games left in the season, he is running out of opportunities to return.
After completing a three-game conditioning stint with Texas (AHL), Nichushkin is back with the Stars and ready to play tonight. He is expected to start on the fourth line with Colton Sceviour and Travis Moen, but should move around a bit. He had no points in four games with the Stars earlier in the season.
Nichushkin, 20, recorded three assists and nine shots on goal during his three-game conditioning stint with Texas (AHL). Nichushkin has been out since November but it looks like he’ll be in tomorrow vs. the Blues.
Johnson practiced on Tuesday but he was reportedly still labouring quite a bit so he will not travel out to California for the Avs’ upcoming three-game Cali-trip.
Johnson is nearing a return to the Avs lineup, but it will not come tonight against the Oilers. He remains day-to-day.
Ninchushkin, who has only appeared in four games with the Stars this season, is finally ready to get into game action after undergoing hip surgery back in November. He will play three games in Texas before returning to Dallas for the final five games of the regular season.
Nichushkin will head to Texas and if he is feeling healthy enough he is expected to play on Friday. He will play three games there before returning to the Stars.
Johnson was expected to travel on this five-game road trip but he won’t be there, at least for game one of the trip. He could join the team later in the, but there is no word whether that will happen at this time.
Wagner, 23, has no points in three games with the Ducks this season. While in Norfolk he has collected 28 points (15G / 13A) in 48 games.
Johnson has been out for just over seven weeks and he won’t play tomorrow, but next Thursday the Avalanche start a five-game road-trip and they are expected to get Johnson back at some point during that roady. Johnson had 23 points (12G / 11A) in 47 games before getting injured.
Helm ruled himself out for a sixth consecutive game on Saturday but did not say whether he expects to be in the lineup on Sunday vs. the Penguins. The Red Wings are 2-3-0 since Helm got hurt.
Helm left this morning’s practice early, but he is expected to be ready for Saturday’s game (@ PHI) or Sunday’s game (@ PIT). Monitor his status heading into the weekend.
