Goaltending Plus Weekend Streamers

Any early changes in the crease?

It is very early in the season so there are not a lot of changes in goaltending but there are some and likely more to come.

GOALTENDING UPDATE

Anaheim – John Gibson, Ryan Miller

Gibson has been great (.942 SV% in 7 GP), a legitimate Vezina candidate.

Arizona – Darcy Kuemper, Antti Raanta

Not quite as strong as expected but above average which is okay in relative terms.

Boston – Tuukka Rask, Jaroslav Halak

Rask has only been so-so (.905 SV%) but Halak has been excellent (.938 SV%).

Buffalo – Linus Ullmark, Carter Hutton

Ullmark may be ready to handle starter’s role. Hutton was not great (.899 SV%) before getting hurt.

Carolina – Petr Mrazek, James Reimer

Only four games but both have played well.

Calgary – Jacob Markstrom, David Rittich

It’s been mostly Markstrom and he’s played mostly well.

Chicago – Kevin Lankinen, Malcolm Subban, Collin Delia

A major question mark coming into the season. It looks like Lankinen is taking the job.

Colorado – Philipp Grubauer, Pavel Francouz, Hunter Miska

Francouz’s injury is giving Grubauer a good run of games.

Columbus – Joonas Korpisalo, Elvis Merzlikins

Splitting time, with Korpisalo playing better.

Dallas – Anton Khudobin, Jake Oettinger

With Ben Bishop out, Khudobin is off to a strong start and Oettinger won his first start Thursday.

Detroit – Thomas Greiss, Jonathan Bernier

Improved from last season even if Greiss hasn’t won yet and Bernier left Thursday’s game with an injury.

Edmonton – Mikko Koskinen, Mike Smith…anyone else?

It has been all Koskinen with Smith hurt and the Oilers have been on the waiver wire hunt for a backup.

Florida – Sergei Bobrovsky, Chris Driedger

Driedger has been better of the two but they haven’t played much. Bobrovsky will still get a long leash in the starter’s role.

Los Angeles – Jonathan Quick, Cal Petersen

Petersen (.919 SV%) could be in the process of taking the starting job. Quick (.885 SV%) has not been effective and that opens the door.

Minnesota – Cam Talbot, Kaapo Kahkonen, Alex Stalock

Injuries to Talbot and Stalock have opened the door for Kahkonen (.917 SV% in 5 starts).

Montreal – Carey Price, Jake Allen

Price (.898) and Allen (.907) are winning but they have been getting a lot of support.

Nashville – Juuse Saros, Pekka Rinne

A solid tandem with Saros taking the lead.

New Jersey – MacKenzie Blackwood, Scott Wedgewood, Aaron Dell

After Crawford retired, Blackwood great but on Covid-19 list now. Wedgewood has been adequate, Dell could get a shot soon.

N.Y. Islanders – Semyon Varlamov, Ilya Sorokin

Varlamov had been outstanding before Thursday night. Sorokin mediocre in his first couple of NHL starts.

N.Y. Rangers – Igor Shesterkin, Alexandar Georgiev

Neither has been as good as hoped.

Ottawa – Matt Murray, Marcus Hogberg

Stealth tank play to acquire Murray could be a legit long-term tank play to sign him to a four-year contract. He has an .859 SV% in the early going.

Philadelphia – Carter Hart, Brian Elliott

Hart had a couple of rough starts so overall numbers haven’t been great but he’s locked in as the No. 1.

Pittsburgh – Tristan Jarry, Casey DeSmith

It has been rough. Was considered a concern coming into the season and the Penguins pair has an .863 SV% right now.

San Jose – Martin Jones, Devan Dubnyk

Jones has started more but Dubnyk has more respectable numbers (.902 SV%).

St. Louis Blues – Jordan Binnington, Ville Husso

Binnington has been good (.913 SV%), Husso not great but has made just one start.

Tampa Bay – Andrei Vasilevskiy, Curtis McElhinney

All Vasilevskiy right now and, as expected, he has been excellent (.932 SV%).

Toronto – Frederik Andersen, Jack Campbell

Andersen iffy, Campbell was good in a couple of starts before getting hurt. Lost Dell on waivers, leaving Michael Hutchinson as backup.

Vancouver – Braden Holtby, Thatcher Demko

Duo was splitting time and they were struggling until the three-game set with Ottawa.

Vegas – Robin Lehner, Marc-Andre Fleury

Splitting time and Fleury has been much more effective.

Washington – Ilya Samsonov, Vitek Vanecek

Vanecek getting more playing time because Samsonov on Covid-19 list and has played well enough (.915 SV%) to challenge for a bigger role.

Winnipeg – Connor Hellebuyck, Laurent Brossoit

They have been fine, above average, just not quite to Hellebuyck’s standard as the reigning Vezina Trophy winner.

THURSDAY STARS

VAN RW Brock Boeser 2 G, 1 A in a 4-1 win vs. Ottawa

COL C Nazem Kadri 2 G, 1 A in a 3-0 win vs. San Jose

DAL RW Denis Gurianov 1 G, 2 A in a 7-3 win vs. Detroit

DAL D Miro Heiskanen 3 A in a 7-3 win vs. Detroit

Pittsburgh 1 Boston 4

BOS C Patrice Bergeron 2 G

(4 G, 2 A in past 4 GP)

The Bruins defense pair of Matt Grzelcyk and Brandon Carlo was on the ice for three goals for and none against.

N.Y. Rangers 3 Buffalo 2 (OT)

BUF RW Sam Reinhart 1 G, 1 A

NYR LW Artemi Panarin 1 G, 1 A

(3 G, 5 A in past 6 GP)

Philadelphia 3 New Jersey 1

PHI D Erik Gustafsson 2 A

PHI G Carter Hart stopped 33 of 34 shots for the win.

N.Y. Islanders 3 Washington 6

WSH LW Conor Sheary 2 G

WSH D John Carlson 1 G, 1 A

(2 G, 5 A during 5-game point streak)

WSH D Zdeno Chara 1 G, 1 A

WSH D Justin Schultz 2 A

(2 G, 4 A in past 3 GP)

WSH C Nicklas Backstrom 2 A

(4 G, 6 A in 8 GP)

Tampa Bay 0 Carolina 1

CAR G Petr Mrazek delivers a 32-save shutout for the win.

TB D Victor Hedman 15 iCF, 5 SOG

Florida 2 Columbus 3 (SO)

FLA G Chris Driedger stopped 29 of 31 shots.

CBJ G Elvis Merzlikins stopped 33 of 35 shots.

Calgary 2 Montreal 4

MTL C Jesperi Kotkaniemi 2 A

(1 G, 4 A in past 4 GP)

MTL LW Jonathan Drouin 2 A

(1 G, 4 A in past 3 GP)

Toronto 4 Edmonton 3

EDM C Leon Draisaitl 2 G

(6 G, 2 A during 5-game point streak)

EDM C Connor McDavid 2 A

(2 G, 7 A during 5-game point streak)

TOR C Jason Spezza 1 G, 1 A

(1 G, 3 A in past 3 GP)

Ottawa 1 Vancouver 4

VAN RW Brock Boeser 2 G, 1 A

(4 G, 3 A in past 6 GP)

VAN C Elias Pettersson 1 G, 1 A

(3 G, 2 A in past 4 GP)

VAN D Quinn Hughes 2 A

(1 G, 7 A in past 6 GP)

VAN G Braden Holtby stopped 36 of 37 shots.

Los Angeles 3 Minnesota 5

MIN LW Marcus Johansson 1 G, 1 A

MIN D Jonas Brodin 2 A

LA D Drew Doughty 1 G, 1 A

(3 G, 2 A in past 5 GP)

LW RW Dustin Brown 1 G, 1 A

(2 G, 2 A in past 4 GP)

LA C Anze Kopitar 2 A

(1 G, 11 A in 8 GP)

Detroit 3 Dallas 7

DAL RW Denis Gurianov 1 G, 2 A

(3 G, 4 A in 4 GP)

DAL D Miro Heiskanen 3 A

DAL C Justin Dowling 1 G, 1 A

DAL RW Ty Dellandrea 1 G, 1 A

DAL LW Tanner Kero 2 A

Dallas D Esa Lindell was on the ice for four goals for and none against. Detroit D Marc Staal and C Vladislav Namestnikov were on the ice for three goals against (and none for). LW Bobby Ryan and RW Anthony Mantha were on the ice for one goal for and four against.

San Jose 0 Colorado 3

COL C Nazem Kadri 2 G, 1 A

COL LW Brandon Saad 0 G, 2 A

(2 G, 2 A in past 2 GP)

COL G Philipp Grubauer recorded a 21-save shutout.

Anaheim 2 Arizona 3

ARZ C Christian Dvorak 2 G

(3 G, 2 A in past 5 GP)

Weekend Streamers – Teams with two games between Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Anaheim

Ryan Getzlaf, Jakob Silverberg, Jani Hakanpaa

Buffalo

Dylan Cozens (2 G in last 3 GP), Eric Staal

Carolina

Vincent Trocheck, Martin Necas

Chicago

Kevin Lankinen (.931 SV% in 4 GP)

Columbus

Nick Foligno (2 G, 1 A in past 4 GP)

Colorado

Brandon Saad (2 G, 2 A in past 2 GP)

Dallas

Denis Gurianov (3 G, 4 A in 4 GP)

Detroit

Tyler Bertuzzi (4 G, 2 A in 8 GP)

Edmonton

Adam Larsson, Jesse Puljujarvi

Florida

Carter Verhaeghe (4 G, 2 A in 4 GP)

Minnesota

Joel Eriksson Ek (5 G, 2 A in 8 GP)

New Jersey

Ty Smith (1 G, 5 A in 6 GP)

N.Y. Islanders

Noah Dobson (1 G, 3 A in past 4 GP)

Philadelphia

James van Riemsdyk (5 G, 3 A in 8 GP)

St. Louis

Jordan Kyrou (3 G, 4 A in 7 GP)

Injuries/roster adjustments

BOS LW Jake DeBrusk out with a lower body injury.

BOS D Matt Grzelcyk also out with lower-body injury.

CAR LW Teuvo Teravainen missed Thursday’s win over Tampa Bay.

COL C Pierre-Edouard Bellemare suffered a lower body injury vs. San Jose.

DET G Jonathan Bernier has an upper-body injury, knocked out of the game by teammate Anthony Mantha.

LA LW Andreas Athanasiou is on the Covid-19 list.

LA D Sean Walker and Matt Roy both left Thursday’s loss to Minnesota with injuries.

NYR D Jack Johnson day-to-day with a groin injury.

OTT D Thomas Chabot left Thursday’s loss to Vancouver with an injury. Keep an eye on his status.

VGK D Alex Pietrangelo on Covid-19 list. Vegas’ game was postponed Thursday so there could be more.

Shots/Expected Goals from Thursday’s games (via Natural Stat Trick)

Friday Game Probabilities