The Senators were expected to start Matt Murray in goal tonight in their matchup against Toronto. However, the team announced (Twitter link) just before the game began that the netminder suffered an upper-body injury in the pregame warmup and would not dress for the game. It’s the latest negative in what has been a tough first season with Ottawa for the 26-year-old as Murray has a bloated 3.84 GAA along with a .880 SV% in 22 games so far. Joey Daccord got the start as a result with the team recalling Kevin Mandolese from the taxi squad on an emergency basis to dress as the backup.
Elsewhere around the league:
- The Blues announced that they have placed winger Mackenzie MacEachern on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. The 27-year-old was frequently shuffled to the taxi squad early on in the season after he cleared waivers but has been on St. Louis’ roster for nearly a full month now. He has played in 17 games so far this season, picking up a goal and an assist while logging 9:29 per game.
- Flyers winger Michael Raffl could return for tomorrow’s contest against the Rangers, relays Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia (Twitter link). Raffl has missed the last four games due to a swollen right hand and was off to a decent start to his season before the injury with three goals and four assists in 21 games.
- Canucks center Tyler Graovac has been cleared to play after recovering from a concussion, notes Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston. The veteran actually suffered the injury last week in the minors but was quietly recalled anyway from AHL Manitoba to begin quarantine protocols due to some of the injuries they had up front. Vancouver’s farm team is in Utica which means any direct recalls would require a two-week quarantine which is why they placed a couple of players with other Canadian-based teams where that time is cut in half. Graovac was their only available forward to recall which is why he was brought up as soon as he was injured, making for an unusual situation.
Matt won two Stanley Cups as a rookie. And he was a big part of both wins despite what the revisionists will tell you.
But, man…
The Curse of the Catfish, maybe. Finally caught up with him.