Some good news is abound tonight for Montreal Canadiens fans, as 2022 first-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky is returning to the lineup tonight against the St. Louis Blues. Slafkovsky had not played in nine days.
The Slovak phenom suffered the injury after getting hit hard by Arizona Coyotes defenseman Josh Brown, but then immediately proceeded to score his first NHL goal, leading to what was an intense stare during his goal celebration. It was then reported earlier this week that Slafkovsky was undergoing tests on an upper-body issue, but they appear to have concluded that it was nothing major. The goal is his lone NHL point so far through five games.
- Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin will miss his second straight game tonight with a lower-body injury, per The Denver Post’s Bennett Durando. Nichushkin remains day-to-day and the team’s “hope” is that he rejoins the squad for their first practice in Finland, ahead of their Global Series matchup next week against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Tampere. Despite missing a game already, Nichushkin still holds the team lead in goals (seven) and points (12).
- Half of the Buffalo Sabres blueline is out of game action now. The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski reports that Ilya Lyubushkin is not playing tonight due to a lower-body injury, with Lawrence Pilut drawing back into the lineup in his place. Lyubushkin missed a game earlier in the season with a lower-body injury, and it’s unclear whether the two are related. He has one assist in six games to begin his Sabres career.
- The Carolina Hurricanes announced tonight that forward Derek Stepan would not return to their game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Per the team, Stepan suffered an upper-body injury. We will likely receive more information on the nature of Stepan’s absence tomorrow.
- The Washington Capitals have issued two injury updates of their own. Per a team announcement, both John Carlson and T.J. Oshie are doubtful to return to tonight’s contest against the Nashville Predators due to lower-body injuries. Like with Stepan, we will likely get more information on these injuries tomorrow.
No worry for the Caps, as the Preds have rediscovered their team identity…..being unable to score. :/
They fired Laviolette to make room for Hynes. SMH.
@Gbear—Didn’t we tell them that “passing it into the back of the net” was meant to be a joke? I was sort of laughing, but probably looked like the late Jack Elam when saying it, so maybe they didn’t get our patented PHR highbrow humor.
@Mac – I’d rathar have Jack Elam as GM or head coach over this current dynamic duo. But hey, they brought in another 6M Dman in McDonough instead of using that money on their perennial problem of goal scoring defeciency, so what could go wrong?!
If I send you my social security number and bank account information, will you tell me more?
It looks like Oshie has entered the injury prone part of his career. He’s still one of the best players on the ice when he’s out there, but coming off an injury prone season last year and now this so soon isn’t great. Carlson.. meh, I’m not too high on him especially after that turnover right in front of the net against the Stars during a powerplay leading to a shorty. Defensively, he’s just not that good IMO.
Against the Preds, they played hungrier after those two went down. The hunger this team needs is going to come from the young guys. One can hope Alexeyev can live up to expectations as he nears a return to the Caps. We’ll see.
I still think it’s a coin flip as to whether the Caps make the playoffs or not. If they can remember how to play a full 60 minutes consistently and get that championship hunger back, they’ll be a force. If not, they won’t be able to exit in the first round for the fifth straight year because they won’t be there at all. At least they don’t have to worry about goaltending anymore.