NHL Player News

Saros will guard the road goal versus the Avalanche on Friday, Brooks Bratten of the Predators' official site reports.

Saros has gone 5-4-0 with a 2.88 GAA and an .897 save percentage over his last nine games. The 30-year-old goalie will have a tough task against the Avalanche, who are a relatively modest 3-2-1 over their last six games with 23 goals scored in that span. Saros is 1-1-0 against the Avalanche this season, stopping 62 of 66 shots, though both of those games were in Nashville.

Vasilevskiy will be in goal on the road against St. Louis on Friday, per NHL.com.

Vasilevskiy enters Friday's matchup riding an eight-game winning streak during which he has registered a 2.22 GAA and .911 save percentage. Despite an injury costing the veteran netminder some starts in early December, he is still sitting tied for second in the league in wins (19), just three behind Utah's Karel Vejmelka (22) for the NHL lead.

Askarov will defend the road crease against Detroit on Friday, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now reports.

Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic have alternated starts over the past week and a half, and that trend will continue in Friday's matchup. Askarov struggled during his home start against the Golden Knights on Sunday, allowing six goals on 31 shots (.806 save percentage) in a 7-2 loss.

Bussi will patrol the crease at home against Florida on Friday, Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal reports.

Bussi has logged seven games for the Canes since the Christmas break, going 5-2-0 with a 2.71 GAA. The 27-year-old netminder will take the first game of Carolina's back-to-back, which means fantasy managers can expect to see Frederik Andersen in goal for Saturday's road clash with New Jersey.

Vladar (undisclosed) isn't expected to play at home Saturday versus the Rangers, per Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Vladar also missed Wednesday's 6-3 loss to Pittsburgh because of the injury. He has a 16-7-4 record, 2.46 GAA and .905 save percentage in 28 appearances this season. Vladar is still regarded as day-to-day, so he might be an option Monday in Vegas. Until Vladar is ready to return, Samuel Ersson and Aleksei Kolosov will compete for starts.

Dostal will tend the twine on the road versus Los Angeles on Friday, Derek Lee of The Hockey News reports.

Dostal has appeared in 13 of the Ducks' last 15 outings, despite posting a subpar 3-7-1 record and 3.71 GAA in that span. Even with the Czech netminder struggling to string together wins, it seems Anaheim will continue to give him a heavy workload while leaving Ville Husso on the bench.

Kuemper will be between the home pipes versus Anaheim on Friday, John Hoven of SiriusXM NHL Network Radio reports.

Kuemper has lost four straight games, going 0-2-2 while allowing 14 goals on 88 shots (.841 save percentage). Overall, the 35-year-old is 12-9-8 with a 2.50 GAA and a .904 save percentage. The Ducks are 11th in NHL scoring, generating 3.24 goals per game this season.

Lindbom was reassigned to AHL Henderson on Friday, SinBin.vegas reports.

Lindbom spent the past week with the Golden Knights, but he'll head back to Henderson after Adin Hill returned to action against the Maple Leafs on Thursday. Lindbom has been stellar in the AHL this year, going 6-3-3 with a 2.08 GAA and .926 save percentage over 12 appearances.

Blackwood is slated to defend the home crease against the Predators on Friday, Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette reports.

Blackwood missed the last six games due to a lower-body injury, but he was activated off injured reserve Wednesday and has been officially cleared to return two days later. The 29-year-old has been stellar for the Avalanche when healthy this year, going 13-1-1 with a 2.07 GAA and .924 save percentage over 15 appearances.

Bobrovsky will be between the pipes on the road against the Hurricanes on Friday.

Bobrovsky will be making his fifth straight appearance in the crease, having gone 2-2-0 with a 3.33 GAA in his last four outings. If the veteran backstop can get one more victory, he will reach the 20-win mark for the fifth consecutive season, and he should still be capable of getting to 30.