NHL Player News

Hofer will get the starting nod at home against the Lightning on Friday, Lou Korac of NHL.com reports.

Hofer is coming off a 33-save shutout performance versus the Hurricanes on Tuesday and will now be making his third start in the Blues' last four contests. At this point, it seems the 25-year-old backstop has supplanted Jordan Binnington as the No. 1 option in St. Louis and will likely see the bulk of the workload moving forward.

Gustavsson stopped all nine shots he faced Thursday after replacing Jesper Wallstedt to begin the third period of a 6-2 loss to the Jets.

The two goalies have been working in a timeshare, but that arrangement may not last much longer. While Wallstedt has been struggling of late, Gustavsson has been locked in since the beginning of December, going 7-2-2 over his last 12 outings with a 2.13 GAA and .920 save percentage.

Halverson was called up from AHL Syracuse on Friday.

Halverson posted a 12-6-2 mark with a 2.42 GAA and an .899 save percentage in 20 AHL games this season before his recall. The Lightning have not announced any injury or illness to Andrei Vasilevskiy or Jonas Johansson at this time, which would have triggered the recall of Halverson.

Wallstedt gave up six goals on 20 shots before being replaced by Filip Gustavsson to begin the third period of Thursday's 6-2 loss to the Jets.

The hook from coach John Hynes had more to do with protecting Wallstedt's confidence than his actual performance. The 23-year-old netminder has just one win in his last five starts, going 1-2-2 with a 4.13 GAA and .860 save percentage, and he could be in danger of falling out of a timeshare with Gustavsson until he turns things around.

Hellebuyck stopped 32 shots in Thursday's 6-2 win over the Wild.

The Jets headed into the first intermission up 3-0, and Hellebuyck made sure the outcome was never in much doubt after that. The three-time Vezina Trophy winner has had an uncharacteristically rough season so far, but he's won three straight starts, pushing his record to 12-12-4 with a 2.73 GAA and .901 save percentage.

Swayman made 26 saves in Thursday's 4-2 win over the Kraken.

The Bruins spotted their netminder a 2-0 lead before the four-minute mark in the first period, and Swayman made sure the visitors were never able to pull level, giving up just two power-play goals the rest of the way. Swayman has won three straight starts and has just one regulation loss since Christmas, going 5-1-1 over his last seven appearances with a rock-solid 2.27 GAA and .919 save percentage.

Daccord turned aside 20 of 23 shots in Thursday's 4-2 loss to the Bruins, with Boston's final goal getting scored into an empty net.

The visitors never led in the contest, as Marat Khusnutdinov caught the Seattle defense flat-footed and beat Daccord on a rush just 54 seconds into the first period to set the tone. The 29-year-old netminder has allowed at least three goals in four straight starts while working in a timeshare with Philipp Grubauer, and on the season Daccord is 12-11-5 with a 2.84 GAA and .901 save percentage.

Ullmark (personal) practiced with the Senators on Friday for the first time since being granted a leave of absence Dec. 28, Graeme Nichols of The Hockey News reports.

Ullmark has gone 14-8-5 with a 2.95 GAA and an .881 save percentage across 28 appearances this season. Ottawa has had goaltending issues during Ullmark's absence and has dropped to 14th place in the Eastern Conference. Ullmark remains on the non-roster list, and there's no timeline for his return to the lineup.

Merzlikins stopped 30 shots in Thursday's 4-1 win over the Canucks.

Brock Boeser got a puck past Merzlikins on a Vancouver power play late in the second period, but otherwise the veteran netminder had an answer for everything the Canucks fired at him. It was Merzlikins' first win since Dec. 4, and on the season he's gone 7-7-1 with a rough 3.84 GAA and .882 save percentage, falling firmly behind Jet Greaves on the Columbus depth chart in the process.

Lankinen made 32 saves in Thursday's 4-1 loss to Columbus.

The Canucks' skaters didn't give Lankinen much help on the night, with two of the Blue Jackets' goals coming on power plays and three of them from in close. The veteran netminder has yet to get into the win column in January, going 0-3-1 over five outings with a 3.20 GAA and .893 save percentage, but Lankinen will continue to handle a big workload while Thatcher Demko (lower body) is on the shelf.