NHL Player News

Dostal stopped 37 of 40 shots in Tuesday's 3-2 overtime loss to the Wild.

Dostal came within 22 seconds of playing a potential spoiler for the Wild, but he couldn't quite get this game to the finish line. He then ended up with the loss at 4:42 of overtime when Matt Boldy completed Minnesota's comeback. Dostal is 1-3-1 over his last five outings with 20 goals allowed in that span. He moved to 23-23-7 on the year while adding a 3.10 GAA and a .903 save percentage over 54 appearances. This was likely Dostal's last start of 2024-25 -- Ville Husso will probably get the nod Wednesday in Winnipeg to close out the campaign.

Vitacek made 26 saves in a 5-1 loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday.

Tampa Bay secured the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Division and home-ice advantage with the win. This was Florida's last game of the season, and it will be Vanecek's last action of this year unless he's forced into relief. It's Sergei Bobrovsky all the way from this point forward. Vanecek's results in Florida (2-4-1; 3.00 GAA and .890 save percentage) were no better than what he showed in San Jose (3-10-3; 3.88 GAA and .882 save percentage). He becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer; he will get a contract as a backup netminder from some team. Nothing more.

Fleury stopped all five shots he faced in overtime of Tuesday's 3-2 win over the Ducks.

The Wild clinched a playoff spot just by getting to overtime, and Filip Gustavsson asked head coach John Hynes to let Fleury play the extra session in the 40-year-old's last regular-season game. Fleury put on a show for his curtain call, and his effort was rewarded when Matt Boldy scored at 4:42 of overtime. Fleury's regular-season career record stands at 575-339-95, and he also had two ties in 2003-04 in his first year. He has the second-most wins of all time, trailing only Martin Brodeur's 691. Fleury will handle the backup role during the postseason, which sees the Wild facing one of his former teams, the Golden Knights, in the first round.

Gustavsson stopped 22 of 24 shots before giving way to Marc-Andre Fleury in Tuesday's 3-2 overtime win over the Ducks.

Joe Smith of The Athletic reports it was Gustavsson's idea to allow Fleury to play overtime -- the Wild clinched a playoff spot simply by earning one point. Gustavsson's fantasy managers might not appreciate the gesture, but that's all class from one teammate to another, allowing Fleury to get some time in his last regular-season game. Gustavsson finishes at 31-19-6 with a 2.56 GAA and a .914 save percentage over 58 regular-season outings. He'll likely start the vast majority of the Wild's playoff contests, which will begin with a first-round series versus the Golden Knights.

Sorokin stopped 33 of 35 shots in Tuesday's 3-1 loss to the Capitals. The third goal was an empty-netter.

Sorokin played well, but a pair of Dylan Strome goals over the first two periods accounted for the difference. Strome also scored an empty-netter. Sorokin lost for the first time in four outings and is now 30-24-6 with a 2.71 GAA and a .907 save percentage over 61 outings. It's not quite the level of play he had in his first three NHL seasons, but this season has been better than last year for Sorokin. The Islanders have not yet named their starter for Thursday's season finale versus the Blue Jackets.

Luukkonen made 28 saves Tuesday in a 4-0 loss to Toronto.

Luukkonen allowed three goals in the loss, while the fourth goal was an empty-netter for Auston Matthews' 400th career goal. Luukkonen is 1-3-1 with 18 goals allowed across his last five starts. His game took a step backward this season after such a strong 2023-24 (2.57 GAA, .910 save percentage). He's 24-24-5 in 55 starts with a queasy 3.20 GAA and an .887 save percentage.

Lindgren stopped 32 of 33 shots in Tuesday's 3-1 win over the Islanders.

Lindgren has alternated wins and losses over his last five games, but this was his first really good performance in that span. The netminder only gave up a fluky goal midway through the third period that went in off a teammate. This victory got him to the 20-win mark for the second year in a row -- Lindgren is 20-14-3 with a 2.73 GAA and an .894 save percentage over 39 appearances. The Capitals close the regular season with a favorable matchup Thursday versus the Penguins.

Stolarz made 36 saves in a 4-0 win over the Sabres on Tuesday.

It's the second straight shutout for Stolarz, who stopped 15 shots in a 1-0 overtime win over the Canadiens on Saturday. He's 20-8-3 with four shutouts, a 2.21 GAA and a .923 save percentage on the season, and those numbers have him near the top of the NHL stat list for netminders. Stolarz is second in save percentage and fourth in GAA. He's in prime form for the postseason.

Gibson (lower body) won't play Tuesday versus the Wild.

It's looking less likely that Gibson will be able to return to the crease in 2024-25. This will be his sixth straight absence, and the Ducks' season finale is Wednesday in Winnipeg. Lukas Dostal will start Tuesday, and if Gibson remains out, look for Ville Husso to get the nod Wednesday.

Vanecek will guard the road goal against Tampa Bay on Tuesday, Doug Plagens of the Panthers Radio Network reports.

Vanecek will get the second half of Florida's back-to-back after Sergei Bobrovsky played in Monday's 5-3 loss to the Rangers. The 29-year-old Vanecek is coming off a 26-save performance in Saturday's 3-2 shootout win over Buffalo. Tampa Bay sits first in the league with 3.59 goals per game in 2024-25.