NHL Player News

Vasilevskiy (illness) will start at home versus the Kings on Thursday, Gabby Shirley of FanDuel Sports Network Florida & Sun reports.

Vasilevskiy was unable to suit up Tuesday, but it appears he's healthy enough to take Thursday's start. Jonas Johansson (lower body) is out, while Matt Tomkins will fill in as the backup. Vasilevskiy has a favorable matchup, as the Kings have scored two or fewer goals in 10 of their last 11 games.

Lindgren is expected to start in Thursday's road clash against Ottawa.

Lindgren stopped 23 of 25 shots en route to a 2-1 loss against Vancouver in his last start Saturday. He's 11-9-2 with a 2.51 GAA and a .904 save percentage in 23 outings in 2024-25. The Senators rank 25th in goals per game with 2.72 in 2024-25.

Rittich is expected to serve as the starting goaltender for Thursday's road game against Tampa Bay, John Hoven of SiriusXM NHL Network Radio reports.

Rittich has seen sporadic playing time in recent weeks, but he'll tend the twine in the second half of a back-to-back set Thursday. Over his last five starts, he's gone 1-4-0 with a 3.25 GAA and .863 save percentage, and he'll have a tough test Thursday since the Lightning rank second in the NHL with 3.49 goals per game.

Hellebuyck will tend the twine during Thursday's road matchup against the Bruins, Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press report.

Hellebuyck has been strong over the past few weeks, going 7-1-0 with a 1.63 GAA and .932 save percentage over his last eight starts, a span that includes a shutout win over Colorado on Jan. 11. His only other start against Boston so far this year was at home Dec. 10, and he turned aside 23 of 24 shots (.958 save percentage) en route to the 8-1 win.

Skinner will patrol the blue paint in Thursday's home game versus Detroit, Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic reports.

Skinner has been middling at best since he recorded a 30-save shutout victory over the Kings on Jan. 13. In the four appearances since then, the 26-year-old netminder is 2-2-0 with a 2.80 GAA and .897 save percentage. Still, Skinner should see the bulk of the workload heading into the international break, with the exception being one leg of a back-to-back versus the Blues and Blackhawks on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

Kochetkov is slated to start at home against Chicago on Thursday.

Kochetkov stopped 24 of 27 shots in a 3-2 overtime loss against the Islanders in his last start Saturday. He has an 18-9-3 record, 2.48 GAA and .903 save percentage in 31 appearances in 2024-25. The Blackhawks are a favorable adversary -- they're tied for 30th in goals per game with 2.62.

Vejmelka will start Friday's home game against the Blue Jackets, Cole Bagley of KSL Sports reports.

Vejmelka has largely struggled over his last four starts, and even though he picked up his first shutout win of the season Jan. 23 against Minnesota, he's gone 1-3-0 with a 3.07 GAA and .885 save percentage over his last four outings. The Blue Jackets rank seventh in the NHL this season with 3.30 goals per game.

Samsonov is set to start at home against Columbus on Thursday, per Jesse Granger of The Athletic.

Samsonov stopped 15 of 17 shots in a 4-2 win over St. Louis in his most recent start last Thursday. He has a 12-6-1 record, 2.78 GAA and .898 save percentage in 19 outings in 2024-25. Columbus ranks seventh in goals per game with 3.30.

Merzlikins will be between the road pipes against Vegas on Thursday, Jeff Svoboda of the Blue Jackets' official site reports.

Merzlikins is in the midst of a two-game winning streak in which he's posted a 1.46 GAA and .952 save percentage, and he'll draw the start in the first half of a back-to-back set Thursday. The Golden Knights have had a solid offense for most of the year, as they rank fourth in the league with 3.39 goals per game.

Daccord was the first goalie to leave the ice Thursday, Mike Benton of the Kraken Audio Network reports, indicating he'll guard the cage at home versus the Sharks.

Daccord had made 10 consecutive appearances in the crease before finally getting a night off versus the Ducks on Tuesday. During that stretch, the 28-year-old netminder went 5-3-0 with a 2.28 GAA. The Boston native should continue to see a heavy workload moving forward, especially after the team made the decision to ship Philipp Grubauer to the minors.