There hasn't been a whole lot of shifting and moving at the top of the table, as Jeremy's goalie lost last night, Kristy & Don's goalies both lost on Tuesday night and John P. didn't have much luck on Tuesday night either. The goalies have been somewhat of a letdown to the money teams this week, but a busy Thursday night could change those fortunes a little. At least, one would hope.
In a good bit of luck for Jeremy tonight, he'll have Al Montoya in net for the Panthers, as they host New Jersey tonight. The Devils activated Cory Schneider (Troy) from the IR on Wednesday, but he won't get the start tonight, instead it will be Keith Kinkaid (non-pool) getting one more spin.
Brenda & Seward are expected to have Jonathan Quick in net for the Kings, as they continue to gain momentum for the playoffs. The Flames are in Los Angeles tonight and expected to play Joni Ortio (Dropped) in their net tonight.
With Quick in net, that means Brian is SOL for his second goalie as well and he goes without tonight.
Kristy & Don are also out of luck tonight, with the announcement of Montoya going for the Panthers, they will be relying on their skaters to keep their push going on Thursday night.
John P. will have both of his goalies going tonight, with Craig Anderson already the confirmed starter for the Senators, on back-to-back nights. The Sens are in Minnesota, where the red hot Wild are likely to go with the current Player of the Week, Devan Dubnyk (Derek W.). The other, Chad Johnson of the Sabres, was the confirmed starter early on in the morning, getting the call against the Maple Leafs. Garret Sparks (Ryan) will be going at the other end, giving the kid another look down the stretch, along with a few more kids, recently called up for a stretch with the big club. Ryan's team could use the points, if he wants to make noise this year.
Neil is 14 points back of 3rd to start action tonight, so he'll need a huge push from Cam Ward in the Hurricanes net, as the Rangers come for a visit. It will be a tough slog though, with Henrik Lundqvist (Derek & Dan) in the opposite net tonight.
In an interesting turn of events, Eric has popped up onto the fringe of the money conversation and he'll have a start tonight from Thomas Greiss, as the Islanders host Sergei Bobrovsky (Troy) and the Blue Jackets. The Islanders are still looking to clinch and they get a lesser team in the Jackets, which could keep Eric's outside shot alive.
Ryan's team has fallen out of the mix, with a poor showing so far this week, but he'll have Pekka Rinne in net for the Predators tonight, as they pay a visit to Marc-Andre Fleury (John R.) and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Preds have been hot, the Penguins have been okay... it could work out in Ryan's favour, finally.
Yeah, after combing through the starts for tonight, it looks like it will be a decent night in the pool.
With all the injuries that Wes has on his team, Dale B.'s team could potentially finish 2nd in the PIM pool, not that there are any prizes for 2nd place, but I'm just saying. It would be remarkable, since his team didn't really declare to be a goon team. Nevertheless, Dale's team will have both Antoine Roussel of the Stars and Scott Hartnell of the Blue Jackets going tonight, as they could potentially help to close the 35-minute gap between the two teams. Both players are up around the 110-minute mark this season.
More injury news from Buffalo on Thursday morning, as the Sabres have announced that the upper-body that Evander Kane is currently dealing with, now has a timetable of about 3-to-4 weeks, effectively ending his regular season.
It sounds like a simple bout of the flu kept Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook out of Tuesday night's game against the Wild, a game that they could have used him after Duncan Keith was ejected. Seabrook is listed as day-to-day and should be expected back for the team's next game, Friday night in Winnipeg.
After taking a puck to the head, Nashville defenseman Ryan Ellis was forced from the game against the Stars and his status is still be evaluated by the team. The smaller-stature defender was on the receiving end of a Patrick Eaves slap shot and that just doesn't sound pleasant, at all. We'll wait and see what the diagnosis is.
One note that was missed out on this morning... the Arizona Coyotes announced that the lower-body injury that defenseman Michael Stone suffered over the weekend has a timetable longer than the rest of the season, according to the coaching staff, so he has been deemed out for the remainder of the regular season. Not such a tough blow to the Coyotes, since they're out of the playoff race, but a poor way to finish a great year for Stone.
All signs are pointing to the return of forward Alex Steen to the St. Louis Blues' lineup on Tuesday night, as they welcome the Colorado Avalnche to town for a Central Division clash. Steen has been out since February 20th with an upper-body injury and now with a couple weeks of action left, he gets to shake off some rust before the playoffs. Steen has 17 goals and 47 points this year in 61 games, so his offensive production will be a huge boost to the club, as they move down the stretch and try for the Central Division title.
The Buffalo Sabres went into Detroit trying to play spoiler, failed and lost forward Evander Kane to an upper-body injury at the same time. There was no word on the severity of the injury. Kane wasn't able to register anything on the scoresheet before leaving, so it might as well be a missed game.
A few notes from the Flames/Coyotes game on Monday night and let's start with Johnny Gaudreau not dressing for the club, as the coaching staff say that he has been dealing with an upper-body issue of late and they had given him the night off, fully expecting him to return on this road trip, when they go through California. He's day-to-day.
The Player of the Week nod came down to an all-goalie tie-breaker this morning and as you can see, our winner was Devan Dubnyk of the Minnesota Wild, as he edged out Brian Elliott of the Blues, thanks to one more win in the week, as they both had 8 points. Dubnyk finished the week with a 3-0-0 record with 1 shutout, while Elliott only played in two games, but they were both shutout wins. It seems a little backwards, but the tie-breaking policy is what it is. Wins are certainly more valuable in the overall tie-breaking scheme, so they're more important for the Player of the Week too.
It was a pretty good race in the Mover & Shaker department, one that was seemingly destined for a tie-breaking procedure of its own, but sure enough, one team came out of the pack to take it, all by its lonesome. Ryan's team gave itself a little bit more hope of a money finish in Week Twenty-Five, picking up 32 points and staying within 15 points of 3rd place, with only a couple weeks of action remaining.
It was an all around solid effort from Ryan's team in the week, as 12 of his 14 active players on the roster, came away with at least 1 point in the week. His team was led from the back end, as Pekka Rinne of the Predators finished the week with 6 points, while Connor McDavid of the Oilers had 5 points and three other players finished with 3 points a piece. 
From first to worst, the story of Mike's team this week. Last week, Mike's team was on top of the pool, taking the Mover & Shaker by storm, but the hangover was way too much for his side, as they took the next week off, picking up only 7 points in total. On the plus side, his team didn't drop any positions, remaining at 20th, where he finished off his Mover & Shaker week.
Jeremy opened up his lead by a single point in the week, as his team leads Brenda & Seward's team by 7 points, heading into the last couple weeks and his team has a 15-game advantage in the projected game totals, which could be a huge difference down the stretch. The duo are down three players for the remainder of the regular season, while Jeremy's team is down one for the rest of the year, for sure and another player is set to miss another couple games, at least. It's far from over here, by the look of things.
The schedule and injuries likely are not going to help our two combatants in the PIM pool race, as Derek & Dan now have a clear 67-minute advantage this morning over Wes, and the duo's projected games to be played is one game better going forward. The duo is running with a handful of injuries, while Wes is having all kinds of problems as well. Both teams will limp to the finish, but the last few weeks for Derek & Dan have been so great, they'll limp across the line, well ahead of their nearest competitor.
On Monday morning, the Ottawa Senators announced that they have shut down defenseman Dion Phaneuf for the remainder of the regular season, disclosing that he is dealing with an oblique injury and a sore foot. They were also announcing that forward Clarke MacArthur will also be shut down, due to a concussion. With only two weeks to go in the season and being 8 points out of a playoff spot, it looks like the team has resigned themselves to a longer Summer.
An injury situation to watch with the Bruins next week, as forward Ryan Spooner left the game with an undisclosed injury and there wasn't much for updates after the game. The Bruins don't play again until Tuesday and unless there are more significant updates, he'll be on the list as out day-to-day.
Penguins forward Chris Kunitz left Saturday afternoon's game against the Red Wings with an upper-body injury, after taking a lateral hit from Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk. Kunitz had to be helped off the ice and there are fears of a head injury, but he was to be re-evaluated before this afternoon's game in New York against the Rangers. An update will likely be provided at game time.
An unfortunate accident, colliding with a teammate on the ice, has cost rookie forward Joonas Donskoi at least Saturday afternoon's game against the Dallas Stars, but that may all it will be. The Sharks are not going to disclose what kind of injury that the freshman has, but there is likely a little bit of silver lining here, as the youngster will also get a little bit of much-needed rest before the playoffs start in a couple weeks.
Finally, a lower-body issue was to blame for Nikita Kucherov's absence in the Lightning lineup on Saturday evening. The Bolts had to make a couple of recalls, making sure that Kucherov's and Anton Stralman's spots were adequately taken care of, as they continue to fight for a playoff berth down the stretch. Tampa suffered a 5-2 loss without two key pieces of their puzzle, but it sounds like Kucherov is only day-to-day, so they're hoping for a quick return.
21 points is an even bigger hill to climb, but Ryan is having a hot week, making up points already on 3rd place and sticking in 7th place in the standings. He will have Pekka Rinne going tonight for the Predators, with the Blue Jackets in town. The Jackets will be giving another start to rookie keeper Joonas Korpisalo (non-pool) tonight, probably don't think much of their chances against a hot Preds team.
It sounds like that nasty flu bug got the best of T.J. Oshie before the Caps' game against the Devils on Friday night, keeping the scoring forward out of that one. The Capitals have already clinched top spot in the Eastern Conference and are well on their way for the President's Trophy, so this isn't really huge news for their side, as he gets an extra day or two worth of rest. I don't think there will be any need to rush him back, since they are also playing St. Louis tonight at home. Oshie is considered day-to-day for right now.
The Anaheim Ducks were without a pair of players on Thursday night, as they took on the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre, including pool forward Ryan Kesler, who was dealing with some personal matters. The details are nil, except what we've already written down here, so everyone is in the dark about what's going on here. He's day-to-day for right now, but given the nature of the hush-hush, I would think his availability for Saturday in Ottawa is questionable, as well.
The Dallas Stars have their playoff spot clinched and in tow now, so with the number of injuries they have been dealing with in the last few weeks, there's really no shame in taking some precautionary measures with those players who are not 100%. Take for instance, Kris Russell, who is dealing with a lower-body issue, has missed time with it already, so the Stars decided that he could use a little extra rest and gave him the night off against the Coyotes. He's day-to-day and will play when he feels like it.