The Daily Puck: Young Flyer Keeps Producing

Game Notes

Florida (Tomas Vokoun) vs. NY Rangers (Henrik Lundqvist), 7:00 pm

Florida injuries:

Tomas Vokoun (G) – Will start Tuesday after missing Sunday's game with upper-body injury.
Chris Higgins (LW) – Will return Tuesday after missing over two weeks with hamstring injury.
Dmitri Kulikov (D) – Will be back in the lineup Tuesday after missing two games with a rib injury.

NY Rangers injuries:

Dan Girardi (D) – Doubtful to play Tuesday due to a rib injury.
Brandon Prust (LW) – Set to go after returning from foot injury Monday night.

NY Islanders (Kevin Poulin) vs. Pittsburgh (Marc-Andre Fleury), 7:00 pm

NY Islanders injuries:

Nathan Lawson (G) – Out 1-to-2 weeks with MCL strain.
Milan Jurcina (D) – Out; could miss a month after sustaining upper-body injury last week.

Pittsburgh injuries:

Sidney Crosby (C) – Out; still battling post-concussion symptoms.
Eric Godard (RW) – Out with facial injuries.
Evgeni Malkin (C) – Out Tuesday with knee injury.

Anaheim (Jonas Hiller) vs. Columbus (Steve Mason), 7:00 pm

Anaheim injuries:

Ryan Getzlaf (C) – Out; did return to skating last week and expects to be back shortly after the All-Star break.

Columbus injuries:

Antoine Vermette (C) – Will play Tuesday after missing Monday's practice with an illness.
Rostislav Klesla (D) – Out Tuesday but should be ready to return on the other side of the All-Star break.

Montreal (Carey Price) vs. Philadelphia (Sergei Bobrovsky), 7:30 pm

Montreal injuries:

Jeff Halpern (C) – Will play Tuesday night after not playing over the weekend due to upper-body injuries.

Philadelphia injuries:

James van Riemsdyk (RW) – Doubtful to play Tuesday due to a lower-body injury.

Buffalo (Ryan Miller) vs. Ottawa (Brian Elliott), 7:30 pm

Buffalo injuries:

Thomas Vanek (LW) – Will dress Tuesday after being last game due to an upper-body injury.
Drew Stafford (RW) – Will play Tuesday after missing a week's worth of games due to a groin injury.
Patrick Kaleta (RW) – Out; placed on IR Monday with broken hand.
Tim Connolly (CA) – Out; placed on IR Monday because of a hip flexor injury.

Ottawa injuries:

Jarkko Ruutu (RW) – Out Tuesday night and could miss a couple weeks with lower-body injury.

Toronto (James Reimer) vs. Tampa Bay (Dwayne Roloson), 7:30 pm

Toronto injuries:

Fredrik Sjostrom (RW) – Will play Tuesday after returning from a leg injury Monday night.
Colton Orr (RW) – Out; on IR with head injury
Nikolai Kulemin (RW) – Questionable for Tuesday after taking a sucker punch from Carolina's Tim Gleason Monday night.

Tampa Bay injuries:

Ryan Malone (LW) – Questionable Tuesday after sustaining mid-body injury Friday night.

Minnesota (Niklas Backstrom) vs. Chicago (Corey Crawford), 8:30 pm

Minnesota injuries:

Marco Scandella (D) – Out with post-concussion symptoms.

Chicago injuries:

Marian Hossa (RW) – Game-time decision Tuesday night due to an illness.

Edmonton (Devan Dubnyk) vs. Phoenix (Ilya Bryzgalov), 9:00 pm

Edmonton injuries:

Ales Hemsky (RW) – Out with concussion.
Jordan Eberle (C) – Out with ankle injury

Phoenix injuries:

Derek Morris (D) – Doubtful to play Tuesday night due to lower-body injury.
Ed Jovanovski (D) –Probable to return Tuesday night as he battles to get past a lower-body injury.
Michal Rozsival (D) – Highly questionable for Tuesday night as he also battles lower-body injury.

Transactions

Alex Stalock (G) – Recalled from Worcester (AHL) by San Jose
Mike Brodeur (G) – Recalled from Binghamton (AHL) by Ottawa on an emergency basis
Marc-Andre Gragnani (D) – Re-assigned to Portland (AHL) by Buffalo

Around the League

Hot

Claude Giroux (C/RW) Philadelphia – The Hearst, Ontario native continues to build on what has already been a breakout season. Over the last two games Giroux has five assists and a plus-five rating. With 46 points (18 G, 28 A) in 49 games, the 23-year-old is now only one point off his entire point total from last year – one in which he played in all 82 games.

Keith Yandle (D) Phoenix – With a goal and eight assists in the last six games for the 'Yotes, Yandle is sixth amongst all NHL defenders with 40 points. His 33 assists rank him second amongst all NHL blueliners.

Cold

Jaroslav Halak (G) St. Louis – Halak has allowed four goals in four of his last five starts, and in his last three games he has a save percentage of just .867. The Blues are going to ride Halak all the way to the finish line, but like Ryan Miller and Ilya Bryzgalov, the heavy workload looks like it may be wearing him a bit. The All-Star goalie may be wishing he could just go on vacation instead of taking part in the All-Star festivities this weekend.

Michael Frolik (RW) Florida – Frolik closed out December – and started January – on fire, logging ten points (2 G, 8 A) in ten games between Dec. 15 to Jan. 5. The problem is, Frolik has not been seen on the scoresheet since Jan. 5.

Recommended Pickup

Peter Forsberg (C) Colorado – I've hesitated to warm up to Forsberg again, but after reading reports of how terrific he has looked in practice, I'm becoming a believer. Forsberg is still available in almost two-thirds of fantasy leagues, but once he signs a contract with the Avs and makes his return official (which by all indications he is going to do very soon), he'll likely be the hottest pick-up of the season. Beat the rush and grab him over the break.