Two of the NHL’s premier netminders will do battle tonight in New York, when Carey Price and the Canadiens visit Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers.
Price, who’s played a pair of games since missing extended time with a lower-body injury, has won both of his starts and is now 9-2-0 on the year with a 2.10 GAA and .933 save percentage.
Great numbers, but nothing compared to the King.
I asked Therrien for his take on the NYR. His response: "Goaltending. ... Lundqvist probably is playing the best hockey of his career."
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) November 25, 2015
Lundqvist -- probably this year’s Vezina front-runner, after Price won last season -- is a sparking 12-3-2 with a 1.74 GAA and .946 save percentage, posting shutouts in two of his last six starts.
One of those shutouts came in his last outing, a 31-save blanking of the Preds on Monday.
Now... with all that hype, we should tap the brakes. The last time PHT previewed a “goalie duel” was when Lundqvist and St. Louis’ Jake Allen engaged in a battle of the NHL’s two highest save percentages.
The Blues and Rangers then combined for nine goals, with Allen getting the hook 15 minutes into the contest.
Elsewhere...
-- Carter Hutton appears ready to give Pekka Rinne a night off in Buffalo, while the Sabres are going with Linus Ullmark once again.
-- Ryan Miller takes on Devan Dubnyk as the Canucks play in Minnesota.
-- Anders Nilsson will keep Cam Talbot bolted to the pine when Edmonton faces the ‘Canes. Cam Ward looks likely to go for Carolina.
-- Michael Hutchinson, not Connor Hellebuyck, for the Jets in Washington. The Caps will start Braden Holtby.
-- Another good matchup in Pittsburgh, as Jake Allen and the Blues take on Marc-Andre Fleury and the Penguins.
-- Sergei Bobrovsky goes for the Jackets tonight, while the Devils counter with Cory Schneider.
-- In Brooklyn, Jaroslav Halak starts for the Islanders. The visiting Flyers will go with their No. 1, Steve Mason.
-- Sounds like Jonas Gustavsson will go up against his former team when the Bruins take on the Red Wings in Detroit. He’ll square off against Petr Mrazek.
-- Mike Smith returns from a lower-body injury to get the nod for Arizona. Hard to say what the Ducks are going to do: Frederik Andersen has the flu, Anton Khudobin got yanked last night against Calgary, and John Gibson came on in relief for the win.
-- Jonathan Quick is likely for the Kings tonight. They’ll be taking on Ben Bishop and the Bolts in Tampa Bay.
-- Craig Anderson for Ottawa tonight, Semyon Varlamov for Colorado.
-- Martin Jones, the NHL’s reigning first star of the week, is in for the Sharks against the visiting Blackhawks. Corey Crawford counters for Chicago.