All the news and notes on a busy Black Friday...
Freddy’s back
Frederik Andersen will make his first start for Anaheim since being recalled last week as the Ducks host the Flames. Andersen won six of his first seven games while posting a 1.66 GAA and .943 save percentage, but was sent to AHL Norfolk when Viktor Fasth returned from injury.
Fasth is once again on the shelf, though, meaning Andersen is back in the Ducks’ mix. He’ll go up against Reto Berra, who has been getting big minutes for Calgary lately.
Budaj takes on Neuvirth
Battle of the backups at Verizon tonight -- Montreal’s Peter Budaj goes up against Washington’s Michal Neuvirth. The interesting storyline here is that both Budaj and Neuvirth have played sparingly this season, yet will battle for the second time in a week as both got the nod last Friday (when Montreal beat Washington 3-2.)
UPDATE: Neuvirth was injured during pregame warmup and will be unable to play. Holtby gets the start instead, and video coach Brett Leonhardt will serve as backup.
Elsewhere...
-- Jimmy Howard takes on Kevin Poulin in the Detroit-New York Islanders matchup; Brian Elliott goes for the Blues in San Jose, taking on Antti Niemi; Cory Schneider vs. Cam Ward square off in the Devils-'Canes game; it’s Ilya Bryzgalov vs. Sergei Bobrovsky in the Edmonton-Columbus tilt.
-- Good matchup in Buffalo tonight as James Reimer will draw back in for Toronto for the first time since allowing five goals in a 6-0 beating by Columbus on Monday. He’ll go up against Ryan Miller, who continues to play well despite winning just four times in 19 appearances this season.
-- Corey Crawford will go for Chicago after a rare break on Wednesday (Antti Raanta was in goal for a 3-2 win over Calgary). He’ll be up against Dallas netminder Kari Lehtonen, looking to bounce back after allowing five goals in a loss to St. Louis on Saturday.