News and notes from the crease ...
Forsberg’s first
With Sergei Bobrovsky on the shelf, it looks like the Columbus Blue Jackets will give Anton Forsberg his first career NHL start tonight.
Here’s a quick Forsberg bio for those in the crowd wondering ... “Anton who?”
- The 21-year-old was one of the final picks (188th overall) of the 2011 NHL Draft.
- The Swede has performed reasonably well in very limited work at the AHL level.
- Not surprisingly, most of his experience came in Sweden so far. He’s fairly large at 6-foot-2, although that’s approaching “normal” considering how much NHL teams are trending toward NBA power forward-sized netminders.
- The Hockey News labels him as “raw” but also able “to be a spectacular netminder when on his game.” Forsberg is also considered a goalie who plays on the aggressive side (as in, he’s likely to challenge shooters).
Forsberg faces Cory Schneider and the New Jersey Devils in his debut.
Crawford’s back
The Chicago Blackhawks sent Scott Darling back to the minors (to the relief of Antti Raanta, who was likely sweating Darling’s strong work) as Corey Crawford appears ready to return. At the moment, it looks like James Reimer will be in net for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are wrapping up a back-to-back set.
Elsewhere ...
Flyers at Panthers: Steve Mason strives for his first win of 2014-15 with Philly while Roberto Luongo’s in net for Florida.
Jets at Rangers: Ondrej Pavelec for Winnipeg and Henrik Lundqvist for New York.
Capitals at Lightning: Braden Holtby starts for Washington, Ben Bishop goes for Tampa Bay.
Coyotes at Hurricanes: Mike Smith tries to get it together with Arizona while Cam Ward continues Carolina’s quest for a win.
Senators at Bruins: Robin Lehner’s in for Ottawa, Tuukka Rask likely for Boston.
Sabres at Penguins: Jhonas Enroth gets thrown to the wolves by Buffalo while Marc-Andre Fleury is looking like a workhorse so far for Pittsburgh.
Stars at Wild: Dallas seems to be leaning toward Kari Lehtonen while Minnesota rolls with Darcy Kuemper.
Avalanche at Blues: Semyon Varlamov goes for Colorado while Brian Elliott hopes that his goalie mask protects him from the bug going around the St. Louis locker room.
Canucks at Oilers: Ryan Miller starts for Vancouver while Ben Scrivens continues to be the go-to guy for Edmonton.
Islanders at Sharks: Jaroslav Halak hopes to stop New York’s run of bad goaltending while Antti Niemi is in net for San Jose.