Tasty matchup for tonight’s Rivalry Night game between Pittsburgh and Washington -- Marc-Andre Fleury, who’s stopped 128 of his last 136 shots faced (for a .941 save percentage), will go up against Braden Holtby, the NHL’s reigning third star of the week.
Fleury’s start comes with Matt Murray returning to the fold, after missing the last two weeks with a lower-body injury. In a related move, the Pens returned Tristan Jarry to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Wednesday, after he sat as Fleury’s backup for the last few games.
Fleury has been Pittsburgh’s goalie of record in each of the last five games -- all wins -- so this is a chance for him to keep the streak alive, and potentially keep his grasp on the No. 1 job as well. Coaches are loathe to mess with a winning recipe.
As for Washington, this will be Holtby’s fifth start in the last nine nights, which is a pretty hefty workload. That said, one of those starts didn’t go the distance -- he was hooked in a 6-5 OT comeback win over Toronto on Jan. 3 -- and he’s playing some of his best hockey of the year right now, having allowed just one goal over the last three games.
Elsewhere...
-- Carey Price was busy in Monday’s loss to Washington, facing 39 shots, so Al Montoya gets the nod in Winnipeg. He’ll be up against Connor Hellebuyck, who is making his sixth straight start and appears to have won the No. 1 gig over Michael Hutchinson.
-- Coming off a shutout of New Jersey on Monday, Roberto Luongo gets another start for the Panthers. The host Isles are going with Thomas Greiss, who has played well in the wake of the Jaroslav Halak departure. Greiss is 1-0-2 in his last three, with a .958 save percentage.
-- No switching things up in Calgary, as Chad Johnson will make his third straight start, despite losing in Winnipeg on Monday. No word yet on who goes for the Sharks, but Martin Jones did play in last night’s 5-3 win over the Oilers.