The Daily Puck: Good Things Happen in Three's

Injuries for Teams Playing Saturday

Rangers (Henrik Lundqvist) at Boston (Tim Thomas), 7 p.m.

Rangers Injuries

Erik Christensen (F) – Day-to-day with a groin injury, expected to play Saturday.
Vaclav Prospal (F) – Out indefinitely after undergoing knee surgery.
Chris Drury (F) – Out an estimated five weeks after breaking finger.
Marian Gaborik (F) – Out with a shoulder injury for the next 1-3 weeks.

Boston Injuries

Brad Marchand (F) – Got a maintenance day off Friday, expected to play Saturday.
Marc Savard (F) – Remains out indefinitely due to post-concussion syndrome.
Marco Sturm (F) – Could return in mid-November after undergoing offseason knee surgery.
Trent Whitfield (F) – Out until February after undergoing Achilles' tendon surgery.

Atlanta (Chris Mason) at Washington (Semyon Varlamov), 7 p.m.

Atlanta Injuries

Zach Bogosian (D) – Missing games with shoulder injury but could play Saturday. Check updates.
Nikolai Antropov (F) – Coach Ramsey says his hip isn't 100 percent and could rest him at any time.
Ondrej Pavelec (F) – Passed concussion test Friday but won't play Saturday, nearing return.
Patrice Cormier (F) – Out with a foot injury among other things.

Washington Injuries

Matt Bradley (F) – Practicing but has missed the last four games with a lower body injury.
Michal Neuvirth (G) – Battled flu, poor play and the return of Semyon Varlamov Thursday night.
Boyd Gordon (F) – Missed Thursday's game with an undisclosed injury and has played just four times.

Toronto (J.S. Giguere) at Philadelphia (Sergei Bobrovsky), 7 p.m.

Toronto Injuries

None reported

Philadelphia Injuries

Michael Leighton (G) – Able to walk three miles but still can't gym, tan or laundry.
Matt Walker (D) – Out 2-3 months with hip problems, will need surgery.
Ian Laperriere (F) – Could miss the entire season with post-concussion syndrome.

Montreal (Carey Price) at Ottawa (Robin Lehner), 7 p.m.

Montreal Injuries

Andrei Markov (D) – Has yet to make his 2010-11 debut, could return at any time. Check updates.

Ottawa Injuries

Pascal Leclaire (G) – Progressing well from groin injury, could start skating in several days.
Filip Kuba (D) – Could be back in early November, recovering from broken leg.

Buffalo (Ryan Miller) at New Jersey (Johan Hedberg), 7 p.m.

Buffalo Injuries

Shaone Morrisonn (D) – Missed third straight game Wednesday with groin injury.
Jason Pominville (F) – Ahead of schedule following concussion, likely another week or so away.
Marc-Andre Gragnani (D) – Prospect sidelined for a month with knee sprain, due back soon in AHL.

New Jersey Injuries

Anton Volchenkov (D)—Out for more than 10 days with neck injury but hasn't been put on IR.
Brian Rolston (F) – Will miss the next month after undergoing sports hernia surgery.
Anssi Salmela (D) – Out indefinitely with knee injury and could miss entire season.
Bryce Salvador (D) – Still out indefinitely after suffering concussion in the preseason.
Mark Fraser (D) – One of many New Jersey defensemen out indefinitely, fractured hand.

Anaheim (Jonas Hiller) at Detroit (Jimmy Howard), 7 p.m.

Anaheim Injuries

Cam Fowler (D) – Day-to-day with facial injury, missed Thursday night's game.
Andy Sutton (D) – Out until at least November with a fractured right thumb.
Joffrey Lupul(D) – Lupul isn't expected back from his back injury until December.
Jason Jaffray (F) – Out until January or February with torn ACL in left knee.

Detroit Injuries

Todd Bertuzzi (F) – Bertuzzi is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.
Jonathan Ericsson (D) – Could return next week from a back injury.
Brian Rafalski (D) – About 2-3 weeks away from returning after arthroscopic knee surgery.
Kris Draper (F) – Will miss the next 4-6 weeks after sports hernia surgery.

Islanders (Dwayne Roloson) at Florida (Tomas Vokoun), 7 p.m.

Islanders Injuries

Josh Bailey (F) – Likely a game-time decision with hip injury. Check updates.
Kyle Okposo (F) – Out until December after right shoulder surgery.
Andrew MacDonald (D) – Will miss 4-6 weeks after breaking hand Tuesday night.
Robbie Schremp (F) – Out for another week or so with a lower back strain.
Mark Streit (D) – Out until February but could return to an improved Islanders squad.

Florida Injuries

Jay Garrison (F) – Missed Thursday's game with a groin injury.
Byron Bitz (F) – Out 4-6 weeks following sports hernia surgery.

Nashville (Pekka Rinne) at Dallas (Kari Lehtonen), 8 p.m.

Nashville Injuries

Marcel Goc (F) – Suffered separated shoulder last Saturday and will miss 1-3 weeks.
Ryan Suter (D) – Will miss the next two games with leg injury, could return Oct. 28.
Matthew Lombardi (F) – Sidelined indefinitely with a concussion.

Dallas Injuries

None reported

Pittsburgh (Brent Johnson) at St. Louis (Jaroslav Halak), 8 p.m.

Pittsburgh Injuries

Alex Goligoski (D) – Got maintenance da y off Friday, physical game Thursday, will play Saturday.
Sidney Crosby (F) – Skipped Friday's practice with maintenance day, will play Saturday.
Brooks Orpik (D) – Scheduled to tentatively make his return against the Blues.
Kris Letang (D) – Missed part of Thursday's game after taking shot off leg, should play Saturday.
Arron Asham (F) – Practicing and could return sometime next week from shoulder injury.
Zbynek Michalek (D) – Still a week or so away from returning after suffering shoulder injury.
Jordan Staal (F) – Making swift recovery from foot infection, maybe a week away from returning.

St. Louis Injuries

Cam Janssen (F) – Skating after suffering concussion but will not play Saturday.
Nikita Nikitin (D) – Recovering from broken wrist and won't be back until November.

Columbus (Steve Mason) at Chicago (Corey Crawford), 8 p.m.

Columbus Injuries

Kris Russell (D) – Missed Friday's loss to Calgary with lower body injury, not likely to play Saturday.
Anton Stralman (D) – Returned to action Friday (18:29 TOI), put up even plus-minus rating in 6-2 loss.
Jared Boll (F) – On IR with back injury since Oct. 9 and could come back at any time.
Mike Commodore (D) – Out with thumb injury, no timetable for return.
Ethan Moreau (F) – Will miss 4-6 weeks after surgery to repair broken bone in hand.

Chicago Injuries

Brian Campbell (D) – Thought to be coming back sometime in early November from knee sprain.

Los Angeles (Jonathan Quick) at Colorado (Craig Anderson), 8:30 p.m.

Los Angeles Injuries

Matt Greene (D) – Day-to-day with shoulder injury after being medically cleared to resume contact.
Scott Parse (F) – Skated during the past week but doesn't appear close to returning from groin injury.

Colorado Injuries

Adam Foote (D) – Will not play on Saturday due to concussion.
David Jones (F) – Expected to play Saturday after missing one game with a bruised forearm.
David Koci (F) – Will not play Saturday as he continues to recover from a jaw injury.
Peter Mueller (F) – No new news on Mueller and his battle to recover from a concussion.

Carolina (Cam Ward) at Phoenix (Ilya Brygalov), 9:00 p.m.

Carolina Injuries

None reported

Phoenix Injuries

Shane Doan (Suspension) – Has served one of his three-game suspension thus far, out Saturday.

San Jose (Antti Niemi) at Edmonton (Nikolai Khabibulin), 10:00 p.m.

San Jose Injuries

Derek Joslin (D) – Not close to returning from upper body injury.

Edmonton Injuries

Theo Peckham (D) – Hurt during Thursday's game, missed practice Friday with undisclosed injury.
Jean-Francois Jacques (F) – Out with back injury and won't play for Edmonton on Saturday.

Transactions

Erik Ersberg (G) – Placed on waivers by Los Angeles.
Nigel Dawes (F) – Cleared waivers with Atlanta.
Rick Rypien (F) – Given six-game, $18,000 suspension for fan incident, shades of Matthew Barnaby challenging a grey-haired fan in 2000.

Hot (Good Things Happen in Three's Version)

Henrik Karlsson – Kudos on Karlsson's NHL goalie debut and first win Friday night, joining John Carlson and Erik Karlsson as Calder Trophy candidates.
Hat Trick or Treaters – Three players, Rene Bourque, Steven Stamkos (includes empty netter), and Daniel Alfredsson potted three goals Friday night. Congratulations to Alfie on his 1,000th career NHL point in his 1,009th career contest.
Penguins Blueliners – Kris Letang (2, 6), Alex Goligoski (3, 4) and Paul Martin (1, 6) are showing that there's enough fantasy points to go around on the backend. Granted, the Penguins are getting more power-play time than any other NHL team, but that's been the case in the Sidney Crosby era.

Cold

Nikita Filatov – Just two assists and a minus-2 rating in six games for the Blue Jackets.
Jakub Voracek – One assist in six games for Columbus as his struggles are more surprising than Filatov's.
Alexei Kovalev – Everyone's favorite player to hate has one assist and a minus-4 rating in seven contests.
Michael Frolik – One helper in five games, big things are expected from him but so far he's disappointed.
Erik Johnson -- Two assists in six games, might have to wait until Carlo Colaiacovo injury to run point.

Recommended Pickup

Cal Clutterbuck – Clutterbuck will lead the NHL in hits, guaranteed. He led the NHL with 318 last year and has 30 in seven games thus far. Ranked 495th by Yahoo! and for good reason, but he'll help win fantasy teams the hits category.