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ST. LOUIS -- The probable lineups for a Central Division matchup Saturday night between the Columbus Blue Jackets and St. Louis Blues from Scottrade Center:
BLUE JACKETS
R.J. Umberger - Derick Brassard - Cam Atkinson
Vinny Prospal - Mark Letestu - Derek Dorsett
Matt Calvert - Sean Collins - Nick Foligno
Colton Gillies - Derek MacKenzie - Jared Boll
Scratches: John Moore, Nick Drazenovic.
Injuries: Artem Anisimov (head), Brandon Dubinsky (knee).
CALGARY -- The Calgary Flames will see some fresh faces in a lineup completely shaken up by coach Bob Hartley.
Hartley will move wing Mike Cammalleri to the middle, welcome back rookie Sven Baertschi from injury, and inject recently recalled spark plug Akim Aliu for a completely new look at forward when the Flames welcome the Minnesota Wild to Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday night.
"I sat with Cammy yesterday and I expressed a fact that I wanted to make some changes, and part of making changes was in order to allow me to make those changes I wanted to see if he was open to play at center," Hartley said.
The shakeup comes on the heels of Calgary's second-consecutive loss Wednesday and a record of 5-7-3.
DALLAS -- When the San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars hit the ice Saturday night at American Airlines Center, the Pacific Division foes will square off with power-play units that are a combined 0-for-their-past-30.
Dallas is 0-for-12 with the man advantage over its past three games and heads into Saturday on a two-game losing streak. For Stars coach Glen Gulutzan, the way to remedy his club's is pretty simple.
"We need a shooter's mindset," Gulutzan said. "Shots cause confusion, and if you look at San Jose, they like to put a lot of shots on net and they have success in their power play. We need a lot of that mentality. We've got sometimes the pass-first mentality. We're going to put more pucks towards the net. We're going to work a lot harder."
The Sharks also have had their share of issues on the power play. San Jose is 0-for-18 over its past four games. In Feburary, San Jose is 2-for-39 with the extra attacker, a definite cause of concern for Sharks coach Todd McLellan, whose club has lost seven of its past eight.
MONTREAL – Neither the New York Rangers nor the Montreal Canadiens will know exactly what their respective lineups will look like for their game at Bell Centre on Saturday night until just before the puck drops.
Rangers defenseman Marc Staal was surprisingly absent from the morning skate as he stayed at the team hotel battling the flu. Fellow defenseman Michael Del Zotto was on the ice but left before the skate was completed. Del Zotto did not finish Thursday night’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Ottawa Senators after taking a hard check from Marc Methot midway through the third period.
The defensemen are game-time decisions, according to Rangers coach John Tortorella, who will already be missing top-line left wing Rick Nash and fourth-line checker Arron Asham. The Rangers have called up Christian Thomas from the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League, but his plane had mechanical issues and Tortorella did not confirm he would be in.
On the Canadiens side, former Rangers forward Brandon Prust also is a game-time decision, according to coach Michel Therrien. Prust did not practice with his teammates Friday and did not take part in an optional skate Saturday morning.
BUFFALO -- The New York Islanders were one goaltender short when they took the ice for their morning skate at First Niagara Center on Saturday.
The team waived Rick DiPietro on Friday and had to wait until he cleared waivers at noon Saturday before they could call up Kevin Poulin of the American Hockey League's Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Evgeni Nabokov was the lone goaltender at practice.
Islanders coach Jack Capuano said the move was made so DiPietro could get more ice time and work on his game. In three NHL games this season, DiPietro is 0-3-0 with a 4.10 goals-against average and an .855 save percentage.
"Rick hasn't played in a while. It's not a demotion by any means," Capuano said. "From an organizational standpoint and for Rick, just to go down and get some games because he hasn't had many games."
PHILADELPHIA -- With Scott Hartnell's return to the lineup, here are the lines the Philadelphia Flyers will use Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets:
Scott Hartnell - Claude Giroux - Jakub Voracek
Brayden Schenn - Danny Briere - Wayne Simmonds
Maxime Talbot - Sean Couturier - Zac Rinaldo
Tye McGinn - Ruslan Fedotenko - Mike Knuble
Braydon Coburn - Nicklas Grossmann
Bruno Gervais - Erik Gustafsson
Scratched: Harry Zolnierczyk, Kurtis Foster
Injured: Jody Shelley, Matt Read, Andrej Meszaros, Michael Leighton
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Here are the projected lineups for a game between the Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Saturday:
AVALANCHE
Jamie McGinn – Matt Duchene – P.A. Parenteau
Gabriel Landeskog – Paul Stastny – David Jones
Cody McLeod – David Mitchell – Milan Hejduk
Aaron Palushaj – Mark Olver - Chuck Kobasew
Matt Hunwick – Ryan O’Byrne
Scratches: Patrick Bordeleau, Shane O’Brien, Michael Sgarbossa
Injured: Steve Downie (knee), Erik Johnson (head), Ryan Wilson (ankle)
Landeskog is expected to return after he missed 11 games with head and leg injuries, the former from a Jan.26 hit by Brad Stuart of the San Jose Sharks.
Hejduk should also return after he had a torso injury Wednesday.
KINGS
Dustin Brown – Anze Kopitar – Justin Williams
Trevor Lewis – Mike Richards – Jeff Carter
Kyle Clifford – Colin Fraser – Jordan Nolan
Dwight King – Jarret Stoll – Dustin Penner
Keaton Ellerby – Davis Drewiske
Scratches: Simon Gagne, Brad Richardson, Andrew Campbell
Injured: Matt Greene (back), Alec Martinez (upper body), Willie Mitchell (knee)
Martinez has been skating but has not taken contact yet.
Coach Darryl Sutter earlier this week reunited the Brown-Kopitar-Williams line for the first time since last season. Brown responded with a goal Wednesday against the Calgary Flames to end a seven-game goal-less spell.
Sutter also promoted Lewis to the second line recently as Lewis has a goal and two assists in his past two games.
DALLAS -- Here are the projected lineups for Saturday night’s game between the San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.
The New York Islanders officially assigned goaltender Rick DiPietro to Bridgeport of the American Hockey League on Saturday.
DiPietro, who was placed on waivers Friday, has eight years remaining on his contract at $4.5 million per season. Injuries and ineffective play have stalled the career of the No. 1 pick in the 2000 NHL Draft.
Including three games this season, DiPietro has only appeared in 50 for the Islanders since the start of the 2008-09 campaign. He has wins in 14 of those appearances.
To replace DiPietro on the roster, the Islanders recalled Kevin Poulin from Bridgeport. Poulin, a fifth-round pick in the 2008 NHL Draft, has appeared in a total of 16 games for the Islanders in the previous two seasons.
Washington Capitals defenseman Mike Green will miss a third straight game with a groin injury.
Green participated in warm-ups for the second straight contest, but is not in the lineup for the Capitals against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday afternoon at Verizon Center. Green has two goals and seven points in 14 games for the Capitals this season.
He played in a total of 81 games in the previous two seasons because of a myriad of injuries.
