- Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Penguins Evgeni Malkin (shoulder) is practicing with the team. Sidney Crosby, James Neal and Paul Martin have been skating with their strength coach. It is possible that none of the above players return to the lineup before the end of the regular season.
“There’s going to be no thought of rushing those players back to get an opportunity to play that game before the playoffs,” he said.
- Andy Strickland: Blues T.J. Oshie said he hopes to be able return for the first game of the playoffs.
- Katie Carrera of the Washington Post: Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom left last night’s game in the third period after taking a Mike Green slapshot off his left arm.
“It caught him in the arm,” Green said. “He’s all right but definitely gave him a bruise. So I hope everything’s okay with him.”
- Tracey Myers: Blackhawks Patrick Sharp is out tonight. He hopes to be able to get into a few games before the playoffs start.
- Colleeen Kane (Chicago Tribune): Blackhawks Ray Emery is out tonight with a lower-body injury. He’s day-to-day.
- Mike Chambers of the Denver Post: Avalanche’s Semyon Varlamov and Milan Hejduk will return to the lineup tonight. Defenseman Erik Johnson and Ryan Wilson are still out.
- Adrian Dater: Avalanche prospect Joey Hishon, who just returned after missing two years with a concussion, does have a head injury. They are not saying that it’s another concussion, just that it’s a head injury.