On the Detroit Red Wings …
Brendan Savage: Goaltender Jimmy Howard will be out for four to six weeks with a mild MCL sprain according to GM Ken Holland.
On the Calgary Flames …
Pat Steinberg: Forward Troy Brouwer left last night’s game early with an upper-body injury.
On the Edmonton Oilers …
Edmonton Oilers: Tyler Pitlick will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL in his left knee.
On the Tampa Bay Lightning …
Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider: Jonathan Drouin left last night’s game in the second period and didn’t return for the third period. He got tangled up with T.J. Oshie and fell awkwardly.
Defenseman Braydon Coburn left in the second period after taking a high hit from Tom Wilson.
The Lightning were already without Steven Stamkos, Ryan Callahan, Ben Bishop, Ondrej Palat, Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestnikov and Cedric Paquette.
Bryan Burns: Coach Jon Cooper said that Drouin and Coburn were being evaluated: “It’s tough. It’s been the tale of our December is guys getting hurt.”
On New York Rangers …
Brett Cyrgalis: Mika Zibanejad no longer has a boot on his broken leg and the crutches are gone. He is half way through the expected two months recovery.
“Always a nice one when you progress in your recovery,” Zibanejad said after his team’s Thursday practice in Westchester, as they ready to play host to the Wild on Friday night at the Garden before going into the three-day Christmas break. “But only halfway there. Now the rest of it is ahead of me. I’m just excited for every step that goes by.”
Rick Nash is still out with his groin injury, but is close to returning.
Pavel Buchnevich is out until mid-January with a back injury.