Keep updated on all the injury news and roster moves from around the NHL with daily Ice Chips.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Centre Auston Matthews skated on his own Wednesday morning and then returned to the ice for the team practice.

Head coach Mike Babcock indicated after practice, however, that Matthews is unlikely to face the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. The Leafs next game after that is Wednesday against the Dallas Stars.

Matthews skated for roughly 35 minutes on Wednesday, doing some light shooting while working with team skill development consultant Mike Ellis. He then came back to the ice, again wearing a red jersey, for the team's skate. 

Matthews did not take line rushes on Wednesday and the team used the following lines:

Marleau-Kadri-Komarov
Hyman-Nylander-Marner
van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Brown
Martin-Plekanec-Kapanen

Rielly-Hainsey
Gardiner-Zaitsev
Dermott-Polak
Moore-Carrick

Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock noted over the weekend Matthews had been skating daily while the Leafs were on their road trip. Wednesday marked the first time he skated with the team.

Thursday will mark two weeks since Matthews was injured against the New York Islanders.

The 20-year-old has 28 goals and 50 points in 53 games this season.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Defenceman Ryan McDonagh (upper-body) was on the ice for the Lightning Wednesday wearing a red non-contact jersey according to Bryan Burns of NHL.com.

The 28-year-old, who was acquired by Tampa Bay at the deadline with J.T. Miller, last played on Feb. 7 while still with the New York Rangers.

Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said Tuesday the team will know more about McDonagh's status towards the end of the week and he could debut at the earliest on Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens. Cooper cautioned, however, that McDonagh's debut is more likely to come next week. 

In 49 games so far this season, the 28-year-old has two goals and 24 assists.

Meanwhile, injured forward Ondrej Palat was also on the ice Wednesday wearing a red jersey as he battles a lower-body injury.

Cooper did not provide an update on Palat when he spoke with the media Tuesday. 

Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds said he expects to play Wednesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins after missing the past seven games with an upper-body injury.

"Excited to be back in the lineup tongiht," the 29-year-old told reporters. "It's going to be a pretty spirited game. It always is when we play Pittsburgh."

In 59 games so far this season, he has 20 goals to go along with 17 assists. Following Wednesday's matchup with the Penguins, the Flyers will take on the Boston Bruins the following day at TD Garden. 

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins signed forward Sam Lafferty to a two-year, entry-level contract, starting in 2018-19.

Lafferty will join the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this week on an ATO.

Lafferty spent the past four seasons with Boston University. He scored eight goals and recorded 22 points as a senior this past season.

He was a fourth-round pick of the Penguins in 2014.

New Jersey Devils

Devils forward Pavel Zacha was not on the ice for the Devils Wednesday morning and is dealing with an upper-body injury according to Amanda Stein of NHL.com. 

He did not come out for the third period in New Jersey's 6-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday but he has not yet been ruled out for Thursday's game against the Winnipeg Jets. 

The 20-year-old centre has six goals and 13 assists in 60 games for the Devils this season. 

Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres have called up centre Daniel O'Regan from the AHL's Rochester Americans, the team announced. 

Head coach Phil Housley announced he won't play Wednesday against the Calgary Flames but will see game action at some point. 

O'Regan, 24, was part of the deadline day deal that sent forward Evander Kane to the San Jose Sharks.

In three games for the Americans since the trade, he has two goals. 

TSN Game Notes

Flames Before/After Bye Week (Jan 15-19)

Before             After

25-16-4 Rec    7-9-6

2.87     GF/G  2.59

2.71     GA/G 3.27

18.4     PP%   16.7

79.9     PK%   82.1

(7 game win streak heading into bye week)

 

Point Leaders Since Dec. 1st

Player                          Team   GP       G         A         Pts

Evgeni Malkin             Pit        41        30        31        61

Claude Giroux            Phi       41        12        38        50

Nikita Kucherov         TB       40        16        34        50

Nathan MacKinnon    Col      35        24        26        50

Brad Marchand           Bos      36        20        29        49

Connor McDavid        Edm    40        19        30        49

 

Flames (74P) at Sabres (53P) - 730PM

BUF 1-0-0 vs CGY in 17-18, OTW in CGY. BUF 6-0-1 at home vs CGY in shootout era

BUF (21-34-11):

3-1-0 last 4GP, 12GF, PP 3/14

O'Reilly (1G, 4A) 4 game PT streak

CGY (32-25-10):

0-3-1 last 4GP, 6GF, PP 0/16

Career GP 300 for Gaudreau, 0G, 1A last 5GP

Penguins (80P) at Flyers (80P) - 8PM

PIT 2-0-0 vs PHI in 17-18, 1-0-0 in PHI, 5GF in each game.

PHI (34-21-11):

0-2-1 last 3GP, 14GA, PK 5/7

Giroux (8G, 12A) last 13GP

PIT (38-25-4):

won 2 straight, both at home, 7GF, PP 1/4

Malkin (16G, 17A) last 17GP

Coyotes (51P) at Canucks (59P) - 10PM

VAN 1-0-0 vs ARZ in 17-18, winning in ARZ. VAN 3 straight home wins vs ARZ, 4GA

VAN (25-32-9):

2-0-3 last 5GP at home, 22GF, PP 4/12

D Sedin (8G, 6A) last 11GP

ARZ (20-34-11):

2-0-1 last 3GP, 10GF, PP 1/8

Keller (2A) last 7GP