Ice Chips: Leafs G Samsonov to start vs. Blue Jackets
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Keep updated on all the injury news and roster updates from around the NHL with daily Ice Chips.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Goaltender Ilya Samsonov gets the start tonight against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The 25-year-old is 17-6-2 this season with a .913 save percentage and 2.42 goals-against average.
New York Rangers
A day after being dealt to the New York Rangers, forward Vladimir Tarasenko is skating on the top line this morning alongside Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad.
Tarasenko and defenceman Niko Mikkola were acquired by the Rangers on Thursday in exchange for conditional 2023 first- and 2024 fourth-round picks, forward Sammy Blais and prospect Hunter Skinner.
Mikkola is skating alongside Braden Schneider on the third pairing at practice. Defenceman Libor Hajek was waived on Thursday ahead of the trade.
A pending unrestricted free agent, Tarasenko has 10 goals and 29 points in 38 games this season.
Montreal Canadiens
Forward Joel Armia is practising this morning while wearing a no-contact jersey.
Armia has missed the last seven games with an upper-body injury. The 29-year-old has struggled for the Canadiens this season, tallying three goals and four assists in 32 games.
He is in the second season of a four-year, $13.6 million deal with an average annual value of $3.4 million.
Rookie defenceman Kaiden Guhle also skated on his own for the first time since suffering a knee injury on Dec. 29 against the Florida Panthers. He was projected to miss eight weeks with the injury. Prior to getting hurt, he had two goals and 12 assists in 36 games while averaging 20:46 TOI.
For the second day in a row, defenceman Joel Edmundson and forward Sean Monahan skated on their own this morning. Monahan has not played since Dec. 5 as he deals with a lower-body injury, while Edmundson (lower-body injury) has been out since Jan. 26.
Habs lines:
Harvey-Pinard - Suzuki - Anderson
Dadonov - Dach - Hoffman
Pitlick - Dvorak- Ylonen
Pezzetta / Armia (No contact) - Drouin - Belzile
Xhekaj - Savard
Matheson - Barron
Harris - Kovacevic
Wideman
Montembeault
Allen
Columbus Blue Jackets
Forward Patrik Laine was absent from the morning skate but will play tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs, according to head coach Brad Larsen, citing that Laine was "taking the morning off."
Laine has 14 goals and 31 points in 36 games this season.
Joonas Korpisalo is expected to start tonight. The 28-year-old is 8-9-3 this season with a .906 save percentage and 3.35 GAA.