Morning rundown: Is Koivu ready to go?
A number of players on a lengthening injury list for the Ducks will be up in air for tonight’s game against San Jose.
Center Saku Koivu and defenseman James Wisniewski both skated and figure to be game-time decisions once they go through the warm-up, according to Coach Randy Carlyle.
“I haven’t had a talk with the trainer on those specific players,” Carlyle said. “I had a heads-up that one was ahead of the other. Other than that, they haven’t said yes or no at this point.”
Koivu hasn’t played since Nov. 7 against Phoenix after straining his groin muscle on the most recent road trip. Wisniewski got hit in the foot with a shot in the first period Thursday against Tampa Bay and left the game.
“I’ll take the warm-up and see how it goes,” Koivu said. ”It’s just kind of at the point where before you test it in the games, you’ve got to wait and see how it reacts after you skate. I did lot of work before the practice. We’ve just got to wait and see right now.”
Defender Steve Eminger is also a game-time decision after being unavailable Thursday because of back spasms. Eminger is further along than left wing Joffrey Lupul, who’s also been felled by back spasms and is “doubtful” according to Carlyle.
Continuing Carlyle’s theme of “if you win, you’re in” with his goaltenders, Jonas Hiller will get his second consecutive start after stopping 21 shots in the 4-3 overtime win over the Lightning.
Here’s the expected line combinations and defense pairings with the proviso of the game-time decisions that may alter the look:
Bobby Ryan-Ryan Getzlaf-Corey Perry
Evgeny Artyukhin-Saku Koivu-Teemu Selanne
Kyle Calder-Todd Marchant-Petteri Nokelainen
Mike Brown-MacGregor Sharp-George Parros
Scott Niedermayer-Nick Boynton
Ryan Whitney-James Wisniewski
Brendan Mikkelson-Steve Eminger or Sheldon Brookbank
Post from: Ducks blog
Tags: Anaheim Ducks, Sports