Texans Get Bad News Amid Latest Developments With C.J. Stroud

RANGERS (8-7-2) at LIGHTNING (8-5-2)
7 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, TNT, TVAS
Rangers projected lineup
Gabe Perreault — Mika Zibanejad — J.T. Miller
Artemi Panarin — Vincent Trocheck — Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle — Noah Laba — Conor Sheary
Adam Edstrom — Sam Carrick — Taylor Raddysh
Vladislav Gavrikov — Adam Fox
Carson Soucy — Will Borgen
Urho Vaakanainen — Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
Scratched: Juuso Parssinen, Jonny Brodzinski, Matthew Robertson
Injured: Matt Rempe (upper body)
Lightning projected lineup
Jake Guentzel — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel — Anthony Cirelli — Gage Goncalves
Zemgus Girgensons — Yanni Gourde — Oliver Bjorkstrand
Curtis Douglas — Jack Finley — Scott Sabourin
J.J. Moser — Max Crozier
Charle-Edouard D’Astous — Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg — Darren Raddysh
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson
Scratched: Boris Katchouk
Injured: Nick Paul (upper body), Ryan McDonagh (undisclosed), Pontus Holmberg (undisclosed), Dominic James (undisclosed), Victor Hedman (undisclosed)
Status report
Shesterkin will make his third straight start. … Hedman, a defenseman, and Holmberg, a forward, are day to day and did not participate in an optional morning skate after each missed practice Tuesday. … McDonagh, a defenseman, and James, a forward, were placed on injured reserve. … Paul, a forward, skated Wednesday morning but will not return until next week at the earliest.
OILERS (7-6-4) at FLYERS (8-5-2)
7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSP, TVAS2, SN
Oilers projected lineup
Andrew Mangiapane — Connor McDavid — Matt Savoie
Vasily Podkolzin — Leon Draisaitl — Jack Roslovic
Isaac Howard — Adam Henrique — Trent Frederic
Mattias Janmark — Noah Philp — Curtis Lazar
Mattias Ekholm — Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse — Jake Walman
Brett Kulak — Ty Emberson
Stuart Skinner
Calvin Pickard
Scratched: Alec Regula, Troy Stecher, David Tomasek
Injured: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (undisclosed), Zach Hyman (wrist), Kasperi Kapanen (knee)
Flyers projected lineup
Trevor Zegras — Sean Couturier — Matvei Michkov
Owen Tippett — Christian Dvorak — Travis Konecny
Tyson Foerster — Noah Cates — Bobby Brink
Nikita Grebenkin — Rodrigo Abols — Garnet Hathaway
Cam York — Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler — Jamie Drysdale
Emil Andrae — Noah Juulsen
Dan Vladar
Samuel Ersson
Scratched: Nicolas Deslauriers, Adam Ginning, Egor Zamula
Injured: Rasmus Ristolainen (triceps)
Status report
Hyman took part in the morning skate, but did not do line rushes. Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said the forward could make his season debut against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday or the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday. Hyman last played in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final. … Nugent-Hopkins, a forward, is expected to be out the remainder of the week. … Foerster took part in an optional morning skate and will be a game-time decision, coach Rick Tocchet said. The forward, who was activated off injured reserve Wednesday, has missed four games because of a lower-body injury sustained blocking a shot against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 1. … Carl Grundstrom, a forward, was assigned to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League.
SABRES (5-6-4) at MAMMOTH (9-7-0)
9 p.m. ET; Utah16, MSG-B, TVAS
Sabres projected lineup
Tage Thompson — Ryan McLeod — Alex Tuch
Josh Doan — Tyson Kozak — Jordan Greenway
Isak Rosen — Noah Ostlund — Jack Quinn
Josh Dunne — Peyton Krebs — Beck Malenstyn
Bowen Byram — Conor Timmins
Jacob Bryson — Michael Kesselring
Mattias Samuelsson – Owen Power
Colton Ellis
Alex Lyon
Scratched: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Mason Geertsen, Zac Jones
Injured: Jason Zucker (illness), Jiri Kulich (illness), Zach Benson (lower body), Justin Danforth (lower body), Josh Norris (upper body)
Mammoth projected lineup
Clayton Keller — Logan Cooley — Nick Schmaltz
JJ Peterka — Barrett Hayton — Dylan Guenther
Lawson Crouse — Jack McBain — Michael Carcone
Kailer Yamamoto — Kevin Stenlund — Brandon Tanev
Mikhail Sergachev — Dmitri Simashev
Nate Schmidt — John Marino
Ian Cole — Nick DeSimone
Karel Vejmelka
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Olli Maatta, Liam O’Brien, Kevin Rooney
Injured: Sean Durzi (upper body), Alex Kerfoot (lower body)
Status report
Ellis is expected to make his second NHL start for the Sabres; it would be his first since winning his debut on Oct. 22, 4-2 against the Detroit Red Wings. … Benson, a forward, did not travel with Buffalo. … The Sabres reassigned forward Carson Meyer to Rochester of the American Hockey League on Tuesday. … The Mammoth held an optional morning skate and are expected to dress the same 18 skaters from a 4-2 loss at the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
DEVILS (11-4-1) at BLACKHAWKS (8-5-3)
9:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SN (JIP), TVAS2, SN360
Devils projected lineup
Arseny Gritsysuk — Jack Hughes – Dawson Mercer
Timo Meier — Nico Hischier — Jesper Bratt
Ondrej Palat — Cody Glass — Stefan Noesen
Paul Cotter — Luke Glendening — Zack MacEwen
Jonas Siegenthaler — Simon Nemec
Brenden Dillon — Luke Hughes
Dennis Cholowski — Colton White
Jacob Markstrom
Jake Allen
Scratched: Juho Lammikko
Injured: Dougie Hamilton (lower body), Brett Pesce (hand), Johnathan Kovacevic (lower body), Marc McLaughlin (upper body), Evgenii Dadonov (fractured hand), Connor Brown (upper body)
Blackhawks projected lineup
Tyler Bertuzzi — Connor Bedard — Andre Burakovsky
Teuvo Teravainen — Ryan Greene — Colton Dach
Ryan Donato — Oliver Moore — Ilya Mikheyev
Sam Lafferty — Nick Foligno
Alex Vlasic — Sam Rinzel
Matt Grzelcyk — Connor Murphy
Wyatt Kaiser — Artyom Levshunov
Louis Crevier
Spencer Knight
Arvid Soderblom
Scratched: Landon Slaggert
Injured: Frank Nazar (lower body), Jason Dickinson (upper body), Laurent Brossoit (hip)
Status report
Gritsyuk, who finished the Devils’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Islanders on Monday on the top line, will remain there, with Noesen moving down … Dickinson, a forward, took part in the morning skate but will miss his sixth straight game … Burakovsky did not take part in the morning skate because of an undisclosed injury and is a game-time decision. Slaggert, a forward, will be recalled from Rockford of the American Hockey League. He’ll play if Burakovsky is unable.