(Courtesy: NHL.com)

Jonathan Marchessault has Frederik Andersen's number on this night.

The Florida Panthers winger, who continued his red-hot start with a goal in the first period of Thursday's game in Toronto, got the better of the Maple Leafs goalie once again with wicked snipe from the faceoff circle.

The goal gave Marchessault five in seven games to start the season, and didn't do much to quiet criticism that's befallen Andersen early in his Toronto tenure.

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Winnipeg's other premiere rookie has finally notched his first.

Kyle Connor collected his first career NHL goal on Thursday night, turning on the jets (no pun intended) before finishing off a 2-on-1 break thanks to a neat feed by Nikolaj Ehlers.

The goal was just the 2015 first-round pick's second point of the year and gave the Jets a 2-0 lead over the Dallas Stars.

(Courtesy: NHL.com)

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Exploration could go beyond Las Vegas next season.

The NHL is reportedly looking to stage two regular-season games in Europe next year, Pierre LeBrun wrote in his Rumblings blog Thursday.

It might have to wait at least one more season, however, as LeBrun noted the NHL might not have time to work out the details in time.

The NHL last held games in Europe five years ago, with visits to Berlin and Helsinki, and two games as well in Stockholm.

It's also the league's intent to have preseason games in China down the line, according to LeBrun.

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An unfamiliar name sits among some of the NHL's best early on this season.

Jonathan Marchessault continued his torrid start with a goal early in Thursday's game in Toronto, making no mistake on a picture perfect - and perhaps poorly defended - cross-ice pass from the ageless Jaromir Jagr.

The Florida Panthers winger has now recorded four goals and five assists in seven games, good for a share of third in the NHL, for the time being at least.

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The signing of Hampus Lindholm does not signal Cam Fowler's imminent departure from the Anaheim Ducks.

So says general manager Bob Murray, who made it clear that he does not have to make a move following the six-year, $31.5-million contract signed by Lindholm on Thursday.

"I'm going to do the best I can to give this group one more shot at it," Murray said, per Pierre LeBrun of ESPN. "And I'm going to do everything in my power to keep it that way."

Anaheim's tight cap situation was eased by the placement of defenseman Simon Despres on long-term injured reserve, putting the Ducks $791,388 under the cap ceiling, according to Cap Friendly.

Teams that were interested in Fowler will now have to turn their attention to Jacob Trouba, the NHL's lone remaining restricted free agent.

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There's another fascinating subplot emerging from the NHL's expansion draft process.

George McPhee and the Las Vegas brain trust will have a 48-hour window - between the time protected rosters are submitted and the expansion draft itself - to negotiate with free agents of both unrestricted and restricted status, TSN's Pierre LeBrun reported Thursday on Insider Trading.

This means any player who's without a contract when protected rosters are submitted - regardless of whether the club still technically has control of the asset - can bolt to Las Vegas on a new negotiated contract.

Should Las Vegas strike a deal with an unprotected free agent, the team he came from will not lose a player during the actual expansion draft, per LeBrun.

It's clearly another important factor for NHL general managers to consider when formulating their protected rosters, as teams could be forced into making quick decisions on free agents - or risk losing them for nothing.

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While it appears Jacob Trouba and the Winnipeg Jets have drawn a line in the sand, the club is still reportedly hoping to nail down a long-term deal.

The Jets are reportedly prepared to offer a six-year contract with an annual average value of $5.5 million, TSN's Darren Dreger reported on Thursday's Insider Trading segment.

That being said, Dreger also noted that Trouba's camp is not in a crossroads about money, but rather they don't agree with the player's fit and usage with the Jets.

As far as potential trade partners, Dreger insisted that several Canadian teams are reportedly interested, but that Trouba doesn't feel there's a good fit with any of them.

Trouba has until Dec. 1 to sign a contract or be traded, or he'll be ineligible to play this season.

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The Detroit Red Wings will be without one of their top performers for at least one game.

Thomas Vanek, who shares the team lead in points, will not play Thursday against the St. Louis Blues and is listed as day to day with a vaguely described injury.

Vanek signed a one-year, $2.6-million deal with Detroit in the offseason, and recorded four goals and four assists in his first seven games with the club.

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As the recently-named captain, Mike Fisher is having to answer for an underwhelming start to the season for the Nashville Predators.

Pegged as a club with Stanley Cup aspirations after the acquisitions of Ryan Johansen and P.K. Subban over the past year, the Predators sit in a tie for last in the Central Division with four points in six games (2-4-0), and, from Fisher's point of view, it's because the team isn't living up to its nickname.

"We're not physical enough, and we're easy to play against ... but that's up to us," Fisher said Thursday, per the team's website. "It's not about huge hits or fighting, it's about winning battles and playing smart, playing hard as a team, as a line, and we just haven't had that consistency.

"We've seen it, we know we're capable of it, it's just finding that right now has been a struggle and something that we need to be better at."

The Predators have also been victims of a touch of bad luck early on, scoring at a success rate of 4.14 percent in 5-on-5 play, good for 29th in the NHL. Not helping matters are Nashville's poor possession numbers, meaning it's allowing more shot attempts on goal than the Predators are recording on the opposition.

What Nashville really needs, then, is to fire the puck on net with more regularity, with the shooting percentage eventually set to regress to the mean.

Fisher, for his part, is preaching the basics.

"Just working and being ready for the game; it seems like when we're playing desperate, our backs are against the wall a little bit, but it's just too hard to not bring your A-game," he said.

"We need everyone to do that to be successful. We know we're going to find it, we're just in a little bit of a downturn, but we're going to find it … This is where you learn, you learn about your group, you learn how to be successful as a group, and we're going to find it."

Nashville's next game is set for Thursday in Los Angeles.

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The goaltenders' union blurs allegiances.

After Boston Bruins prospect Malcolm Subban's second career start mirrored his disastrous first, his counterpart that night, Minnesota Wild netminder Devan Dubnyk, sought him out afterwards to lend support.

"I know what that feels like," Dubnyk told Dan Myers of Wild.com. "It just feels like the world is going to end. It's hard to describe, but it's not a good feeling. It's something that I've experienced."

The pat on the back came after Subban allowed three goals on 16 shots in his first appearance in an NHL crease since allowing three goals on six shots in his debut last season versus the St. Louis Blues.

And when they met, Dubnyk didn't offer perspective from 200 feet. Rather, he provided encouragement through recounting his nightmarish beginnings in the NHL when he broke in with the Edmonton Oilers back in 2009.

"I gave him the rundown of the start to my career, which was a whole lot worse than his start," Dubnyk said. "Not that it would make him feel better, but more to just let him know that he has a long career ahead of him and to keep working. It probably didn't help. But I've been through that exact same situation at the start of my career and it wasn't fun.

"It seems like that is going to be such a big deal, but at the end of the day, it's two half games. Those two games, as much as they feel (bad) right now, they're going to be such a small blip in his career. It'll be a story to tell. Maybe he can talk to somebody one day, too."

He's right: Dubnyk allowed 14 goals on 79 shots in his first three starts, and didn't win his first game until his 14th appearance.

Last summer, Dubnyk signed $26-million contract.

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