Not long after the initial injury, it seemed as though the Buffalo Sabres and their fans were having to relive the nightmare all over again.

Jack Eichel was in agony on the Buffalo bench after tweaking his injured ankle in a collision with Dmitry Orlov in Monday's overtime loss to the Washington Capitals.

He remained in the game, though hindered, and worked to alleviate concern in the locker room afterwards.

"Hockey is a contact sport," Eichel said, according to Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. "So I figure that's going to happen during the year and I've just got to play through it.

"I felt good."

Eichel would not admit the pain he felt was associated to his high-ankle sprain that cost him the first 21 games of the year. His coach, however, would deliver such confirmation.

"I think it's the first time he's had any incident on the ice where he did feel the ankle," Dan Bylsma told NHL.com's Tom Gulitti.

Eichel has had a profound impact on a stagnant Buffalo attack, scoring three goals and four points in three games before being held pointless versus the Capitals.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

PITTSBURGH - Bryan Rust had his first career hat trick, Sidney Crosby added his NHL-leading 17th goal and the Pittsburgh Penguins raced by the Ottawa Senators 8-5 on Monday night.

Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel each had a goal and two assists for Pittsburgh, and Matt Cullen and Justin Schultz also scored. The Penguins poured in six goals over the final 32 minutes after spotting the Senators a 4-2 lead. Matt Murray made 17 saves after coming in for an ineffective Marc-Andre Fleury in the second period.

Pittsburgh has won three straight overall and improved to 7-0-2 in its last nine against the Senators.

Matt Stone had a goal and two assists for Ottawa. Erik Karlsson, Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone and Dion Phaneuf also scored for Ottawa, which lost in regulation for just the second time in its last eight games.

Craig Anderson spent most of the night under siege by the Penguins and stopped 36 of the 43 shots he faced before being pulled following Rust's successful penalty shot 12:36 into the third.

The Penguins have made a habit of falling behind by two goals only to scramble back. Their victory marked the 13th time since Mike Sullivan took over as coach last December that they trailed by two only to rally and win. It's not the path Sullivan would prefer. Earlier in the day he insisted his team can't just turn on a switch to get things going.

It only seems like that at times.

The Senators chased Fleury when Hoffman pounded home a one-timer from the right circle to make it 4-2 at 7:08 of the second period. Fleury stopped 12 of 16 shots and was hurt by shoddy play in front of him and at least one bad bounce: Stone knocked a carom off the glass behind the Pittsburgh goal out of midair and into the open net.

Murray entered to a loud ovation from the 445th consecutive sellout crowd in Pittsburgh and his team responded almost immediately, scoring three times in a span of 6:09 to take the lead. Cullen's short-handed breakaway sparked the surge. Kessel tied it with a nasty wrist shot from between the circles and Schultz finished it with a wrist shot of his own to give the Penguins a 5-4 lead.

Ottawa stuck with Anderson, making his first start since taking a brief leave of absence to be with his wife as she battles throat cancer, even after the deluge. It backfired. Malkin squeezed past two defenders to flip a backhand by Anderson 1:05 into the third to put the Penguins up 6-4.

Phaneuf brought the Senators back within one with Ottawa's third power-play goal, but Pittsburgh's beleaguered penalty killers finally got a stop a couple of minutes later and Rust went high with the backhand on his penalty shot to give the Penguins the breathing room they needed.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

If you're willing to infer from his career trajectory, it would have been easy to conclude that this was to be Sam Gagner's last season in the NHL.

His one-year, $650,000 contract signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets at the beginning of August after single-season spells with the Arizona Coyotes and Philadelphia Flyers appeared the death knell for a skilled 27-year-old forward about to be sucked under the wave of talent continuing to rise in the NHL.

Oh the contrary.

Gagner scored twice, and factored in all four goals, leading the Blue Jackets to their fourth win in a row Monday night over the Coyotes. He now has 10 goals and 17 points in 23 games, surpassing his total in 53 games with Philadelphia last season.

His share of the team lead in goals has been a major factor in Columbus' best 24-game start in franchise history, and pulling to within a point of first place in the Metropolitan Division with two games in hand.

An eight-week run does not make a season, nor does it ensure an extended lease on life in the NHL. But for the time being, Gagner's made himself relevant once again.

And helped the Blue Jackets do the same.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Boston Bruins will be without winger Matt Beleskey for the next six weeks due to a right knee injury, the team announced after their overtime victory over the Florida Panthers on Monday night.

Beleskey exited late in Saturday's win versus the Buffalo Sabres following a collision with Taylor Fedun.

It's been a struggle offensively this season for the second-year Bruin, who has just two goals and three assists.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

It seems David Pastrnak is not going to go unnoticed.

The breakout star with the Boston Bruins scored a delightful walk-off winner Monday night versus the Florida Panthers, utilizing a dizzying deke to beat Michael Matheson before his cool finish around Roberto Luongo.

Pastrnak's second of the night and team-best 15th on the season lifted the Bruins to their third win in a row.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Erik Karlsson has ended Marc-Andre Fleury's night in ruthless fashion.

Watch Karlsson paralyze the Pittsburgh Penguins goalie with a convincing shot fake, and then dish to his right for sniper Mike Hoffman to pound into the empty net.

Matt Murray came on to relieve Fleury after he picked himself off the ice, and promptly saw the Penguins take the lead.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

We will not be getting to know the prospective No. 1 overall draft pick over the holidays.

Hockey Canada announced Monday that Brandon Wheat Kings forward Nolan Patrick has not been medically cleared for the National Junior Team selection camp, and will not play in the World Junior Hockey Championship in Toronto and Montreal at the end of the month.

Patrick has been limited to six games this season with an upper-body injury that hasn't healed as quickly as expected.

He finished fifth in Western Hockey league scoring last season, notching 41 goals and 102 points.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

We will not be getting to know the prospective No. 1 overall draft pick over the holidays.

Hockey Canada announced Monday that Brandon Wheat Kings forward Nolan Patrick has not been medically cleared for the National Junior Team selection camp, and will not play in the World Junior Hockey Championship in Toronto and Montreal at the end of the month.

Patrick has been limited to six games this season with an upper-body injury that hasn't healed as quickly as expected.

He finished fifth in Western Hockey league scoring last season, notching 41 goals and 102 points.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Sidney Crosby has pulled ahead once again in the NHL goal scoring race.

With his marvelous edges carrying him around Chris Kelly and into a high-danger shooting area, Crosby fired in his 17th of the season past a defenseless Craig Anderson in the first period Monday versus the Ottawa Senators.

Crosby entered the contest tied with Patrik Laine atop the goal scoring race.

(Video courtesy: NHL.com)

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The Edmonton Oilers were more than a touch annoyed when a call came down explaining that Connor McDavid would have to leave the bench and enter the mandated concussion protocol after tripping over a blade and whacking his mouth off the ice Sunday night.

The rhetoric after the game was more likely than not impacted by the fact that the Oilers secured just a single point in an eventual overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild. They would nitpick a bit after the bitter taste from their mouths dissipated, perhaps harp on the fact that the process has been inconsistent to date. But in the end, most would eventually agree the protection of players is paramount, and the necessary precautions are in place.

Most of them.

"This is a man's game," Patrick Maroon told Sportsnet Mark Spector, when asked about McDavid's removal. "People are going to get hit, get high-sticked. They're going to go through the middle and get hit. That's part of hockey, and that's why we have all this gear that protects us.

"Yes, if someone gets seriously hurt, we're concerned. But he just fell, got tripped. I just don't get it.

"It's a man's game."

Unfortunately, it's this perspective, and omnipresence of concealed symptoms, that makes it incumbent on the NHL to act in this instance, injury or otherwise.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.